Studio Lucasfilm continues to consistently prove that her PR staff are the most helpless in Hollywood. Believe it or not, they again forgot to congratulate the legendary black actor from the franchise on his birthday. “star Wars“(Star Wars).
In January, the assistant heads of the studio Kathleen Kennedy “forgot“about the anniversary of the voice Darth Vader – legendary actor James Earl Jones… Well, now it’s the turn of an equally eminent actor Billy Dee Williamswho played in the trilogy George Lucas charming swindler Lando Calrissiana…
On April 6, the artist turned 84 years old, but the head office of Lucasfilm in the United States remained silent. Moreover, congratulations were not published by representatives of the studio in other countries (Great Britain, Russia, and so on), who in January had the tact to remember their birthday James Earl Jones…
According to fans, the voice of Darth Vader was not congratulated because of the actor’s connections with the US Republican Party. With Billy Dee Williams, things are a little more complicated. The actor is supposed to appear in a new series. “Lando“(Lando), which was announced at the end of 2023. At the same time, Lucasfilm declared the character pansexual a few years ago.
Billy Dee Williams himself quite sharply stated in an interview that he does not understand the meaning of the word “gender fluid”. He later apologized, but in 2023, even silence is enough for a new attempt to “cancel” the actors (Chris Pratt will not let you lie).
Interestingly, the official “Star Wars” Twitter account has been silent since April 1, although before that, posts appeared on it almost on a daily basis. And people started building theories about the reshuffle in Lucasfilm’s PR department.
Humiliated and insulted
The last couple of months can be called a “black streak” for the studio, which is losing to fans on all fronts. The catalyst was the dismissal of the actress Gina Carano from the series “Mandalorian“(The mandalorian), which Disney has not yet officially recognized (!!!).
According to the sources The hollywood reporter, the decision on Carano was made by the management of Lucasfilm. However, Kathleen Kennedy’s team had a cruel miscalculation, and the head of the Mickey’s houses Mouse Bob Capek…
If you are not in the know, the comments under the official Lucasfilm publications at Facebook and Twitter 90% of it is made up of criticism and jokes from fans who accuse the studio management of hypocrisy. The situation is no better on Youtube, where in recent months only one video has not drowned in dislikes – a new trailer for the animated series Dave Filoni “Star Wars: Bad Batch“(The bad batch).
Even the official channel got it American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in which Kathleen Kennedy’s speech was published. As a result, the likes / dislikes counter and comments were turned off under the video, but the army of fans at the same time drowned neighboring videos in the negative.
Lucasfilm’s attempts to change the media background were unsuccessful. One of the funniest flops was the animated promotional video for the setting. “Rise of the Republic“(The high republic). The video told about the crew of a spaceship called “Ship“. It consists of an eccentric asexual pilot Leoksa Gyasi and black pilot girl Affie Hollow… And the navigator is a piece of stone named Geode…
The audience’s reaction was so violent that the video was quickly removed from Instagram, and it was never officially published on the YouTube channel.
Recently, many users were unpleasantly surprised announcement of changesprepared by the YouTube administration. So, it is planned to remove the counter of dislikes from the site, and only channel owners will be able to see it. Some bloggers have suggested that the video hosting decision is directly related to the fan attack directed against Kathleen Kennedy.
However, a more likely explanation is pressure from the team of the President of the United States Joe Biden, the videos of which are drowning in dilizilkah. According to the blog 81m.org, which monitors changes in the statistics of videos published by the White House press service, out of 3.7 million displayed dislikes, 2.5 million allegedly disappeared at once, which the moderators could consider “spam”. But this does not help to change the negative trend yet.
Review bombing is one of the main weapons of a disaffected audience. And the YouTube administration may well find itself under pressure from large partners and advertising providers who do not like the current situation.
The Twitter administration, which is now putting a spoke in the wheels of Gina Carano, did not stand aside either. Recently it became known that during the transition to the microblogging of the actress pops up a warning about “sensitive content”.
Mouse cape on fire
A PR disaster hit Disney as well. So, edition Forbes published an article criticizing the policies of the House of Mickey Mouse. Interestingly, it was not Kathleen Kennedy who was under attack, but the head of the company, Bob Chapek.
The author of the material was made by a consultant and an employee University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Gin del Vecchio… He accused Disney of hypocrisy and opacity.
The arguments are simple and straightforward. Gina Carano was fired for posting an “anti-Semitic” message on social media that drew parallels between attempts to silence conservatives in the United States and the Holocaust in Europe. But her colleague Pedro Pascal is for laying out much more provocative messages were not punished.
As the author writes, the expulsion of the actress only confirmed her point of view. He also draws parallels with the McCarthy era in the 1950s, when several dozen prominent Hollywood filmmakers were blacklisted on charges of sympathizing with the Communists.
As the bloggers found out, before or after the publication of the article in Forbes, Gin del Vecchio deleted his Twitter account. It is also strange that a journalist specializes in the publication on the topic of Hollywood. Scott Mendelssohn.
What is happening looks like a planned attack on Bob Chapek, who was called upon to clear his mouse stables. That being said, Forbes is still an influential publication, read by businessmen and investors, and signaled to a big problem called Lucasfilm. In 2023, Kennedy’s contract expires, but Chapek publicly stood up for his subordinate, expressing hope for further cooperation.
Sore spot Marvel
The final chord was the preliminary reports of analytical companies devoted to the “streaming war”. They are not 100% accurate, but the news does provide food for thought.
After the dismissal of Gina Carano, a flash mob was initiated on the Web #CancelDisneyPlus, in which people exponentially canceled their subscription to the streaming service. Insiders signaled that the campaign not only bore some fruit, but also spoiled the mood of the studio’s management Marvel, who became a collateral victim of the showdown around “Star Wars”.
As reported by the analytical platform Samba TV, launch of a publicized series “Falcon and the Winter Soldier“(The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) could not overtake by movie views “Justice League Zach Snyder“(Zack Snyder’s Justice League). The first in the United States was watched by 1.7 million households on the premiere day, the second – by 1.8 million. Moreover, a long-suffering project Zach Snyder turned out to be not even the most successful release of HBO Max, because at the end of March the film took the lead “Godzilla vs. Kong“(Godzilla vs. Kong).
You need to understand that by the size of the subscriber base HBO Max much inferior Disney +… “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” was still able to overtake the series “The Mandalorian” and “Wanda Vision“(WandaVision), but the gap cannot be called colossal. Obviously, there has been stagnation, although the number of subscribers should have grown. And one of its reasons may be precisely Lucasfilm.
According to the blog Midnight’s Edge, the collapse began in the midst of the show of the series “WandaVision” in February 2023. Insider WDW Pro added that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn’t start as well in March as Disney and Marvel expected.
Kathleen Kennedy’s team urgently needs to reverse the negative trend and enlist the support of an audience she does not like and fear. There is almost no time left – May 4 is celebrated Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you), within which Lucasfilm will make a number of anos.
See also: “A real treasure”: The head of Disney does not plan to fire Kathleen Kennedy
The Woman Who Destroyed Star Wars: Oscars Feel the Kathleen Kennedy Effect
Gina Carano: I’m not the only victim of Lucasfilm bullying
Mickey Mouse’s Pocket SJW Army, or Twitter Stalkers Want to “Undo” Rosario Dawson
Rumor: Jon Favreau fights Lucasfilm for control of MandoVerse
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