I keep saying this - Disney does not need Florida. At all. Since their redirection in the Aughts, Disney has been exclusively in the business of the long game. This is why they bought Star Wars with zero concrete ideas on what to do with it. They saw how adult dismissal of the prequels gave way to ironic appreciation and genuine youth appreciation, because Star Wars doesn't have to be good to be profitable - it's fucking Star Wars. same with the Muppets, and Marvel, etc etc.
Disney is well aware of what is coming, ecologically, for Florida. Upkeep costs of a mini-city in a slowly sinking swampland are only rising, and some day the balance sheets will no longer make financial sense. Disney is going to squeeze everything they can from Florida before having to make decisions "with a heavy heart" and all that bs, probably in 50 years or so. And they already built an escape bunker in Shanghai (complete with Winnie the Pooh ride!), so...
They saw how adult dismissal of the prequels gave way to ironic appreciation and genuine youth appreciation
Actually, they initially banked on people's dislike of the prequels. That's why the first line in "The Force Awakens" was "This will begin to make things right." That was their wink at the audience implying "George Lucas lost his way and forgot how to make good Star Wars, but we know better than him and will do it right." Only after there was massive backlash over "The Last Jedi" and "Solo" flopped did they start leaning heavily into prequel nostalgia.
Um, sure, with the movies, but you're forgetting the kids tv and the games that were making money hand over fist during the same time that fans were bemoaning how George ruined his own creation. The point is that Disney knew that Star Wars as a money-maker is mistake-proof, which is why they bought it. It's a perpetual money-making machine, regardless of quality and fan contentment. It's just wide enough that you can always make money on the general idea of Star Wars stuff, even if people don't like the new hotness. You can always sell nostalgia, and even the new stuff is absolutely turning profits. Moichandizing!
The kids that grew up with the sequels will become adults writing sequel defense essays, because they were children and it was Star Wars, so it was perfect, even though it wasn't.
All of the movies sucked. Lucas basically just stole Dune and repackaged it with laser swords. He didn't think there would even be an Ep 5 or 6 and had to write them while they were being made in real-time, no source material, creating all kinds of fuckups in the story, but no one cared. Fuckin laser swords and blasters and a bigfoot with a crossbow and hyperspace. Pew Pew Pew.
I liked the Star Wars verse for a long time, but I never thought it or Lucas were ever brilliant or visionary. They were not.
Dune just didn't have laser swords or Star Wars' marketing.
He borrowed as much if not more from the Flash Gordon serials, John Carter books, and Kurosawa movies than from "Dune". That's how he was so successful: he borrowed a bit here and a bit there from many things rather than ripping off any one thing to an annoying degree.
I keep saying this - Disney does not need Florida. At all. Since their redirection in the Aughts, Disney has been exclusively in the business of the long game. This is why they bought Star Wars with zero concrete ideas on what to do with it. They saw how adult dismissal of the prequels gave way to ironic appreciation and genuine youth appreciation, because Star Wars doesn't have to be good to be profitable - it's fucking Star Wars. same with the Muppets, and Marvel, etc etc.
Disney is well aware of what is coming, ecologically, for Florida. Upkeep costs of a mini-city in a slowly sinking swampland are only rising, and some day the balance sheets will no longer make financial sense. Disney is going to squeeze everything they can from Florida before having to make decisions "with a heavy heart" and all that bs, probably in 50 years or so. And they already built an escape bunker in Shanghai (complete with Winnie the Pooh ride!), so...
Actually, they initially banked on people's dislike of the prequels. That's why the first line in "The Force Awakens" was "This will begin to make things right." That was their wink at the audience implying "George Lucas lost his way and forgot how to make good Star Wars, but we know better than him and will do it right." Only after there was massive backlash over "The Last Jedi" and "Solo" flopped did they start leaning heavily into prequel nostalgia.
Um, sure, with the movies, but you're forgetting the kids tv and the games that were making money hand over fist during the same time that fans were bemoaning how George ruined his own creation. The point is that Disney knew that Star Wars as a money-maker is mistake-proof, which is why they bought it. It's a perpetual money-making machine, regardless of quality and fan contentment. It's just wide enough that you can always make money on the general idea of Star Wars stuff, even if people don't like the new hotness. You can always sell nostalgia, and even the new stuff is absolutely turning profits. Moichandizing!
The kids that grew up with the sequels will become adults writing sequel defense essays, because they were children and it was Star Wars, so it was perfect, even though it wasn't.
You see it pretty clearly.
All of the movies sucked. Lucas basically just stole Dune and repackaged it with laser swords. He didn't think there would even be an Ep 5 or 6 and had to write them while they were being made in real-time, no source material, creating all kinds of fuckups in the story, but no one cared. Fuckin laser swords and blasters and a bigfoot with a crossbow and hyperspace. Pew Pew Pew.
I liked the Star Wars verse for a long time, but I never thought it or Lucas were ever brilliant or visionary. They were not.
Dune just didn't have laser swords or Star Wars' marketing.
He borrowed as much if not more from the Flash Gordon serials, John Carter books, and Kurosawa movies than from "Dune". That's how he was so successful: he borrowed a bit here and a bit there from many things rather than ripping off any one thing to an annoying degree.