^the problem with just going on multipliers is it doesn’t tell the full story. In IW’s case, everyone was so hyped, so many folks went and watched it opening weekend. It made $630 million on opening weekend alone, without even counting China! And if you count china’s opening weekend in there it’s the closest a movie got to a billion right off the bat. (And even without broke the records) Of course the multiplier has to drop after such an opening. The most telling thing is IW still has a good reputation, meaning most people enjoyed it - contrast to the divisive TLJ.
Oh I'm not denying that. I agree IW was really front-loaded due to the hype. What I'm wondering about is, if TLJ was truly as hated as some hardcore fans say it is, why did it have a decent multiplier? It has a 2.8 multiplier vs the 1.9 multiplier of BvS (which was heavily hyped like IW, and undeniably panned in the end).
I'm not saying that's the only stat that matters, but it's also a stat that needs explaining... Was it the holiday as the article stated?
As for that guy's other articles, I'm not that interested in his opinion or fluff pieces. I'm more interested in the numbers.
The numbers to me just point out that there was simply little interest towards Solo to start with. It was a movie destined to flop irregardless of how good/bad TLJ was unless Solo itself was exceptionally good. Then again, being exceptionally good doesn't mean it's going to succeed either (BR2 comes into mind based on the convo on the other thread).
The current trilogy is also tracking towards a similar pattern. The original trilogy had Ep IV getting the highest (adjusted inflation), ESB got the lowest, and ROTJ was in the middle. On the prequels, EP1 got the highest with AOTC coming in lowest and ROTS staying in between.
If Ep IX does indeed fail like Solo, then I will definitely conceded that Ep VIII was bad enough to irk not only the fans but the general audience. But so far, TLJ's box office numbers are still pretty solid considering the pattern set by the past SW films.
Time will tell I think.
I don't think replacing Kennedy now will "save" the franchise in time for Ep IX. Nobody outside hardcore fans know who Kennedy is, neither do they care who Kennedy is. If the brand was truly damaged by TLJ, it doesn't matter who's at the top of the helm. It'll be like DCEU all over again (MoS - BvS - JL).