This will be a quick one.
With the recent release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu movie, it actually had me thinking about my loyalty to Star Wars, mainly because, as I’m writing this, I haven’t seen it yet.
To put this in perspective, I’ve seen all previous releases of modern Star Wars within the first days of opening in my country without fail, if not the first day, since the Prequels were released.
I’ve set aside time, bought tickets in advance, chosen my perfect seat, and driven by myself to sit alone in a cinema, which, for someone who genuinely feels awkward going to the movies solo, says a lot. Every other film, from Lord of the Rings to James Bond, I go with someone, a week or two after release, sometimes just before it stops showing.
But not for Star Wars movies. It was almost ritualistic for me. I’d trot it alone if I had to, and go again with friends the second time around. I even relished the idea of going alone, because I’d experience it without distraction or another opinion too soon, and I’d bask in it by myself, like floating in the deep at the beach by myself, which is a thing I love to do.
I even went to see Solo in cinema, umm solo. Yes, the weakest of the franchise’s attempts at spinoffs, and after having large reservations about the entire concept of someone else playing Han Solo other than Harrison Ford.
These days, my wife and I go together on the rare occasions we do go. The last one was Superman (2025) in IMAX.
It’s not like I didn’t anticipate or plan to go see Mandalorian and Grogu in IMAX. I told my wife months in advance that we had to go see it, even leading up to the release date, but somehow I had no drive to do the work to go experience it, for one reason or another.
With her around, there was even more reason for me to book the tickets and head to the cinema on day one.
Star Wars in cinema is rare now, I know, but the last one, The Rise of Skywalker, the most disappointing of them all, left a really bad taste in my mouth. I haven’t rewatched it since.
I’m realising Star Wars isn’t that big of a deal for me anymore. It used to be almost like a drug.
Sure, I’ll always love it. I’m not abandoning it, not hating on it, and I won’t ever become a stranger to it. I’m a Star Wars fan till I die, even if it becomes the Motorola of movie franchises.
But when Disney bought Star Wars, and the idea that we’d be getting a lot more from the galaxy far, far away in the years to come, I always thought no matter where I’m at in life, I’d make it a priority to go witness it on the big screen, even if only because there’s nothing else quite like Star Wars to experience in cinema, and no home setup, surround sound and big screen included, could ever compare.
At least I thought I was that committed.
But this lack of drive to go see Mandalorian and Grogu in the cinema has me questioning whether that plan I had subconsciously in my head will follow through in the years to come.
And don’t get me wrong, the Mandalorian show is my top favourite of everything Disney has released, which I think is the case for most people.
I wonder how much the streaming shows have eroded the need to go to the cinema. We got so much Star Wars on Disney Plus, live action and not just animated, that it stopped feeling like an event. Cinema is no longer the home of Star Wars. It has probably become just another screen.
Maybe we’ll see when the next trilogy comes out if I’ll really make the effort and put in the time to go, and then I’ll know how loyal I truly am to Star Wars.