Bookmark this on Delicious
Proving, once again, that the ‘Fanboy’ definition of ‘everybody’
doesn’t match the dictionary definition, the complete Saga box set outsold the separate
‘original’ and ‘prequel’ trilogy sets to set a global Blu-ray sales record. It
sold over a million copies and took $84m worldwide; despite a called for “boycott”
by diehard fans unhappy that Lucasfilm has chosen not to release the theatrical
versions of the original trilogy on Blu-Ray.
515,000 were sold in North America which was enough not only
to see it come in at number 2 (behind Thor) in the Blu-Ray charts, but also to
reach number 3 (behind number 1 Thor & number 2 X-Men: FC) in the convinced
DVD & Blu-Ray charts. That’s some feat, especially for a set that contains
3 prequels that “everybody” hates and 3 tinkered with originals that “everyone”
despises.
So what does this say about all the noise we’ve had these
few weeks and months? Well there’s no doubting that a decent percentage of the Star
Wars generation, those who actually went to see the first set of films in the
cinema in the 70s & 80s, are not happy with Lucas’ constant updating of the
original trilogy. But, and this is something far too many of them fail to see,
there’s also a significant number of that group who really don’t care, or don’t
care enough to make such a big deal out of it. Just as there are plenty of Star
Trek fans who watch all the shows and love them dearly, without feeling a
compulsion to dress up lie the characters and learn Klingon, there are those
Star Wars fans who love the films, but never turned it into something that defined
their lives, into this mythical film / set of films that were somehow perfect.
(Except for the Ewoks that they mostly loved the first 50 times they saw Return
of The Jedi.) Add to this the fact that millions of people actually got into
Star Wars AFTER seeing the prequels, Phantom Menace especially, so to many them
the original films aren’t sacrosanct anyway, a fair amount would view them as
the extra films that come with the ones they really love. (Although I, like
many, find it hard t imagine how anyone could bear Star Wars: Episode II, there
are many people out there who find that film not only the best of the prequel
trilogy, but the best of all six; which goes to prove that “everyone” is
different and that people really should stop assuming that “everyone” thinks
any one thing at all.)
Then there’s the general weakness of the human being: Even a
reasonable number of those who really wanted to avoid buying this set, because
they want the unaltered versions and because they really dislike the changes
that are always being made, will simply have given into the inevitable and
bought the films anyway. What is telling though is that h entire set has been
bough and not the original trilogy on its own. If what the naysayers have been
saying for years were true, surely that set would have been the biggest seller,
with the complete and prequel trilogy
sets selling fewer units?
Of course there’s a long way to go yet, we’ll really know
what’s going on when we see what’s been sold after Christmas, but force really
doesn’t belong to the boycott right now, nor does it belong to those ‘fans’ who
ran all over the internet (Amazon especially) giving lowest possible scores in
reviews of a box set they hadn’t even seen.
Personally I still think that George Lucas should just
remake Star Wars (as in Ep IV) and be done with it. The man had a lot of talent
and it may still be there, but as long as he continues to let Star Wars consume
the bulk of his career, we’ll never really see it. Maybe he can achieve his “perfect”
vision for Star Wars if he just remakes
the thing with all modern tech and 3D; then the original versions can be left alone,
untouched and everyone will be happy. (More on that theory in a later post.)
No comments:
Post a Comment