Star Wars 7x7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy

Okay, once more with feeling. The notion of "brand fatigue" can express itself in different ways. I took a very informal poll in a few Star-Wars-focused Facebook groups where it would be unlikely to encounter the sorts of people who have been raging about The Last Jedi, with the intent of exploring an idea - had people gone to see the new Star Wars movies less often with each new release? Not out of liking or not liking, but because of other (and possibly fatigue-related) factors? Punch it!

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The first three new Star Wars movies were about 50/50 in terms of their North American box office versus their non-North-American box office. Solo: A Star Wars Story is not - it's much stronger in North America versus the rest of the world. What gives? Deadline Hollywood tried to get some answers, and I've got questions (and answers) about the answers from some of their anonymous industry sources. Punch it!

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Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

Yeah, yeah, Thor: Ragnarok came out in November, and Black Panther came out in February, and Avengers: Infinity War came out in April, and they were all boffo at the box office, so is this brand fatigue thing real? Why yes, it's a real thing! Maybe not the *whole* thing, but worth considering. And in today's episode, I'm talking about the other reason why you can't compare the MCU of 2018 to the Star Wars of 2018. It has to do with all of those Marvel end-credits scenes... Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

While we wait to see how Solo: A Star Wars Story does at the box office in its second weekend, I thought I'd take a deeper look at the idea of "brand fatigue" as it (potentially) relates to Star Wars. One of the main arguments against the brand fatigue theory is the case of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Folks are saying, "Look at Black Panther and Infinity War coming out within two months of each other, and both of them are making tons of money. How could anyone be tired of Star Wars by comparison?"

Well, the issue is that we should be comparing this new era of Star Wars to the *start* of the MCU in 2008, and not what the MCU looks like in 2018. Not to mention that everyone who says Lucasfilm has released "four movies in three and a half years" is doing the math wrong (and I didn't catch it myself until this very episode). Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

Back in early May, I did an episode covering what Lucasfilm did to celebrate May the 4th (Star Wars Day). One of those things was to release a commercial that, at the time, I didn't want to talk about on the podcast because it was something that I wished I had seen for the first time in the theater while watching Solo: A Star Wars Story. Well, now I'm pulling back the curtain on that one and talking about the moment I thought to myself, "Solo's going to be okay after all." Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

If your only experience with Star Wars is the movies themselves, you may have watched Solo: A Star Wars Story and thought to yourself, "How did THAT character show up at the end of the movie?!" If you're versed in the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoon series, you probably weren't as shocked as everyone else, but still.

On today's episode, the brief history of that character leading up to the surprise Solo appearance, plus a note from the Corrections Department about the error in my box office reporting on yesterday's episode. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

With all the headlines saying that Solo: A Star Wars Story is a "bomb," is "crashing" at the box office, and other clever things like that, it's tougher to find some positive news about how Solo did over the long Memorial Day weekend. But the details are there, if you only know where to look... Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

Fans skewing the narrative? Bad PR over the director change? Earlier critics' reviews? Memorial Day competition? Brand fatigue? I'm ranking these and a couple other possibilities to explain why Solo: A Star Wars Story is not performing up to its (lowered, even) expectations at the box office. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

Well, the user scores for Solo: A Star Wars Story on Rotten Tomatoes have jumped from 38% to 58% since its Thursday release, but as we all know, that score is being heavily skewed by people who still have an ax to grind about The Last Jedi. But as we talked about with The Last Jedi, there are a couple of sources for audience reactions that movie studios trust WAY more than any online user review situation. On today's podcast, I'm talking about the CinemaScore and PostTrack results for Solo, comparing them to the results for the other three new Star Wars movies, and sharing what Solo's scores suggest about what its total take at the box office will be. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!

Warning! Spoilers on the show today for Solo: A Star Wars Story. I'm connecting a few threads here, including: the recent news about momentum on a Boba Fett movie; the old rumor about an Obi-Wan movie; the fact that Obi-Wan is causing trouble to a certain gangster in the new comics; the reference in Solo to another (but unnamed) gangster; and the surprise appearance of THAT character at the end of Solo. It's a bit of a stretch, but when you also thrown in our conversation about Lucas, Kasdan, and Kennedy talking about what movies the fans would love to see, and the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ... well, let me lay out the case for a Scoundrels Cinematic Universe for you. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Go to http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to donate to the Star Wars 7x7 podcast, and you'll get some fabulous rewards for your pledge.***

Check out SW7x7.com for full Star Wars 7x7 show notes and links, and to comment on any of the content of this episode! If you like what you've heard, please leave me a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher, which will also help more people discover this Star Wars podcast.

Don't forget to join the Star Wars 7x7 fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SW7x7, and follow the breaking news Twitter feed at Twitter.com/SW7x7Podcast. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram as "SW7x7" too, and I'd love to connect with you there!