OldBoy

so, i was thinking in 100 years will this still be as big as it is now or was?

it is such a multi-generational appeal type movie, but 100 from now, i don't know.

stvn1974

I think it will be popular but not as it is today. People still read Shakespeare, Dickens and Twain and listen to Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. Lord Of The Rings is still discovered by new generations and will continue to do so.

The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd will continue to be popular 100 years from now and the same will go for Star Wars with films and Harry Potter and LOTR when it comes to the novels. Not sure about those two film wise.

Solid Snake

Yeah. Not sure if the HP and LoTR films will be as memorable as something like SW. HP and LoTR aren't really mind blowing compared to what SW did as a culture and in the film industry. They're big but... I dunno. LoTR changed things a little but... still nothing as monumental to the impact SW had in 1977 onward.

How much have HP and LoTR had aside from maintaining a franchise mentality for the studios? Not saying they're totally to blame but... I'm sure it influenced it a bit.

Mike86

One advantage I think Star Wars has over something like The Lord of the Rings is that Disney owns it and you know they'll be making films, shows, etc. for years and years. So new generations are likely to catch on to it at some point in my opinion. Plus really the Original Trilogy has stayed pretty strong as far as popularity a lot longer than a lot of other films that have been more or less forgotten about. Really Star Wars is one of the only brands out there that had films out in the 70s and 80s that still have things like new merchandise and toys on the shelves. I think that's a pretty big testament to how popular it remains.

bluetoast

100 years from now is way fucking longer than a generation.

Groucho

100 years is four generations.

JeffTheAlpaca

Yes if they watch episodes 4-6 since those movies were probably 3 of the best movies ever made and up there with the Godfather.

I doubt anybody will watch the Phantom Menace and be inspired to become a actor after watching Jake Loyd.

I don't think the Force Awakens and the prequels will be looked upon as great movies and probably similar to watching a Spiderman sequel.

Alan Smithee

I voted "Yes" only speaking of it being relevant in the future as much as it is now, not in the late 70s/early 80s. I think the decision to turn it into a "franchise" that will go on forever will spoil it, as not EVERY movie can be a winner (we already saw that with the prequels). When "Return of the Jedi" came out, the plan then was to do 3 movies that took place after that, and 3 that took place before "Star Wars" (or A New Hope if you want to call it that.) Branching off of that is gonna get messy.

van der graaf

I think Spock will definitely remain a familiar character in the popular psyche. Also, maybe the Cylons.

Solid Snake

I barely know what a Cylon is but I don't think Battlestar Galactica is that big of thing compared to the films we're talking about.

I have heard good things about that reemerging of it last time.

van der graaf

dhmac

I remember when the Mel Brooks movie Spaceballs came out in 1987, a movie review that I read called its references to Star Wars "out of date" given that it had been a whole 4 years since the (then) last SW movie was released.

All I could think was what an idiotic thing to say. (I wish I could remember the reviewer's name.)

Star Wars is a cultural icon that just doesn't fade away.

Solid Snake

I do think it was too late and tired for that time. I chuckle at Pizza the Hutt but... it's a mediocre movie w/ some funny bits but it's a very tired film for the most part.

Drexl

Was it really though, at that point?

Cultural things seem to go through a phase of being yesterday's news before becoming "retro-cool." I think a property gets saturated enough that people get tired of it, but then later they get nostalgic and welcome it back (just not everywhere like when it was massively popular).

For example, a reference to Harry Potter might seem dated now, but after another decade it would be cool if it's remembered fondly.

I think SW was kind of dated in 1987. The post-ROTJ stuff on TV wasn't very popular IIRC, and the video games didn't really get back into vogue until the 90s.

Hazel Motes

100 years from now Star Wars won't be nearly as relevant as the Mad Max films which will be seen as prophetic and viewed almost like documentary films.

PhantomStranger

Its relevance will fade from the cultural radar. Star Wars will still be known to future generations but nowhere near the cult level of worship it has received for the past couple of decades. The Boomers and their children are getting older. Those were the people always driving the bus on its cultural prominence. Lucas sold out at about the right time.

