{"id":10714,"date":"2017-12-12T04:29:15","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T04:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10714"},"modified":"2017-12-13T04:32:47","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T04:32:47","slug":"the-secret-behind-the-success-of-the-new-star-wars-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-secret-behind-the-success-of-the-new-star-wars-films\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret behind the success of the new ‘Star Wars’ films"},"content":{"rendered":"

Subimal Chatterjee<\/a>, Binghamton University, State University of New York<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the 40 years since the original \u201cStar Wars\u201d film premiered, the franchise has been a pop culture powerhouse. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Last Jedi\u201d \u2013 the latest edition in the series \u2013 looks to continue the trend, with huge box office returns expected<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It also looks poised<\/a> to join \u201cThe Force Awakens\u201d (93 percent<\/a> on Rotten Tomatoes) and \u201cRogue One\u201d (85 percent<\/a>) as \u201cStar Wars\u201d films that are both commercially and critically successful.<\/p>\n

Not all \u201cStar Wars\u201d films have hit that sweet spot. It\u2019s sometimes easy to forget the prequel trilogy \u2013 \u201cThe Phantom Menace\u201d (1999), \u201cAttack of the Clones\u201d (2002) and \u201cRevenge of the Sith\u201d (2005) \u2013 wasn\u2019t met with the same enthusiastic response from critics and fans<\/a>, and hasn\u2019t been looked upon kindly since.<\/p>\n

What made the prequel trilogy such a (relative) dud? Why are the more recent films being so much better received?<\/p>\n

If it isn\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it<\/h2>\n

Research I helped conduct<\/a> on what makes for a good extension (sequel or prequel) may provide some insight. <\/p>\n

My colleagues and I tracked audience reactions to sequels and prequels over the course of nearly a hundred franchises, from \u201cPsycho\u201d to \u201cX-Men.\u201d <\/p>\n

Our results show that the successful franchises make smaller, gradual updates \u2013 rather than sweeping changes \u2013 in each successive film. And it fits well with what we know about audience behavior: They seek a balance between the familiar and the new; while they aren\u2019t looking for a carbon copy of the originals, they\u2019re hoping to relive some of the most vivid, nostalgic moments from the first films. <\/p>\n

With these findings in mind, let\u2019s reexamine prequel series of \u201cStar Wars.\u201d When \u201cThe Phantom Menace,\u201d the first of the prequels, was released in 1999, it had been 16 years since audiences had seen a new \u201cStar Wars\u201d film. (The original trilogy had just finished up a successful theatrical re-release<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

But fans hoping to relive the magic of the originals were in for a surprise.<\/p>\n

The beloved trio of Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) gave way to new faces: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman. Instead of relying on real sets, miniatures and models<\/a> to pull off the breathtaking special effects in the originals, director George Lucas opted mostly for computer-generated and digital effects. There were also changes to the rules of the \u201cStar Wars\u201d world. The Force was no longer being described as an all-encompassing life force that bound everyone together; it was now being explained as the result of special biological cells called \u201cmidichlorians.\u201d (And I won\u2019t even go into the widely loathed Jar Jar Binks<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

Out with the new, in with the old<\/h2>\n

In contrast the newest film, \u201cThe Last Jedi,\u201d includes many of the original cast members. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher return to portray Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, respectively. And it features the popular \u201chero\u2019s journey\u201d plot device<\/a> of the original films, in which an ordinary person\u2019s life is unexpectedly upended, and he is thrust into the role of the hero.<\/p>\n

We see this phenomenon in other film series and even product lines. Though the lead actor will occasionally change, the James Bond series never strays from its action-film formula. Apple has a similar approach when releasing new iPhones; before taking the leap to a radically new version, it will release an incremental \u201cS\u201d version of the previous model as a bridge.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t to say the new \u201cStar Wars\u201d films aren\u2019t making any changes: There are more female protagonists, in addition to a host of new characters. But this isn\u2019t exactly shattering fans\u2019 expectations. <\/p>\n

Our research also found that the deeper into a franchise you get, the more major changes audiences are willing to accept. The next<\/a> \u201cStar Wars\u201d trilogy will expand the boundaries of the \u201cStar Wars\u201d world, exploring planets and featuring characters not yet seen on film. <\/p>\n

With this move, the studio is willing to bet that audiences are finally ready to accept some major changes in the franchise \u2013 something they weren\u2019t quite ready for yet when the prequels were released. <\/p>\n

\"TheHowever, in order to ensure the Force remains strong over the franchise\u2019s lifetime, these future films would be wise to continue including at least a handful of nods to the original trilogy.<\/p>\n

Subimal Chatterjee<\/a>, Professor of Marketing, Binghamton University, State University of New York<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Subimal Chatterjee, Binghamton University, State University of New York In the 40 years since the original \u201cStar Wars\u201d film premiered, the franchise has been a pop culture powerhouse. \u201cThe Last Jedi\u201d \u2013 the latest edition in the series \u2013 looks to continue the trend, with huge box office returns expected. It also looks poised to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":10715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[3688,3364,2876,2225,209,403,3689],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10716,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714\/revisions\/10716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}