Cinema Issues: Betting Against James Cameron

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about the box office for Avatar Fire and Ash

Let’s get a few things clear before we start, films need to make 2.5x their budget to break even as per standard box office analysis, Avatar Fire and Ash had a stated budget of 400 million meaning it needed at least 1 billion to break even. It has now crossed that and broken even.

Let’s also clear up adjusting for inflation, so Avatar 1 made 2.9 billion and Avatar 2 made 2.3 billion, I am going to keep those figures as they are for this piece but know that 2.9 billion in 2009 money is not the same as 2.9 billion in 2025 money by a long shot and if translated to current value would be a lot more.

Additionally let’s say that Avatar and Avatar 2 have had the benefit of being re-released increasing their totals over time.

That said let’s look at the facts.

We have just finished the third box office weekend of Avatar 3’s run and it has just broken a billion dollar mark and is somewhere in the 1-1,2 billion mark. If you compare this to the first 3 weeks of the other two films you may start to see a pattern.

Analysts who study the box office for a living see Fire and Ash ending it’s run at somewhere between 1.5-1.7 billion dollars, this is significantly off where the other films ended their cinematic runs.

These two things suggest a worrying precedent for fans of Pandora. The number of people coming out to watch these films is getting smaller, audience interest is waning as the health of the franchise looks bad. The franchise has entered quite clearly into a spiral of diminished returns, which whilst still being profitable makes the assignment of big budgets, such as the 400 million Avatar commands, hard to come by. There is a real chance that if Avatar 4 is greenlit, that it may struggle to break 1 billion and may end up diminished again and come in around the 1.1 billion dollar mark.

There will be those of you reading going oh only 1.1 billion, as we have established if a film has a 400 million dollar budget it needs 1 billion just to break even, as such it would only make 100 million in profit which for a film of that scale would be a massive disappointment and a bad ROI.

No, even with PVOD, theme park ticket sales, and merch the equation won’t change meaningfully.

All of this leads to my point, I don’t think the Avatar franchise is dead. I think that it needs drastically scaling back and for James Cameron to be brought to heel, he doesn’t need the film to be on for 4 hours with countless filler scenes, they should give him a tight budget and a tight runtime. 250 million dollars is still a large budget, though it is nearly half what Fire and Ash had, however that would be far more suitable for a film that may make in the 1.1 billion range. Disney will be seeing the box office and know that the franchise needs to be brought more in line with the financial reality.

I do not believe that the film will have a second wind in the forth or fifth week of release and do imagine it will hit Disney + by February, I think the estimates are likely and it will run out of steam around the 1.5 billion mark.

None of this is to say that Fire and Ash hasn’t made money simply that in terms of franchise health the box office isn’t a good sign as it is a significant departure from previous films.

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Cinema Issues: Netflix’s Doom

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about is the unsure future for Netflix in the aftermath of Stranger Things.

Netflix had three big shows that people cared about in the current year, they were Wednesday, Stranger Things and Squid Game. Two of those three programs have since ended. The issue becomes what is the value proposition for Netflix going forward, what do they have. Their only remaining, franchise, is you want to call it that which they can keep spamming out new seasons of is Wednesday now. They need new hits, there is an argument that can be made well they are about to get WBD so they will have lots of new content in the medium term, and that may be so, but I am talking about the short term after Stranger Things ends. You can imagine on the second of January masses of people all around the world cancelling Netflix, this is an immediate short term problem.

The issue has been for Netflix for quite some time that they are making slop for second screen viewing, a lot of Netflix originals have flopped after one season and been cancelled, there has been few truly good productions that has lasted the test of the time particularly in the modern era. Early Netflix had shows like House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, Arrested Development etc, but modern Netflix just can’t seem to generate any more mega hits. This really is due to a focus on virality and the need to be the dominant thing online as opposed to quality. One only needs to look at the output of competitor Apple TV to see that Netflix is making a choice in putting internet clout chasing over quality.

Some people will say that Netflix has diversified and that it will be okay due to ventures in sports and gaming, however, the former may get someone to subscribe for a month to watch a game and then leave, but the latter hasn’t shown any potential to get people to come in at all, so the idea that this can make up for the lack of sure fire hits that litter Netflix’s future is lacking.

We could be awakening to a future wherein Netflix is no longer the big dog and has more direct competition, it may even lose some of its market share. These issues could be remedied in the medium term if they get WBD but in the short term there could be a good chance that Apple TV, Prime and Disney could gain ground.

