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Monday, November 27, 2023

STAR WARS THE HIGH REPUBLIC... HEADS FOR NEW LOW WITH ABYSMAL BOOK SALES!

Most of y'all don't even know that "Star Wars: The High Republic" is a thing. Well, it was, a few years ago. And it's gradually winding down to a close, because of the abysmal book sales numbers. And the numbers just don't lie.

The High Republic was launched as a new initiative back in 2020/2021, after Kathleen Kennedy and her all-female Story Group had previously declared that all of the former Extended Universe SW Books were no longer cannon for Star Wars lore. So if you had been collecting books since 1985 or earlier, they were all trash, in terms of their continuity and lore.

The creation, marketing and launch of the High Republic is rumored to have cost over 1 Billion Dollars. And from the infamous Youtube trailer over HERE, a lot of older fans were surprised to see The White Board [shown on the right], which listed the priorities for this new SW initiative, which would target a new diverse audience.

Clearly this was going to be "Star Wars By Committee". And having "war" within "star wars" was not a priority. Modern Themes like "Diversity" and "Feelings" were going to be very, very, VERY important. And if your personal ideology, your moral mentality, and your sexual preferences didn't align with that of the committee, you were not going to be hired here.

And these epic, new, fresh, High Republic tales were all set 200 years before the events of the George Lucas Prequel Trilogy films, while those that didn't like it were tagged as the nasty mean r#cists and the various phobes.

FYI, when people foolishly call you stuff like that online, simply because you don't like a bad product, a poorly written book, or a crappy movie, then they're attempting to hold up an insecure shield for their own foolish ignorance. You're not the one with a phobia; it's them. And it's called the fear of sound criticism.

Hollywood is slowly learning that when a bad Disney movie fails nationally or globally, it's not because of negative Twitter comments or negative Youtube influencer videos. It's because the general audience just didn't bother to go see it, especially when the movie ticket prices have all gone up considerably, and the movie was just... bad, as signified by the trailers, and as reported by the word of mouth.
It's just this simple: Bad Movie = Bad Sales. And Good Movie = Good Sales.

Now let's get back to the pointless High Republic.
So a bunch of activist writers, diversity experts, and other new-age folks were hired to write the swanky tales of The High Republic. And it would be divided into Three or Four Phases. And gosh golly, by all the freakin' colors of the rainbow, it was just gonna succeed, darn it!.... Yaasss, gurrrl, oh yes it was!

But only the first book from Phase One by Charles Soule sold roughly 150,000 copies, in 2021. After that, the sales dived down hill, for the multiple titles released under their High Republic banner, in Phases One, Two and Three. And one of the latest sale charts reads that a High Republic title sold less than 3,000 books in 2023. Yet the Timothy Zahn Trilogy books [featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn] from the 90s have sold more than 15 million copies to date. That's proof that the fans have just walked away. And even the so-called new diverse audience don't want to spend their money on trash.
Honestly those audience members have always been there. And they also appreciate quality stories, just like everyone else ;)

There was a time when Star Wars books sold in the millions. But not anymore. How times have changed. And the one thing keeping Lucas Film & Disney from correcting their course... is their stubborn pride.

You can watch this Youtube video from a Star Wars fan called Drunk3PO for more detailed info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDWQ02Sf0i0