Zardnaar
Legend
@Zardnaar The data you’re citing is all about the fanbase prior to The Force Awakens being released. Based on that, it’s not surprising to find out that the “average fan” was someone who grew up on the original movies.
But that doesn’t mean that’s who the movie IS or SHOULD BE aimed at.
The goal is to reach a new generation of fans. To get viewers interested enough that they continue to enjoy the films and merchandise for decades.
Now, there’s no reason that the films cannot appeal to both a new audience and the traditional audience. I’d argue that these films do exactly that. But there’s a clear “passing the torch” element in these new films that seems to bother some fans.
Imagine if the episodes had been released chronologically. I would expect many fans would have lost their minds when Obi-Wan was killed off to start the second trilogy and pass the torch to a new hero. The criticisms of Luke would have been very similar to those of Rey...with one significant difference. People would have said the only thing special about Luke is that he’s the son of Anakin.
Trailer for IX, why does it have Lando in it and the Emperors laughing?
TFA relied heavily on nostalgia.
You need a certain amount of fan service in established franchises. Sure you can aim your movie at whoever you like but they took a 700 million dunking on TLJ compared with TFA. People like saying it made 1.3 Billion, it didn't the studio only gets a % of that, TFA made 2 billion apparently the studio made 700 million. They lost money on Solo, the toys are not selling the evidence would suggest they should perhaps be aiming there movie at the fans. Its not like Star Wars was driving away female fans, and kids won't care to much about what type of space wizards they see onscreen. The hard core Star Wars fans probably would not care to much if you had a female protagonist, we've had plenty of them in the last 30 years consuming the old legends material and playing the games like KoToR. Serve up crap its gonna get dumped on (sorry Jar Jar its been 20 years though and much alcohol).
You have to identify your target audience with products and "everyone" is a bit vague. You can also keep the fans happy and get new ones- 5E D&D for example.
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