Star Wars: Disney CEO Claims They Don't "Overreact" to Fan Criticisms

Star Wars fans have been some of the most passionate people on the planet and, when those fans don't agree with the ways in which stories are told in the galaxy far, far away, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirms that they don't "overreact" to hearing those criticisms. The CEO noted that the studio does have much respect for the community, but when it comes to the adventures they develop, their main goal is to deliver the most compelling experience they can, regardless of what fan feedback might be. Hopefully this holds true for the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which lands in theaters on December 20th.

"We don't overreact, we respect fans of Star Wars, that's really important to us, to Lucasfilm, to the franchise," Iger revealed to Variety. "But we do the best job we can, we think we had a very hard job in bringing this forward, [Star Wars:] The Force Awakens, satisfying the traditional fans and touching on themes and characters and places they were familiar with, but introducing the new places, new stories, new characters. And I think over the three that we've produced, those three, we've done a really good job of threading that needle, walking that fine line."

He added, "We know we're never going to please everybody all the time, and we see that with Disney films, with Marvel films. So I don't mean to suggest that I'm dismissive of it because we respect our fans, but we don't overreact either."

The release of The Force Awakens was largely a success, with the biggest complaints from fans being that it felt too familiar to adventures they had previously seen. With Star Wars: The Last Jedi, fans were largely disappointed in the ways the film deviated from their expectations. Since that film's release, the Star Wars fandom has arguably been more divided than ever.

For fans on social media, it's easy to lose touch with the actual state of the franchise. From one perspective, The Last Jedi earning $1.3 billion worldwide was an impressive achievement, while other fans tried to cite the film earning far $800 million less than its predecessor was confirmation that audiences didn't like it. When Solo: A Star Wars Story hit theaters six months later and failed to earn $400 million, some fans cited this as proof that The Last Jedi turned people off from the franchise, while others noted that audiences were less interested in seeing a low-stakes adventure after the power of The Last Jedi.

If there's one thing you can count on with Star Wars fans, it's that you can't please them all, a trend which Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker runs the risk of falling victim to when it hits theaters on December 20th.

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