Star Wars: Maybe a Rian Johnson trilogy isn’t such a great idea after all
By Buckie Wells
Though Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened more than a month ago, Rian Johnson keeps making headlines defending his movie, which may point to a bigger problem.
Whether it’s the prequel, sequel or original trilogy, there’s no right answer as to which Star Wars film trilogy is the best. Everyone says a different answer when you ask them because it’s been around for 40 years and covers several generations. The Star Wars film ranking is entirely opinion based, which means, you either did or totally did not like Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Rest assured, we’re not here to talk about the merits of the film. However you feel about the film, that’s something between you, the movie and whoever is kind enough to listen to your detailed spiel about Luke Skywalker’s Super Saiyan Force projection across the galaxy.
We have a bigger problem now, and his name is Rian Johnson.
Since the movie came out on Dec. 15, 2017, it’s been an out and out battle between Rian Johnson and any The Last Jedi detractors. The more I think about it, the clearer it becomes that we should’ve seen this coming when the director straight-up lied about Kylo Ren’s scar. At the time, it seemed like a fun faux pas, but now it can be perceived as the first time Johnson crumbled under pressure.
And he hasn’t stopped crumbling since. Crumbling/defending, call it what you will. Either way, why does he keep doing it?
From openly admitting he “should stay out of this” to confessing he likes to argue about aspects of the film, it seems like Johnson could cool it on Twitter. Moderation is key on social media, right? Promoting a film and some discussion are expected, but public defiance as demonstrated in this tweet here is a little extra.
At this point, it just feels really immature.
So, then we move into his obsession with defending his creative decisions … as if the debates within the fandom weren’t hot enough. Though our latest headline seems to be “Rian Johnson responds to porn star with an emoji because why the hell not?“, he also stated he wouldn’t change a thing. If that’s the case, can he stop talking about it then?
What will this mean for the Rian Johnson trilogy?
Before The Last Jedi opened, Lucasfilm announced that Rian Johnson would be creating his own separate Star Wars trilogy apart from the saga films. Obviously, there are few details to go on at this time, but I’m not sure I can handle another three Star Wars from this director.
It’s not that I have a personal problem with his film style, but can Star Wars sustain three more The Last Jedi debacles? The Last Jedi‘s billion-dollar box office win was driven in part by The Force Awakens as fans clambered to see what happened next. Thanks to word of mouth and fans’ reactions, the film dropped 69 percent in its second weekend. Furthermore, it didn’t land well in China and Jumanji pretty much took over during the holidays.
Disney, Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy are in the billion-dollar game now and don’t want to gamble with three films that can’t hit a billion. If a portion of the fandom (and a very important portion of it, unfortunately, as die-hard fans generate a lot of revenue) don’t like Johnson, combined with Johnson’s social media temperament and inability to stop Rian-splaining, maybe the studio should think about quietly putting that project on the back burner for, like, ever.
Or let’s start with one and see how that goes, at least.
Related Story: Our first look at Rey’s deleted Ahch-To scene from The Last Jedi
Now, here’s a real conspiracy: Lucasfilm knew The Last Jedi would be controversial and floated out the super positive RJT (that’s Rian Johnson Trilogy) headline to get people really hyped for opening weekend in anticipation of that second-weekend drop.
What do you guys think? More Rian Johnson or should we just try to get through Solo first?