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Cinema Issues: The Death Of The Superhero Genre

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about the death of the Superhero film.

As this year comes to a close it is important to remember that it is the first, non-covid year, in a long while without a superhero film that made over 800 million dollars at the worldwide box office. Neither DC nor Marvel could manage it despite releasing four films in cinemas this year.

This reflects a larger downward trend in the box office for the genre in Post-Endgame world, and possibly that audiences are done with superhero films. Yes I can hear you screeching into the void, but what about Doomsday, what about Spider-Man, what about Secret Wars. Yes likely all three of them will make over 800 million dollars you’d hope, however, a few large outliers doesn’t change the broader pattern. By and large superhero films are dying and there may be a few characters or big event films than can make money but for many characters this likely means relegation as they will now not be seen as likely earners. This means there could be a world wherein there are only one or two event style super hero films a year, or even every few years. This would be a massive contraction.

It is worth noting that even a supposed reboot, under new creative leadership has not been able to stop this problem for DC, so the Marvel plan to do something similar, sans the new leadership, post Secret Wars may not be the shot in the arm needed to keep things healthy. The fact that even a character like Superman could not be a solid earner for DC will have been noted and will be causing alarm.

The issue we have said before many times really is over saturation, a Marvel centric issue, and the production of a large number of bad films, which both are guilty off. Perhaps if superheroes went away for a few years and came back at the start of the next decade then maybe audiences appetite may have returned for everything rather than just the big films.

One thing is for sure though disrespecting your characters and your audience is not going to get people in the door. Something that James Gunn needs to be reminded off if that Supergirl trailer with Superman being pissed on is anything to go by. Arguably those with the creative and decision making power to save the superhero genre are the ones hastening its end.

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Cinema Issues: The Problem With Will Byers

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about the character of Will in Stranger Things and the idea of negative representation.

Post season three of Stranger Things all Will is is an LGBTQ+ youth. The writing strips him of being able to be anything other than his sexuality. Worse yet it makes him hopelessly in love with his straight friend Mike. It makes him act out over the course of season four and believe there is a future there despite the fact his friend is straight. Will expects to be accepted for who he is and yet does not accept that for Mike thinking instead that he can still win him in the end, despite sexuality being an immoveable force.

Recently the actor who plays Will, said in an interview that we would get good representation for Will, being gay, in the next lot of episodes, as heavens knows we haven’t had that yet. The writing presents Will as being catty and mean and trying to break apart Mike and Eleven, and then wants us to feel bad for him as he gets rejected, the fact that he cannot accept it and move on is not a thing worthy of sympathy but rather one that makes him, and by default the movement the show so clearly wants to appeal to and represent look worse. If this was a young man going after a woman, trying to break her up from her partner, then being rejected, then acting the victim, then being obsessed and not moving on, in the modern parlance you would say that made them an awful and unsympathetic character. Yet the moral framing here is that he is gay so it is fine. Wrong. It pushes the gay people are manipulative narrative line.

The fact that the first part of season five simply had Will and Robin discussing that they were gay over and over again, and then Will embracing his gayness granting him superpowers, it is very clear the show doesn’t want to do actual representation that matters but would rather boil theses characters down to one thing, and then present incredibly moral questionable choices as good because otherwise people on the internet would get mad.

It is very interesting to compare Robin and Will in terms of characterisation, and how they are written, Robin has far more going on outside of just being a lesbian, even if season five muddies that a bit, whereas Will just has the upside down, which increasingly he is irrelevant for and being gay.

Increasingly the character doesn’t show positive representation on the show but rather stereotypes and boiled down cliches. It is tokenism plain and simple.

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The MCU Is Dead

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about the MCU and how we got here.

So firstly lets take stock, the MCU has this year put out three films that all failed to break even, released a few tv series no one talked about, Born Again had worse ratings than Agatha, and moved the big prize of an Avengers film further and further away. Disney as a company has also had a reckoning with their audiences and are now moving away from the message and towards entertainment again. There has been senior people in Marvel leaving or stepping down, audiences have not connected with a lot of the phase four and five, and there is a real possibility that Doomsday may not break a billion dollars.

