Weekend Enjoyable: Reva Version – Jedi Temple Archives

On Reddit I stumbled on a photograph of a toy shelf at – what appears to be (not confirmed) – Ollie’s and I wish to share it right here as a result of it’s totally hilarious.

And sure, that is anecdotal, don’t take any of this too significantly, however nonetheless… click on by for a chat in regards to the state of Star Wars in 2024.

One lone fifth Brother retains this from being true perfection.

The anecdotal Reva toy shelf itself is simply that, anecdotal, however on the identical time perhaps additionally symptomatic of a as soon as enormously widespread blockbuster franchise which appears to be at its nadir proper now.

Whether or not you’re one of many two dozen followers of The Acolyte or one of many many individuals who hated it – I consider nobody can deny the present was an outright flop and scores catastrophe on Disney+. For a present that value – together with advertising and so on – near $300 million. Even worse, it really angered a non trivial variety of passionate and longtime Star Wars followers with its morally doubtful strategy to Star Wars and its blatant disregard of the core philosophies of Star Wars – and that’s earlier than we discuss in regards to the scripts or the appearing even.

Hasbro posts one report low after one other for its accomplice manufacturers phase. And whereas numbers for Star Wars (or Marvel) are unknown to us the mixed income of all of the accomplice manufacturers is pitiful, which implies every particular person model should additionally carry out fairly pitiful. Even when you account for licenses Hasbro removed, by their very own admission solely 50% of the income decline will be attributed to exited licenses.

Then there’s the embarrassing – for Kathleen Kennedy – comedy of errors that’s one more of her motion pictures she introduced. The Rey film increasingly more looks like one more mirage on the horizon. They nonetheless don’t have a script after 18 months (this after firing the primary writing staff) and the film is now – in line with unverified studies – on indefinite maintain even. The Taika Waititi film is formally useless now. Lando, allegedly a film undertaking after the present was axed whereas nonetheless in improvement, is in improvement hell and can by no means see the sunshine of day. And nobody has stated even one phrase in regards to the James Mangold film in regards to the first Jedi.

Let’s additionally not overlook how a Classic Assortment HasLab limped throughout the end line, not even unlocking all tiers… solely to be blown out of the water by a GI Joe Haslab that was a couple of 6 inch scale car of all issues a short while later. And we should always bear in mind the – unproven – rumors that Hasbro needs to exit the Star Wars license, as a result of it’s not price it anymore for them.

After which the large triple A blockbuster recreation Star Wars Outlaws turned out to be a complete dud. In its first month after launch Ubisoft simply bought about a million copies of the sport. Which is an outright catastrophe. It’s typically believed that this abysmal efficiency finally led Ubisoft to delay Murderer’s Creed Shadows for a number of months, as a result of an ideal one two punch of two failed video games in fast succession may very well be an excessive amount of for the troubled French online game writer.

So the place are we now?

Star Wars on Disney+ is now not a juggernaut. That The Acolyte is, till now at the least, nonetheless probably the most profitable launch of an unique collection on Disney+ in 2024 speaks volumes in regards to the type of content material Disney places on the platform. And sure, Agatha All Alongside has even worse scores than The Acolyte, as anticipated. However that franchise at the least had Deadpool & Wolverine in cinemas.

Star Wars looks like a franchise that’s useless within the water, treading water, hoping to not drown and hectically scrambling, attempting to succeed in the shore once more.

Star Wars has failed on all fronts in 2024. Toy gross sales, for many years the precise bread and butter of the franchise, are circling the drain. The 2 (three really) reveals in 2024 launched up to now, The Dangerous Batch and The Acolyte, didn’t get an viewers and within the case of The Acolyte even outright angered many followers. The AAA Star Wars online game, the primary correct single participant open world Star Wars recreation ever, has failed commercially. And the possibilities of Skeleton Crew having even worse scores than The Acolyte on Disney+ are non zero.

