The evidence pretty much demonstrates it didn’t. Avatar was a huge hit and all, but it doesn’t seem to have changed a great deal or really stuck in pop culture.
Believe it or not, that movie came out almost eight years ago. You don’t see a lot of people yelling for sequels and playing Avatar games and just generally being Avatar nerds. Most people can’t even name any of the characters. Hardly anyone CAN’T name a Star Wars character.
Most of the comments I hear on-line about the 73 planned back-to-back sequels to Avatar are “why?” Avatar (which I’ve only seen around 1/3rd of) seems to be about as memorable as that thing that isn’t very memorable.
I agree 100% with respect to The Force Awakens. It was different enough for me to enjoy it, but it signaled to me that Disney not only understands Star Wars for the small screen (Clone Wars and Rebels) but the big screen. Now if The Last Jedi is a total rehash to ESB, I’ll be disappointed.
Also, Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars. So again, Disney understands Star Wars and how to make a good Star Wars movie. I am very excited for everything that Disney has coming down the pipe and I will be until the show me otherwise.
I agree.
Rebels is coming out with their last season this year. I really hope Disney comes out with another series.
I am both sad that Rebels is ending because my god it is good. But glad that it will get a true ending. And yes, please Disney, please come out with more!
I agree that Toy Story was the closest to a Star Wars-level game changer. Next in line I’d argue for The Matrix. It wasn’t a great movie but it has had a huge impact on action movies ever since, and permeated the culture. If they hadn’t laid such a steaming turd with the second and third installments, maybe kids from 1999 would be clamouring today for a new trilogy.
I agree, but there’s an argument that Jurassic Park shifted filmmaking in a ground-breaking way too.
Not The Matrix, though (ugh, I hate that movie). But it hasn’t really made much of an impact on filmmaking. Nothing it did was truly ground-breaking, no more than Lord of the Rings was.
“Jurassic Park” would certainly be in my list of the ten most important movies ever made. I totally agree it was incredibly important.
As it happens, three of the most important movies of all time were made in a span of three years; Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, and Toy Story.
My own view on all this, is that many people are looking in the wrong direction.
The phenomenon of Star Wars in 1977 wasn’t because it was the first really decent science fiction film (in terms of special effects) up to that time. The phenomenon of it was due to a lot of factors which were related to that particular moment in America. It arrived at the end of a long spate of horribly depressing films, starting back in the late 1960’s, whose messages were always about how bleak the future always was, and how it’s stupid to try to accomplish anything. Even in the first Rocky movie, remember, the hero LOST THE FIGHT. Depression and failure was the theme of the 70’s, in film, and politics. Then came Star Wars, where the good guys actually WIN.
Essentially, it was The Next Beatles (which was amplified by the Kennedy assassination, and civil rights protests).
What I mean by that is, that all sorts of people are always looking for the “next (whatever),” because they want to re-experience the combination of wonder, visceral pleasure, excitement, and determined hope for the future, that they did during one moment in their youth. From what I’ve seen, the new “thing” is not likely to be in the same genre as the one that knocked you out the first time around. It’s like jokes, in that way.
The New Hot Thing of The Era Sensation only works, when whatever it is surprises you. It never works when you plan it out for yourself.
That means the next “Star Wars” probably wont be a MOVIE of any kind.
We’re getting a good set up for a Next Big Thing, though. The Trump era, with Russia and North Korea and the Middle East all smooshing us into a sense of complete malaise, is the classic hopeless backdrop for some new heroic concept to explode into.
Good point! I would add this to the pile of things that made Star Wars special at the time.
I would agree with that. One could say that the next big thing has already happened and was Facebook or YouTube or something. Not quite the same thing, not even a work of art. I’m not sure that works of art can really stand out as they once did.
ahem 2001 ahem I have the Blu Ray version, and it still looks great. Not as good as Cinerama, but still.
Yes, and especially because we didn’t know ESB was coming. Vader survived, of course, but I doubt many people left the theaters in 1977 in anything but an up mood. I know I didn’t.
I’m about the same age as the OP and I would tend to agree that we are unlikely to ever encounter another film experience like Star Wars. A film that we first watched when we were 5 or 6 that, 40 years later, is still as good and continues to not only resonate with current audiences, but dominates. I think the first time I saw Star Wars was in a drive-in theater.
Whether you hated it or not, those films are generally on a lot of “most ground-breaking effects films of all time” lists.
Specifically, the Matrix with it’s “bullet time” effects, Hong Kong action film wire-fighting, and influence on future action films (particularly of the “VR world genre”)
The LotR films did what the SW prequels failed to do roughly around the same time. Create a CGI effects driven trilogy, including purely CGI characters that wasn’t horrible. Gollum was groundbreaking in a way that Jar Jar wasn’t.
Right, but that’s not ground-breaking, that’s just good work well done.
“Make Star Wars Great Again.”
I love the Star Wars Universe. At least (most of) the movies and comics (I stopped enjoying the novels long long ago). My problems with it is it seems to just be coasting on nostalgia with a lack of fresh ideas and the marketing is so pervasive and obnoxious to the point where it feels like you are being put in a headlock getting a noogie while, “You want Star Wars?! Here’s your Star Wars!” which turns me off. I can see a future where I am sick of it and bored but I’m not there yet.
Why should they have to? If Disney makes it they will come. If you want to let go, by all means, no one’s standing in your way. Leave the rest of us alone.
The thing about the original Star Wars was that it was far and above BETTER than any other sci fi movie at the time. And the problem with a huge success like that is that it makes creators go “let’s do more of that” instead of their original plan of “let’s do way better”.
That’s kinda what I’m saying. Regardless of quality or originality, people will watch because it’s STAR WARS. Why is that? Well, I explained why.
Lol, do you fear I’ll follow you into the theater?
I don’t think the gravy train will last forever. A few clunkers or just delivering the same over and over will start to create diminishing returns. It feels like it’s starting to happen with Marvel (although the next Avengers will probably bounce everything back).
Your explanation sounds a lot like: “You guys are having fun wrong.”
I enjoy SW because I enjoy it. NOT because I’m trying to recapture some sort of nostalgia.