The #DumpStarWars boycott attempt by pro-racism, pro-Trump social media folk began with the Star Wars Twitter account. Here’s Wired’s breakdown.
But things heated up a week later when Rogue One writer Chris Weitz tweeted, “Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization.” To which Gary Whitta, another writer, responded, “Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women.” In response to a big ol’ backlash (and concurrent uptick in #DumpStarWars tweets), both deleted their tweets the same day, and Weitz apologized. But another tweet of Weitz’s remained up, and was even retweeted by Mark Hamill:
From there it got into the hands of racist white guys like Mike Cernovich. They called for a boycott and boy, did it not work at all.
Rogue One actually bested expectations, and it’s looking like a $155 million weekend. That is well short of the opening weekend for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but nobody expected a stand-alone Star Wars film to compete with what was the most anticipated film of the decade. Despite the lack of A-list stars (or returning characters), Rogue One gained huge opening weekend numbers, terrific reviews, and across the board As from Cinemascore, so it is likely to have long legs through the holidays. Repeat viewings could even put a dent in the prospect of the big Christmas weekend openers like Passengers. The $155 million also makes it the third biggest opening weekend of the year, behind Captain America: Civil War and Batman vs. Superman, but I’m assuming it’s will be closer to Finding Dory’s 3.5x multiplier than Batman vs. Superman’s 2x multiplier. The relatively weak competition arriving in January could mean that Rogue One stays at the top of the box office well into 2017, as The Force Awakens did last January.
Maybe I can get these guys to boycott me?