Interesting conversation going here. My take:
1. Star Wars IV, V, VI were well done. They pushed the envelope of special effects and laid the ground work for generations. The stories were not complex but something everyone could believe in. Dialog was decent and those chose actors that really brought those characters to life.
2. Star Wars I, II, III - CGI was created and became main stream. Like too many directors with a new toy, Lucas didn't know when to stop. I suspect with the emphasis on the CGI, the story line and dialog didn't get as much attention as the first trilogy. Instead of relying on good acting and directing, Lucas relied on CGI and "cute" gimics because he could. Because you could doesn't mean you should. I suspect, but can't prove, that Jar Jar and his kin were created to appeal to little kids. Only little kids didn't like him either. I don't know if it was an attempt to increase merchandising or just being out of touch, but it didn't work. Movie making is incredibly difficult but yet incredibly easy. Directors need to ask themselves "Does this CGI special effect or character add to the story or it being done just because I can?" If it doesn't add to the story, then it shouldn't be done.
3. Disney buys Lucasfilm and we get VII, VIII, IX - Disney needed to show to the shareholders that it was correct in spending $4.XX Billion. I can't prove it, but I suspect the new head of the Star Wars franchise felt tehy had to show they were worthy and could run a franchise that was the equal to the Marvel franchise. Only, there wasn't a cohesive plan in place for the storyline and Rian Johnson wasn't the right choice of director and took it off in a direction that created a lot of problems with VIII. I didn't mind JJ Abrams vision, but JJ Abrams mistakenly felt he has to create a sense of urgency so he created the artificial sense of urgency in VII and IX. I think that detracted from the overall experience. IX wasn't a bad movie at all but suffered from trying to get the story line back on track from Rian Johnson.
3b. Then they want to expand on the universe. Rogue 1 was well done and enjoyable. It added to the SW universe nicely. Then came the decision to do SOLO. Solo was a mistake to make as a film. That is such an iconic character with such an iconic looking actor that many, many fans had concerns. Then the wrong directors were hired. We can look on it with 20/20 hindsight, but really, how in the hell were they thinking in hiring them based on their previous work? I thought it was a bad idea and I'm not in the business! And, oh wait, it was poop and then the head got pissed because she hired what everyone knew was the wrong directors and got garbage for a movie as the result. So now you fire them, bring in Ron Howard, spend even more money for re-shoots, and have a poop ton of bad press because of the clusterf@@k created because of the rush to make money and not putting together a cohesive long term plan that works for the fans and the SW universe. Again, just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do something. Solo was a movie that shouldn't have been made.
4. Time out and a re-boot. Taking a time out really was good idea. It should have been done BEFORE making VII. Get a cohesive long term plan and the leadership needs to understand the audience for the SW universe. So they go "safe" and start dipping their toes in the water with The Mandelorian. Oops, it's a freaking phenomenon. Only, the casting isn't always perfect. Pablo Pascal is problematic and did a decent job. Could have been better, but did a nice job (WW84 was pure crap performance). Gina Corano lacks decent acting skills. I can see wanting to get someone in there that has street cred, but there are a lot of very fit/tough women out there that actually can act. I didn't mind her, but someone with better acting skill would have added more to the story. Overall, good directing, etc. But now you have controversy because you didn't vet the actors very well just like you did with Rian Johnson and the two lumps you hired to direct SOLO. I see a breakdown in personnel decisions in the rush to make money. I don't think they have the right person in charge of the SW universe or at least the results so far indicate they didn't promote the right person. There are consistent systemic failures taking place with very serious box office financial impacts.
Overall, Disney has a problem with not having a cohesive and consistent approach to the people they hire and how controversies are handled. We saw the same thing with James Gunn. Gunn also shouldn't have put that tweet out there so many years ago. But firing Gunn off Guardians III was a knee jerk reaction. I suspect they wanted to get out the contract they had with Gina and used that as an excuse. Otherwise, it just makes Disney look more incompetent than they have done by themselves with the SW universe.
