Getting “Star Wars” right would further Disney’s long-term ambitions across its businesses
THIS WEEK “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” will dominate the global box office, and will probably delight fans across the galaxy. Yet the “Star Wars” franchise has not been nearly the success story for its owner, Disney, as its other blockbuster factory, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which this year produced the highest-grossing film of all time, “Avengers: Endgame”.
The downward trajectory has continued. “Galaxy’s Edge”, a theme-park attraction that was years in the making, has failed to draw the hoped-for huge crowds, a rare miss for Disney. And after the failure of “Solo” Bob Iger, the company’s chief executive, announced a hiatus in “Star Wars” films after “The Rise of Skywalker” completes the trilogy.
One reason is mismanagement. Mr Iger has said that Disney tried to do too much too quickly. Across the five films made so far , five directors were fired or in effect replaced. Two of the pictures required expensive reshoots. At least two films were pushed back six months from their initial release dates. A planned trilogy by Rian Johnson, director of “The Last Jedi”, seems to have been shelved. Another set of three, from “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, meanwhile, came along as the Chinese cinema business was taking off. “Avengers: Endgame” took in $660m in ticket sales in China in 2019, making it the fourth-most successful film in the country’s history. It also outperformed the previous “Avengers” film, “Infinity War”, by 77%. “The Force Awakens” yielded just $125m in ticket sales, and each subsequent “Star Wars” movie made less. “Solo” bombed in China as it did elsewhere, bringing in only $16m.
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