Let’s look at the year ahead as well before we begin, Doomsday is the big ticket item, though a push to the year after next wouldn’t be a surprise. Then you have Spider-Man which will do well as people like the character, he is probably the most popular remaining MCU character, but each time a Spider-Man film is made Disney has to pay Sony and involve them, which they don’t like. Then you have TV series like the second season of Born Again which could be good but I wouldn’t hold my breath, and then TV shows no one cares about such as Wonder Man and more of their animated stuff. There is a real chance that Spider-Man will be all Marvel has that makes a dent next year if they delay Avengers again.

Marvel went from a studio that seemed untouchable to one that looked like it was falling off, as the kids say real quick.

What got us here and what can be done, at this point I would argue that a reboot is needed. I think that whilst yes you can bring back variants of popular characters, it does not work long term and undermines death as a concept in the MCU. I think a real issue is that the characters brought in the later phases have simply not connected in the way Marvel thought they would, and whilst you can blame a rush to the M-She-U, or the fact that a lot of these were girlbosses without proper arcs, you can ultimately just point back to the fact that a lot of these characters, Riri, Ms Marvel, Kamala Khan, are not popular characters and the comics have been saying that for years. In a sense Marvel thought it was too big to fail and so it could push ahead with whatever agenda you want to think they had and that people would stick around when they didn’t. Rebooting things now and bringing back popular characters can fix the character issue but there are broader things at play.

Within certain sects of Hollywood talent there is a need to be outspoken in a progressive way and to insult your audience or attack them for not liking your progressive masterpiece, this has been seen at Marvel on both a talent, as in actors, and behind the scenes level. A fictional entertainment world should never have been making allegories to the real world as blatant as the MCU, and the crew and staff employed knew making very noticeable political statements online would hurt the audience, but they didn’t seem to care. Particularly amongst the phase four and five stars there has been a need to tell people how to think and to insult those who came up with Marvel since the earliest days of the MCU. I am not going to insult your intelligence and explain why this is a bad business move, but I will say that you can bet your money that Marvel now cares a hell of a lot about their lost audiences and plunging viewing figures. This is why you are seeing very obvious attempts to mend fences, with actors who are making insulting statements slowly being pushed out of the MCU and more and more talk of multiversal cameos to bring back characters fans like. The thing that they don’t seem to get is that whilst the people who made those comments who did the things are still employed, a lot of them are, then people aren’t coming back. Marvel as with all studios needs to do an ideological cull, they need to say right we are an entertainment company anyone that wants to run their mouths about the audience or about politics there is the door, and they need to remove the people who have made the comments in the past as well.

Then you have the major issue that exists in the background to the two other things we have discussed, genres come and go, the Western is a tired comparison but an apt one. Increasingly Marvel releases be them shows or films follow the same structure him the same plot beats, explore the same themes, and where this can work more so in comics wherein you are reading every week to find out what a specific character is doing, it doesn’t work so well in a multiconnected universe wherein you have to see everything that comes out.

As such we find ourselves possible witnessing the death of a titan. I don’t believe any amount of cameos, or even a reboot can save it. What would need to happen is three fold, firstly an entire overhaul of the brain trust and writing teams, apologies made for behaviour that alienated fans, the increased presence of liked characters like Spider-Man and a direction away from it being this big interconnected thing. Even then death may find a way.

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Cinema Issues: Don’t Like It Don’t Watch It

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about actors running their mouths in Hollywood and coming break point between activism and actors in general.

As many of you who read my reviews know there is nothing worse than an actor who feels the need to lecture you on politics from their mansion, many times this is also followed with a comment about if you disagree with me you’re evil and you shouldn’t watch my work. This is damaging and just stupid.

Now increasingly I believe, and I believe it has already started happening, there will be contractual stipulations as to what actors can and can’t say and what they can and can’t post whilst they are under contract to either shoot, or promote a film, possibly up until the point of beginning a project until it is released. You can understand why studios would do this as an actor running their mouth about some issue can cost audiences, and can damage the box office of your film as such it is a move motivated by the need to try and keep as many audience members as possible. Whether or not you agree with what these people say is irrelevant what matter is that it can and has had a tangible impact of box office returns before.

To look at this issue more closely lets look at two prominent examples.

