Neither. I don't think it's anything diabolical or sinister.
Look, I knew it wouldn't be an easy pill for you to swallow. I know you, you love tracking the totals for these things like the good little wanna be bookie you are. I'm merely suggesting that the numbers you're seeing may be exaggerated, the highs and the lows. Your favorite teams might not be hot **** you thought they were. This just isn't the profits being fluffed up, but the alleged budgets that supposedly went into the making of them as well. Everything from the moment a film is announced to the end of it's theatrical run and push to homevideo is carefully arranged. Those involved with these Star Wars movies certainly have enough clout to put out any information they want to paint the positive picture they need. It's not just the studio, but other forces that have their jobs riding on the success of something like a Star Wars picture. Think of all the advertising and PR. These headlines and BO Returns are just as much a apart of that as a trailer, or a movie poster, or a licensed polished porg.
I think it's telling that the sales of the toys and merchandising, the main source of profit for Star Wars since day one as you know, is spiraling downward to a slowdown and brand fatigue, and yet people claim that the box office for the actual movies is all hunky dorky. It doesn't make sense. I think there's more to the picture than meets the eye. I don't think any of us really can know whether or not these huge movies are actual financial success or failures because not everything is being disclosed to us. I most definitely think the numbers we're seeing aren't accurate, I mean, how could they be?
You're just as skeptical as I am about the world we live in Jye, perhaps more so. With a couple of key words, I could get you into a full blown rant about Gal Gadot that would make people on here think a lot worse than a tin foil hat wearing conspiracist! Remember, this was the very thread in which I brought up the seedy, corrupt side of Hollywood with it's casting couches, it's desperate actors and lecherous producers and I was banned for it. This was 6 months before actual allegations about these kind of dealings started flooding in.
If those things can be swept under the rug for so many years, why can't something as rudimentary as "muh box office monies". Forget the big lies that people make up for whatever reason, how about all the small ones. Have you looked at boxofficemojo's outdated looking site or read some of the blog tier articles from these news outlets like Forbes? Not exactly what I'd call the gatekeepers of truth.