https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/star-wars-archive-george-lucas-1999-interview/
"They wanna see The Terminator, they wanna see a different kind of movie. But this isn't that movie."
Boy, I remember that feeling when they 1st announced EPISODE 1 being made and the poster with a young Anakin and Darth Vader's shadow on it and the poster execution was perfect, the lead up to this at the time was great, like this was an Event.. The day the movie comes out, I'm sitting in the theatre and it's predictably packed and then the movie starts.. The familiar Lucasfilm LTD Logo and the STAR WARS Crawl and the Text and everything felt great until roughly 10 minutes into it and you sort of knew that this wasn't what I had expected and Lucas had to of known what the fans were expecting with the 1st STAR WARS after 16 Years.. The FORCE AWKENS accomplished this with the Old Cast to a degree because that's what 98% of the fanbase associates STAR WARS with were the Classic characters.. In 1999, The Phantom Menace grossed 105.7 Million for the weekend, which was considered a letdown at the time and then once the reviews came in, it made it even worse, but to Lucas's credit, the movie DID have that STAR WARS feel to it, it's just that Lucas can't Direct or write dialogue worth a shit.. Just ask Harrison Ford..
shareMr Plinkett wouldn't exist without Episode 1. Let's be grateful that Lucas shit the bed worse than Amber Heard's soiling of Jack Sparrow's sheets here
shareF*ck Mr Plinkett & those RLM hacks whose only claim to fame is their unfunny prequel bashing "satire" over 15 years ago. Those POS hacks helped get us Di$ney Star Wars and the saga ruining Di$ney trilogy, glowingly praising the absolute dumpster fire that was The Force Awakens, ("I loved it. It was everything I hoped it would be" ~Mike 'Fat F*ck' Stoklasa) until (gutless hacks that they are) started slowly changing their tune once fans started realizing what a giant pile of shit Di$ney created.
shareNo, the opening was only $65M. It was in the top 10 for 12 weeks and ran for 38.
It grossed $430m dom + $490m int, but budget was only $115m. HUGE success!
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2742257153/weekly/
"Lucas can't Direct or write dialogue worth a shit.."
and yet, he has been nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay
it's almost as if you are completely wrong
After the Sequel Trilogy shit show, the prequels look like masterpieces by comparison.
shareIf I were making The FORCE AWAKENS, I would've had all the Old Cast reunite in the movie in a scene together instead of the way they did it in hindsight, but whatever.. What's done is done and The FORCE AWAKENS was certainly better than The LAST JEDI and RISE OF SKYWALKER
shareA lot of real Star Wars fans would agree with you, because it's the one thing they didn't do in those movies that could have satisfied everyone, no matter how bad the films were. Simply seeing the original 3 heroes together in one scene would have been wonderful.
shareI get that wasn't the story they (JJ and Lawrence Kasden)wanted to tell (they obviously wanted to take a bomb to the happy end of ROTJ and have them all splintered across the galaxy, bc thats what would happen in real life i guess, groups of close knit ppl can split up/have issues that are never resolved etc) but u right just one scene of the original cast together would've gone far , even if it were just a flashback to a couple years after ROTJ with abit of CG deaging
shareEverything after 1981 was mediocre.
Star Wars 9
ESB 8.5
ROTJ 6
Ep1 - 3.5
Everything else is below minimal limits and need not be discussed.
It’s clear today, Lucas has no idea what made Star Wars and Empire great.
Best recap ever.
Nothing needs to be added. This should be THE first thing explained about this film saga and its historic value, but everybody got fooled by toys, games, lunch boxes and whatever the fuck else. Everybody including Goerge Lucas.
you tell 'em, george!
shareLucas sounds like he didn’t have a clue what made the original trilogy so beloved to people of all ages when he made The Phantom Menace.
Saying it’s a film meant for children doesn’t excuse him from making a bad film.
Just because the films are PG doesn’t mean it needs to be silly and meant just for kids, it should be entertaining for people of all ages.
I think most fans were expecting/hoping for something similar to the best of the OT Empire Strikes Back, something abit more darker, adult.. with someone older as Anakin (like a Christian Bale in his 20s type), I mean it obviously wasn't going to be that as Lucas was following the OT of fun filled adventure film for part 1 then goes darker for 2/3 (and in this case the 3rd would obviously be the darkest) but he really went 'for kids' with Ep1, I mean there were darker elements with Darth Maul and the end battle but fans were wanting more of that throughout (and without a character like JarJar!) and really Anakin should've been older/more approaching ObiWans age (in Ep4 when you hear Alec Guinness talking about encountering Anakin you don't really imagine he's talking about a 5y old kid!)
shareI think now in hindsight the story of how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader is just a bit unnecessary and one that probably didn't need to be told. Having said that if Lucas was going to tell this story it should have been done a lot better.
Yes fans had unrealistic expectations and the film was massively over hyped by them but it's a horribly written film and the cast don't have any chemistry together. Compare it to something like Star Trek (2009) ten years later and whilst that film again doesn't have the best writing it has a fantastic cast that brings those characters to life. The interactions that the characters have are far more entertaining and watchable than the character interactions of The Phantom Menace.
Thats bc JJ abrams based his Trek film as much on the original Stars Wars trilogy as the original Star Trek series/films
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