That may not seem like a big deal, but remember for films that are forty years old you still see new merchandise from the Original Trilogy while the new stuff hardly moves.

That's true. But the concept of Star Wars is considered old to anyone born after 1995. In 1977 the concept was something new and shiny. Plus they didn't have iPhones and Xboxes. There's a lot of factors why Star Wars merchandise doesn't move like it used to.

There was still merchandise in plentiful amounts after the prequels and it still sold. There still is plenty of stuff out there but the new stuff isn’t selling as well as it could be. Part of that could be overproduction but I do think souring fanboys is going to hurt that aspect of the brand. That also carries over to that segment of the fanbase who have kids not buying as much for them.

While many in the industry argue that five months is too soon for another Star Wars movie following Last Jedi, the fact of the matter is moviegoing is a product-driven business (duh). Solo arrived in the marketplace with too much stink about its behind-the-scenes melodrama, which spread like wildfire on social, and likely impacted critical and audience perception. Even if you pushed Solo to Christmas, it would still have a blemish. Despite the movie’s solid positive exit scores, Solo‘s problem isn’t with audiences leaving the theater, but getting the non-fans in the door. While fanboys may not discriminate on movie ticket pricing, a family of six is going to think twice before they rush to Solo. We’ll see how overseas fares this weekend before we analyze Solo‘s losses. But saying that Disney won’t endure a write-down due to Star Wars merchandising is foolish. That’s an excuse up there with “the dog ate my homework.” First, franchise pics that bomb don’t yield toy sales, especially in this landscape with Toys R Us out of business, a toy retailer that owned a 15% market share. Second, industry sources inform Deadlinethat Last Jedi missed its $600M merchandise revenue target with a $450M take. As an aside, we hear that small town exhibitors were still on the hook to paying Disney a 65% rental on Solo, but without the four-week commitment that came with Last Jedi.