Disney will keep it alive in some form but check how Pixar turned out once Disney got the reigns. People will be sick of the franchise by Star Wars XII: The Return of Boba Fett's Third Cousin.

Double_Oh_7

But in 1987 I don't think it was the cultural icon it is today. It became huge with the prequels and the Internet.

Josh-da-man

More like seven where I'm from. (The "Bible Belt.")

Josh-da-man

To be perfectly honest, I don't think that much, if any, of the modern "pop culture" will last one hundred years. Star Wars, Star Trek, Tolkien, Harry Potter.

Just the way society is moving, I think the future belongs to, for lack of a better term, novelty. Most of the things we love now will be mostly forgotten in 2115. The Star Wars hype is most driven by people who grew up on it. After my generation (OT) and the next generation (PT) dies off, it will cease to be a part of popular culture.

Same with music, watch the MTV VMA Awards, and ask yourself if the teenagers watching that are ever going to give two shits about the Beatles or Led Zeppelin. And the generation after them, even less.

A while back I had a thread in book talk here where I touched on this, how stuff like Asimov and Heinlein will be forgotten in the near future.

Shannon Nutt

Don't be silly. Tolkien LOTR books only have about 35 more years to go before it hits the century mark, Star Trek is 50 years old already, and Star Wars isn't far behind. All are going to make their 100th birthdays still being part of the popular culture.

And of course, stuff like Superman, Batman, Mickey Mouse, etc., have already proven they're going to be around forever...the same will be true of the above. I think Harry Potter is the only real one on your list that may fade a bit from memory...but no more or less than say, The Chronicles of Narnia has.

Ash Ketchum

Fixed.

mhg83

One of my biggest fears is Disbey running the franchise into the ground with too many movies. I love that we're getting more SWs but one every year? i would rather have quality over quantity.

Solid Snake

I don't think there's a low they it can hit compared to how Lucas did it. As a business, he did amazing. As thing of quality from a product. He licensed the shit out of it and got many crap to mediocre products related to it. Then his PT. Which was crap. Very little of anything SW in video games, TV, and even film is actually good. The quantity put out in that period before Disney is mostly crap. Sure there's some great stuff w/ the property: Rogue Squadron, SW, ESB, some other games, and probably some books... but it's sooooooo fucking low compared to the crap you almost have to sift through to get to the gold of the property.

Genius businessman though for his term though.

Seems like Disney is trying to do their best in getting quality w/ their quantity for the most part. I've seen a bit of Rebels... wasn't really impressed. Maybe it got better. Add in Kathleen Kennedy seems to really care about the product they're doing. I trust Lucasfilm w/ Kennedy cuz she's grown up in the Lucasfilm product but also cares very much about the work she's directly associated with.

Is Disney treating Lucasfilm like Marvel? They pay the bills and as long as Lucasfilm doesn't turn it to crap... Lucasfilm has absolute freedom?

dhmac

But don't forget that Return of the Jedi was not intended to be the last Star Wars movie ever made. When the original trilogy were being made, the plan was to make a new one every 3 years (if I recall correctly, it was supposed to be episodes 7-9 in 1986, 1989, and 1992. Only after they were done was the prequel trilogy going to be made and released in 1995, 1998, and 2001).

But at some point after ROTJ was released, George Lucas announced that it'll be at least 5 years until the next movie (I think the year cited was 1989, so I guess it was 1984 when this was announced). And at some point, Lucas also said there would only be episodes 1-3 made and nixed the idea for episodes 7-9.

So even in 1987, I thought that were would be a new Star Wars film out a couple of years later. I don't think anyone at the time knew it was going to be another 12 years before that finally happened in 1999.

Yeah, 1987 may have been a low point for Star Wars in general, but I don't think anyone thought there would not be anymore Star Wars made in the future. No one thought it was done and that was it.

Michael Corvin

If Disney can keep Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, et al relevant for 75 years(especially in an era of CG) I think they can do the same for a largely male-centric property.

Also, it's already been 40 years and the SW train is not slowing down.