Firstly you have Tatianna Maslany, She-Hulk, in the MCU, not only did she attack the fans over that show, which no doubt hurt the ratings, she also personally called out Bob Iger during the writer’s strike, and as a result She-Hulk was removed from the Marvel official banner. She has also told people to cancel Disney + before. You see all of these moves are done to show adherence to activism, she wants to state her politics and she doesn’t care for the consequences, however, the issue becomes when this starts to hurt the bottom line. Celebrities like anyone has a right to speak their mind, but when it starts to hurt the bottom line when you start having people whom you have cast in multimillion dollar shows telling people to cancel your service this becomes a real problem. The issue stems from belief on the celebrity side that they are too big to fail, and that they have a moral duty to do this, at that is at odds with the studio.

Then for our second example you have Oscar Issac, Moon Knight, who when asked about working with Disney said he was wary, and then referenced his disapproval of how Disney handled the Kimmel situation in which he celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk and then was suspended. Issac would imply that this suspension was akin to fascism. This highly privileged take, once again adherence to a cause over career. This is perhaps even worse than what Maslany did as it damages Disney as a brand overall, with an incorrect statement.

The fact is this is a failing of publicists who used to be the class that kept celebrity image in check and made sure they didn’t bite the hand that feeds them like this, but then maybe this sub-set has been co-opted and are pushing for it or have given up controlling their clients. Either way the outcome remains the same with an ever decreasing box office something needs to be done to keep talent in line, and not alienate half the audience, and that likely thing will be contracts that dictate what you can and can’t say and what you can and can’t post when working on a film. This move in all honesty makes sense and is needed, especially as we now live in a post cultural shift society

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Cinema Issues: The Growing Cloud Around Millie Bobby Brown

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about the red flags surrounding Millie Bobby Brown and the increasing risk that she will be a child star who goes down the path of many other child stars, which is to say growing into broken adults, with serious issues.

This post is intended to draw attention and raise awareness rather than being critical of her, and that is the spirit this is being written in.

In my mind there are 5 key areas that need to be discussed.

Firstly is what I am going to call the Miley Cyrus treatment, this is the idea of showing you are a grown up by over sexualising yourself. We can see this with Millie particularly in her blonde phase wherein she is doing a lot of racy photoshoots and dressing in a more revealing way. Now there is nothing wrong with this, but the idea of feeling the need to dispel the idea of being family friendly can and has lead to dark paths for other celebrities before. Moreover, the way Millie has responded to people who are commenting on this to call them ‘bullies’ suggests that she may have a deeper insecurity and worry about her image that these new style moves are trying to fix, and that is why she is getting angry at the coverage. She may be worried about being the ‘little girl from Stranger Things forever’.

Secondly you have the situation with David Harbour, now before we scream ‘ThE DaIlY mAiL lIeD’ lets think about this it was not only the Daily Mail that ran with the story, other people reported it too and this was not just them repeating the Mail’s story they had other people telling them this as well. So whilst this should be taken with a grain of salt it highlights another thing and that is the idea of being difficult. Now, before we get into it what I am referring to is an alleged report that Brown had Netflix conduct an onset investigation into Harbour for ‘bullying’ there is that word again. Now no action was taken against Harbour so it is safe to assume it either wasn’t real, or there was not enough evidence. At the Stranger Things red carpet they were all smiles and loving words towards each other, but then they would be in that situation as Netflix wouldn’t want a falling out to spoil things for the new season. However, the reason why this is here is that it raises a question, was Harbour bad or not. If he wasn’t was this a power move by Brown to try and get top billing for the show, if he was is she being forced to continue in an unsafe environment and what may that be doing for her mental health, and could she be punished, career wise for speaking out.

Then you have the trad wife, the modern day sort of house wife idea, accusations that she really is not getting rid of, there is nothing wrong with being a trad wife if you want to. As long as you are happy and healthy then its fine, however, there is a risk within the movement of unhealthy relationship dynamics and a possibility for controlling situations to arise. It may well be that she is happy away from the spotlight and this is a semi-retirement for her, but it could also mean that she may be rejecting some modern notions of what’s okay in a relationship and women’s individual agency which could open her to further mental damage, which compounds the other things herein.

Following that you have her increased aggressive behaviour, she has had repeated run ins with the press/paparazzi wherein she has sworn at them and been aggressive. Now they probably well deserve it, but it does speak to someone under strain, someone who is not so poised, and whilst that is a good thing , they keep it real, it could also be a worrying indicator. You also have to worry for her that her behaviour could lead to her making enemies amongst the press who may try and hound her for pictures and exclusives in order to trip her up or get her to damage herself or her image. This shouldn’t be the way of Hollywood but often is.

