Does Taika Waititi have a point about Star Wars?

It’s a strange world when a Marvel film director knocks Star Wars, especially considering they’re owned by the same company.

For good or for ill, movie franchises dominate the landscape. This year, a franchise by the name of Star Wars promises to take the top spot at the box office, with Collider reporting that initial expectations for The Last Jedi are for Disney’s latest Star Wars venture to take over $200 million at the box office in its first weekend alone. This is relevant mostly because Disney also owns Marvel, which has Thor: Ragnarok dropping on Nov. 3. Its director, Taika Waititi, who just so happened to talk a little about the other franchise that does space movies.

With a hat tip to CBR, the original article comes from the New York Times, and deserves a full read. But it’s the implicit comparison Waititi makes after Star Wars first comes up that might be the sharpest criticism of all.

The NYT quotes him as saying, “They [Marvel] want new voices and different ways of telling stories.” Meanwhile, just before, he says of Star Wars, “There’s not much room for someone like me.”

The NYT makes the connection for its readers by pointing out Marvel’s room for different tones right after calling Star Wars “determinedly self-serious.” This isn’t to say that Star Wars movies can’t be humorous — Harrison Ford growling to John Boyega that “That’s not how the Force works” is still funny even if Han Solo dies not long after — but it’s actually still a relevant point.

For better or for worse, Star Wars has kept things on a fairly even keel. Buckie Wells called Ron Howard “safe” when he took over Solo: A Star Wars Story and pointed out that J.J. Abrams returning for Episode IX made sense thanks to The Force Awakens, and neither point was exactly out of left field.

Star Wars has just started experimenting with the form of its films (Rogue One) in a way that Marvel’s managed to do every so often already. And directing-wise, it seems like the galaxy far, far away isn’t ready for a Barry Jenkins or an Ava DuVernay, much as we would like them to be.

Will this point end up mattering in the long run? That’s where the box office comes back in, because it’s hard to deny that the Lucasfilm method works when the next movie is, again, looking to make $200 million. The franchise has endured for 40 years as of this year, and considering that this trilogy won’t be done until 2019, a solid 50 seems pretty much within reach.

Meanwhile, Marvel is just reaching 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s trying some new things and getting some results … especially with Thor: Ragnarok still sporting a 98% in terms of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Next: 3 suggestions for Star Wars: Episode IX (and J.J. Abrams)

Do Waititi’s comments have an effect on your Star Wars and Marvel thoughts, or are you ready to see both The Last Jedi and Ragnarok to help close out 2017?