Why the film industry needs franchises like Star Wars

I recently gained an insight into what it must be like to be someone who always votes the same way. On opening day, I obediently queued up to get my tickets to see the latest Star Wars film, The Mandalorian And Grogu. I did so with low expectations – which is just as well, because it was perhaps the worst way to spend two hours in a sealed dark space other than being buried alive.

It is a film that seemed to hold the idea of a moviegoing audience in contempt: It looked awful on the big screen and the dialogue was written with both eyes on someone watching at home while scrolling their phone. (The real low point came when we were told, three times in quick succession, just how one character related to another, in case we had seen a particularly diverting TikTok while watching.)