Finally, and I will spend the least time on this as it is the most depressing and sadly true of the internet, you also have all the creepy Millie stans, who are obsessed with her and feel the need to defend her. Whilst these people may have good intentions, the fact they shut down questions around why is she overly sexualising herself like this or is she being bullied on set, doesn’t actually help Brown at all rather the opposite. Plus of course you have the weird creepy sexual side of things with the obsession which is a huge threat to any starlet of course.

When taken in isolation these things seem minor, but when you put them together you have a woman, who may be worried for what her future looks like, torn between wanting a quiet family life and being a celebrity, possibly one in an unsafe environment and one who is not getting proper support due to legions of people who say nothing is wrong.

If you take nothing else from this article take this, there are a number of worrying clouds around Millie Bobby Brown that could lead her down the road that has destroyed many a young talent.

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Cinema Issues: Trump Declares War On Hollywood, Prepare For A Humiliating Climb Down From Donny

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about Trump’s tariffs on all non-American films.

Now I personally am a centrist I think that both sides have some good ideas and some bad ideas, I am not a TDS person and think some of his policy decisions have been good. However, this is not one of them. As you know lots of other countries are offering tax breaks to film there or other financial bonuses this had lead to a lot of production happening now outside of the US. So Trump’s big idea is rather than offer his own tax breaks to win back American studios he will instead tariff films coming into the US. This like his Liberation Day tariffs and his China tariffs will backfire and he’ll end up walking them back when they hurt the American market, but before he does that lets look at all the reasons it is a terrible idea.

Firstly there are some shooting locations that you just couldn’t replicate in America, think about the Lord of the Rings trilogy for example. Moreover, there are some animation houses and VFX teams are not based in the US and to use them would incur tariffs, so what is a studio to do hire American animators, train up a new generation and found new animation houses this would take far too long and cost far too much money, much more than you would be losing on the tariffs. Moreover, the way the tariffs would likely manifest would be higher budgets for films meaning higher ticket prices and more importance placed on films making lots of money which in this current box office is a perilous move.

Secondly, the move would be viewed as broadly stupid as it would drive many countries away from America, in addition to the broader tariffs, it would also cost American studios and talent work as other nations would likely stop hiring Americans and focus on their national cinema. Additionally, the framing of ‘foreign propaganda’ makes this seem like an old man off his meds ranting. You could see it broadly referring to any films made that are critical of him and wouldn’t just apply to those made out of the US. Moreover, framing it as a national emergency to try and gain sweeping powers seems hysterical and like a move that the courts would fix in a minute. Personally, I don’t think this will ever actually come into effect as the CEO of Warner Brothers and the former CEO of Amazon are good friends with Trump and so will quash this. Warner Brothers Discovery has spent hundreds of millions building sound stages in the UK and would let that suddenly be in danger.

Thirdly and perhaps most importantly for all is that you have to consider retaliatory tariffs, so a lot of countries will make moves to protect their film industries and the people working in them in the wake of this, and the likely call is to hit back with tariffs of their own. This would mean that some American films would be badly effected at the global box office and would lose money and some films may not even see a release overseas. Moreover there could be efforts to ban American film in other countries cinemas or even boycotts by consumers, all of which would end up hurting Hollywood and backfiring on Trump spectacularly, just like his other tariffs.

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Cinema Issues: The Summer Of Dumb

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be discussing the quality of this summers cinematic offerings.

A few things to get out of the way, firstly this is my own taste, if you like bang bang bang and forced Marvel humour in your new releases that’s you, but I most certainly do not. I also acknowledge that blockbuster entertainment is supposed to appeal to the masses.

That said, I look at the summer slate, particularly the month of July, and am saddened. Where is the originality, where is the effort to make good films that would last the test of time, rather than just easy sequels and reboots, where is the excitement. Looking at the cinematic slate for July, it just seems as though Hollywood is in a race to the bottom for low effort stinkers that the masses may still put up with.

Coming in on opposing sides you have the Superhero genre which itself cannot accept that it is dead. On the one side you have the 5^th iteration of Superman, which looks not only like they don’t understand the character, despite posting all those Instagram shots reading comics, as Clarke, would rather make whoopie with Lois than save the city. Added to this is the fact that the film will clearly continue James Gunn’s track record of goofy humour, and has more animal abuse in it. Unoriginal, goofy, doesn’t understand the character.