Oh, and about that third present I used to be speaking about… when you look carefully on the picture you’ll see toys for Younger Jedi Adventures rotting on the backside. If you don’t even bear in mind this can be a factor why it’s one more failure. This received a second season (animation often will get a couple of season greenlit approach upfront) and the primary batch of season 2 episodes, eleven episodes in whole, had been dumped on Disney+ on August 14th, simply two months in the past. The very fact you might not even know this speaks volumes. Now a present aimed toward preschool children just isn’t anticipated to do The Mandalorian numbers, but once more Bluey manages to be tremendous widespread on Disney+ regardless. That eleven episodes of Younger Jedi Adventures in whole didn’t handle to enter the highest 10 streaming charts is one more symptom. I might not be shocked if season 2 can also be the final season. Chris Cocks famously stated Hasbro is “bullish” in regards to the present and thus it’ll get its personal toyline. Which is now rotting on the backside of a shelf the place Reva is the star. Okay, that is anecdotal in fact, however everyone knows how unhealthy the income for accomplice manufacturers is so it’s affordable to imagine the toyline for Younger Jedi Adventures is a flop as properly.

So in some methods the anecdotal Reva picture, languishing on pegs as a result of nobody needs this, could also be extra symptomatic in any case.

The final finest hope for Star Wars is The Mandalorian. So many issues hinge on the film set for a Might 2026 launch date. Ought to this film underperform or perhaps even flop – and right here I might say that any field workplace end result under $500 million can be a catastrophe and if it had been within the $300 million area it will be an epic catastrophe even – it would sink Star Wars for good. On the flip facet if it succeeds, and manages to make about $1 billion it might additionally put Star Wars again on monitor once more. Except, in fact, that Rey film will get made in any case.

The unhealthy factor is that issues can solely get higher in 2026. And it’s nonetheless 2024. And on Disney+ it’s even worse. With how lengthy issues take today it is going to be 2027 earlier than there’s a probability of getting a very widespread Star Wars present on Disney+ once more. And by “widespread” I imply one thing that’s at the least within the area of Obi-Wan Kenobi and ideally can come near The Mandalorian numbers. Based mostly on what we all know Andor would be the solely present in 2025. Ahsoka begins filming subsequent yr, which makes a 2026 launch very seemingly. And on condition that the variety of releases will probably be vastly lowered it appears Andor and Ahsoka are certainly the one issues we’ll get within the subsequent two years. So any potential Cal Kestis collection or a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi will be launched in 2027 on the earliest. Three lengthy years from now.

This can be a very lengthy and depressing dry spell. Particularly for licensees who all rely upon widespread new content material to drive gross sales.

However proper now, proper right here, all issues Star Wars in 2024 have flopped. Completely. Utterly. Toys, reveals, video games… nothing works anymore. And that is simply unhappy. Nevertheless it doesn’t have to be the tip in fact. There’s at all times a silver lining. However the massive query is that if The Mandalorian film can revitalize the franchise as soon as extra, after the present single handedly yanked Star Wars away from the abyss in 2019 and merchandise gross sales boomed for about two years.

At this level just one factor might perhaps assist flip issues round: if Disney introduced a whole change of management and several other different key positions at Lucasfilm, employed competent individuals who put leisure first and truly take into consideration the followers and offered followers with at the least an overview of the adjustments and upcoming reveals and films aimed to make things better. Lucasfilm and Disney should abandon the sequels. Any try and by some means repair this mess won’t succeed. We don’t want reveals or motion pictures that inform us how we received from A to B when B is an utter catastrophe, filling within the blanks gained’t make “B” any higher. Luke will nonetheless be a titty milk ingesting suicidal recluse, Leia will nonetheless die identical to that, a Palpatine will nonetheless win and steal the Skywalker identify, Han will nonetheless be a useless beat loser dad who will get stabbed to loss of life by his emo son. And so forth. Nothing within the universe can repair this. Solely a clear slate might assist. Begin recent. Or else 2024 will not be the nadir of Star Wars in any case. Issues can and can hopefully get higher… however they will additionally get even worse.