Lucas convinced Ep III will tank?

[Wayside]

You're completely right. I was way off base. I completely agree. I'm glad we aren't discussing my opinion of anything here.. I have learned my lesson.. I will recant my statement. Sigh

Well, two things. First, I'm serious when I ask if there is some interview out there where Lucas genuinely comes off as an asshat. There isn't one linked in your original post, and the one you linked later in the thread really doesn't seem like a big deal to me. It's a pretty rational assessment: $300 mil difference between TPM and AotC when, as is pretty much unanimously agreed, AotC is the better movie. So Sith being an even better movie than AotC may not mean much. The only actual quotes in the article were:

"I have a feeling this one is going to be sort of like the last one in terms of some people like it, some people hate it," he said. "And like everyone who makes movies, I'm always convinced the next one will be a flop. So right now I'm thinking it probably won't make any money and will be considered a failure."

However, he hastened to add that he was satisfied with the finished article: "I think it turned out as well as I could have hoped, and at the same time I'm very glad that I finished it."

What I don't I really follow is the emotion of your response. Not only "everyone who makes movies," as Lucas says, but everyone who writes, composes etc. knows this feeling. It's almost as bad as that other feeling you have when you've finished something big: the feeling that you'll never be able to do anything like that again, the anxiety of the blank page. I of course hope you're right that RotS will be a sort of come-back for Star Wars, but Lucas may have a point if there are parents out there who won't take their kids to see it because of that extra 13. If I had kids it wouldn't stop me, but the world is full of weird people.

Oh, and the second thing: of course it's your opinion, but this is a messageboard! Posting an opinion here is an implicit invitation for some eager gamer to pounce on it.

I think a far more interesting discussion would be about how amazingly lame our media ratings systems are .

I am glad that you find AotC and TPM better than Episode IV-VI. We all have different opinions of the works and ultimately you are right, taken out of context what sounds like whining might be sincerely humble comments.

Hey now, I never said I liked TPM .

It still does not change the fact I think he's being silly by saying.. I think it will not do well (Paraphrased) the word of mouth about the adult aspect of the film will sell more than anything. You know what.. I'll be taking my 9 year old to see it.. I've read through both the novel and the comic adaption and nothing in this movie will be any worse than a night of network television or Adult Swim anime. I was not meaning to cause such a debate but I guess it is enevitable when discussing Lucas, Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy, Joss Whedon or anything that people care so deeply about in popular culture.

I completely agree with you that there's no reason the slightly higher level of violence should keep people away, but that doesn't mean it won't. Don't get me wrong, because I don't hold Lucas in super high regard or anything. To me all the things we talk about on this board are nothing but entertainment--none of it is sacred. Well, maybe except Dune. I likes me some Dune .

 

[Taelorn76]

I honestly do think he is unaware of who his fan base is, for these movies, regardless of whom he is making them for. If he wants to make kids movies then go right ahead make Star Wars kid friendly, but don't complain that the movie is too violent for kids, and that people won't go see it.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

If I had kids it wouldn't stop me, but the world is full of weird people.

Its not THAT weird. What's the point of the rating systems if we're not even going to use them? And with RotS, the first reviews from the latest media/press screening coming in now, there's at least one scene that many kids should probably have their eyes closed for at best.

[sblock]Anakin burning alive has been already reported by everyone to be extremely painful to watch, and is definitely NOT a moment kids should be watching.[/sblock]

 

[Ranger REG]

I honestly do think he is unaware of who his fan base is, for these movies, regardless of whom he is making them for. If he wants to make kids movies then go right ahead make Star Wars kid friendly, but don't complain that the movie is too violent for kids, and that people won't go see it.

Meh. Do you think that George Lucas have an established fanbase prior to the production of the first Star Wars film, A New Hope?

He's an artist, and this is his art. As with any piece of art -- from Frieda to Picasso, including Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Sterling -- either you like it or you don't.

 

[Wayside]

Its not THAT weird. What's the point of the rating systems if we're not even going to use them? And with RotS, the first reviews from the latest media/press screening coming in now, there's at least one scene that many kids should probably have their eyes closed for at best.

Well, I think the ratings system is a joke for the most part anyway. I know a lot of people are perfectly willing to raise their kids based on these sorts of approved gradations (on plenty of levels beyond movies as well), but they don't work for me. So if you're not being rhetorical, and really asking me "what's the point of the rating systems if we're not even going to use them?" my answer is "there is no point, get rid of them." I'll decide what my kids, when I have kids, see, and those ratings won't have anything to do with my decision. It's like Celan says: nobody bears witness for the witness.