Then on the other side you have the Fantastic Four the 3^rd iteration of that IP, with most of the characters unrecognisable, a girl boss Sue Storm obsessed with gender politics, a soft and effeminate Johnny Storm, Pedro Pascal playing a scientist etc. What’s more this film will continue to push Marvel’s unwanted Multiverse Saga that increasingly no one other than Kevin Fiege wants. Unoriginal, does not get the characters, continues a saga no one wants continued.

Proceeding both of these threats to cinema, is yet another Jurassic World film. Turns out the big finale where they got the old and new cast together was not the finale everyone thought it was going to be. Now we are back fighting yet more dinosaurs which do not in any way have even the slightest bit in common with actual dinosaurs anymore, so for all those people who say oh I just watch them because I like dinosaurs you might as well say you just like bland CGI monstrosities that look a similar shape to dinosaurs. Unoriginal, repetitive and dull.

Coming out in the rest of the month you have a legacy sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer which was barely strong enough to hold a sequel let alone a sequel decades later. You can bring back all the nighties stars you want it won’t make anyone care about this, this is not Scream. Scream had an enduring popularity, and the Summer films were always a bargain bucket version of them. Unoriginal, unasked for, and desperate. As well as that you also have the third or fourth reboot of the Smurfs as they just can’t let any IP go. The fact kids have not enjoyed or gone to see the other iterations of the Smurfs should clearly give the studio executives pause but no this is going to be the one right, it has to be. Even more desperate, even more unoriginal.

In that short list of 5 of July’s big releases did you notice that not even one was an original film, did you notice how they were all sequels, spin offs, or reboots, most of which were unasked for. When Hollywood sits there and wonders why folks aren’t going to the cinema like they used to, this is why.

They need to let IPs end, they need to understand that some IPs just are not relevant anymore and they need to spend money on original projects.

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Cinema Issues: Does Rape Belong In Star Wars, A Discussion, [Andor Season Two]

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be discussing rape in Andor. Now bear in mind we will be doing this sparingly but if you find this topic triggering then this might not be the edition for you.

So within the latest season of Andor, a Star Wars tv show, there is a suggestion that one of the female characters was assaulted by an Imperial Officer Now this is causing a great deal of controversy, as people are saying that rape has no place in Star Wars, and for me personally this is somewhat of a nuanced conversation. For those angry I would say this, what do you think happened when Leia, Carrie Fisher, was enslaved and before Luke, Mark Hamill, showed up. Moreover, throughout the saga we have seen genocide, the abduction of children, forced re-education and a number of other atrocities, this is a story about war and rape is a common occurrence to POWs so it makes sense for it to feature. Additionally, Andor was never marketed as a kids show, just because it is of the Star Wars IP and on Disney+ does not mean that it is for kids. They have been pretty straight up in saying it isn’t, if you can’t do basic research to see the themes and subject matters in a show before allowing your kid to watch then that’s on you.

However, on the flip side there is the question of is it necessary? They could say it happened do they need to show it so graphically? This becomes a matter of taste. To add that you have the fact that these sort of scenes, whilst relevant in the setting in terms of war, can be traumatic for those who have experienced rape or for those who have had a loved one experience it and that is going to cause strong feelings. So again we go back to the matter of taste, and was it necessary to depict it in the way they do?

Ultimately the answer is up to you, if you want the practical realities of war then it is an important component, and it is needed and important to show, but if you find it triggering then it might be a sign that it is not for you and you should avoid it for you own mental health, which is totally valid. It is a matter of personal preference.

I will end with this, whilst I can understand both sides of the argument here, the idea that rape being in Andor ruins Star Wars or has no place is stupid inherently, as not only is it implied elsewhere and other atrocities are shown, but also this is a show for adults and reflects the realities of what the war against the Empire would have looked like. If you want your soft family friendly Star Wars with puppets and only mild themes like kids being abducted and brainwashed into becoming First Order soldiers then you can totally just skip Andor. It is not required viewing.

So whilst I understand the sensitivity of the subject matter and how it can impact people I think a lot of the outrage is performative and in at least a few cases from people who don’t watch the show, Josh from Den Of Nerds comes to mind. In these cases people just want to outrage farm, for in my opinion no good reason, but I also like the show and its approach to showing the war so I could be bias.

It really is one for you and what you are comfortable with.

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