3. Deviating From Historical Precedent
In the 28 years between 1977 and 2005, only six Star Wars films were released. If Disney maintains its current release schedule, they will nearly equal that number between 2015 and 2020, with the entries in the main saga coming every two years instead of the traditional three. Even disregarding the existence of the standalone projects that will be popping up every year in between, there is a huge difference between six years and nine years for a Star Wars trilogy. For starters, two years is an incredibly tight window in which to produce a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster when pre-production, principal photography, post-production, advertising, and merchandising are all taken into account. Additionally, a truncated production schedule requires cast and crew members to be willing to make Star Wars a full-time job for six solid years, which can have a potentially detrimental effect on the available talent pool. Finally, that extra third year is invaluable for building public anticipation to a fever pitch. As anyone who was online in 1998 can tell you, the rumors and speculation surrounding the upcoming prequel trilogy were a large factor in driving the growth of the internet itself. This pattern repeated itself in early 2002 as the Episode II release date drew near, and again in early 2005 leading up to Episode III. Had the prequel trilogy films been released at two-year intervals rather than three, the crescendos of speculation and anticipation simply would not have developed to the point that it did, and the box office performance of the latter two episodes may quite possibly have suffered from it.