Now, I'm not going to argue that anybody who doesn't take their kids to see RotS is wrong--they're your kids, do as you see fit. But unless they have already seen it and made that decision personally, I find it maybe a little lazy, and the possibility that the scene you described could keep kids out I find maybe a little historically anomalous, just in terms of how desperately we try to sanitize everything in our culture these days. But really for me the whole issue boils down to this: when I was 5, if RotS had come out, and if my parents had told me I was too young to see it--(they wouldn't have, my parents are lovely)--but if they had, I would've been pretty unhappy. That's all. And it isn't true that this scene "is definitely NOT a moment kids should be watching"; at best, you can say that YOU definitely don't want your kids to watch it. There isn't a fact of the matter either way.

Anyway, so your point, then, is that Lucas may be right, that people may not take their kids to see it? I've agreed with that possibility since the beginning. I don't think he ought to be right, just like LrdApoc doesn't think he will be right, but I accept the possibility.

As with any piece of art -- from Frieda to Picasso, including Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Sterling -- either you like it or you don't.

Perhaps the most painstaking theory of art ever conceived.

 

[Desdichado]

That's not what I see when I look at these interviews. CBS' interview from a little over a month ago, for example:

In context, the self-deprecating statements don't really fit with the original assessment of this thread. Maybe there is a specific example where these sorts of comments are given, in context, as they have been portrayed here?

Yeah, you really showed me there by quoting the sum total of everything he's ever said. Heck, he made comments like that during the first week of the original Star Wars theatrical run.

He's been saying for years that he thinks the 6th movie will by financially the least successful. Seeing now that he's apparently claiming he doesn't know if it will make any money at all fits the pattern of years of interviews.

 

[Orius]

I think this is really much ado about nothing.

First of all, this is likely the last Star Wars movie Lucas will ever make, and he made with his own money. It doesn't really matter one way or other if it's financially successful. Lucas wanted to make it to complete the story, and he's done that. That's really the purpose behind the movie. Also, many of the fans, even the Lousy Lucas Bashers (great card mockup, Jezter) will see the movie regardless of how much they complain about the last 2 (or 3) movies, because they want to know how things happen.

Second, I think there's two groups of people who see the movies. First are the parents with kids, who drag along their kids to watch the movie because they think it's a kiddie movie with all the toy tie ins and so on. They'll take the kids to see the movie once and that's it. Some of these people are the ones who are doing whining about the PG-13 rating. The way Lucas says they're whining seems to indicate they think it's going to degenerate into some sort of hardcore snuff film or something. Utterly brainless. In terms of violence and "scary images", it can't be much worse than the Lord of the Rings movies were. I'd say all the other Star Wars films are rated PG because Lucas didn't need them to be more violent than that, and because thdey were heroic in nature, rather than making deliberate choice to turn evil, as anyone who knows anything about Star Wars knows this film will portray.

The other group of people who will go to the movies are the fans. These are the diehards who will camp out for several weeks to get tickets, attent the movie dressed as Darth Vader, Boba Fett, or stormtroopers, etc. They're not even going to notice the rating, And unlike the parents, they'll probably see the movie at least a half dozen times or so over the summer. Unless the film is something longtimes fans will utterly hate (and I sort of doubt that), I'm sure the fans will produce a pretty large number of ticket sales.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I'm sure the fans will produce a pretty large number of ticket sales.

Fandago has already reported that RotS has sold the most advanced tickets ever. Whether this is something that can predict how it'll do overall, though, is impossible to say.

 

[Orius]

Fandago has already reported that RotS has sold the most advanced tickets ever. Whether this is something that can predict how it'll do overall, though, is impossible to say.

That's probably the diehards kicking in. Howevers, those sales are probably people buying for just one showing. The real impact from fans will be those who see the movie multiple times.

But I wouldn't be surprised if at least on fan did somehow manage to get advance tickets for every showing on opening day.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

That's probably the diehards kicking in. Howevers, those sales are probably people buying for just one showing. The real impact from fans will be those who see the movie multiple times.

But I wouldn't be surprised if at least on fan did somehow manage to get advance tickets for every showing on opening day.

Yes, its probably mostly fans...but still, its a WHOLE LOT of fans. Here's a little more info:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/New_Advance_Sales_Record_for_Fandango_92111.asp

It is tough to judge how things will end up overall, but we already know this is going to be an insanely good opening day.