Something Different -- Lego And Star Wars -- January 24, 2021

Sunday afternoon, January 24, 2021: episode VII, The Force Awakens (2015). This was the first installment in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following the story of Return of the Jedi (1983), and is the seventh episode of the nine-part Skywalker saga. 

Sunday afternoon, later, January 24, 2021: episode VIII, The Last Jedi (2017). 

The question arises: is there enough fuel in the tank for another post-sequel sequel trilogy? 

From wiki: 

The Force Awakens, episode VII, was widely anticipated, and Disney backed the film with extensive marketing campaigns. 

The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 14, 2015, and was released in the United States on December 18, 2015.

The film received positive reviews for its screenplay, direction, acting performances (particularly those of Ford, Driver, Ridley, Isaac, and Boyega), musical score, visual effects, editing, and action sequences, although some critics found it derivative of the original trilogy. 

The film broke various box office records and became, unadjusted for inflation, the highest-grossing installment in the franchise, the highest-grossing film in North America, the highest-grossing film of 2015, and the third-highest-grossing film at the time of the release, with a worldwide gross of over $2 billion and a net profit of over $780 million.

Among films' box office adjusted for inflation, the film is the top-grossing sequel of all time in North America.

The film received five nominations at the 88th Academy Awards and four nominations at the 69th British Academy Film Awards, where it won the award for Best Special Visual Effects.

Two sequels within the sequel trilogy have been released: The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

So, there was the original trilogy, episodes IV - VI; the prequel trilogy, episodes I - III; and the sequel trilogy, episodes VII - IX. 

This was spread over 42 years, from 1977 to 2019. Nine films spread out over 42 years. Think about that. That's at least three generations around the world enjoying this franchise before it was finally completed.

Lego is going to make a bundle off its partnership with Lucasfilms. Without question, Lucasfilms / Star Wars saved Lego from oblivion. From what I see visiting the local Lego store weekly (no exaggeration), this shows no sign of fading. Most remarkable, compared to smart phones, laptops, Apple watches, and tablets, the price points for Lego products are incredibly affordable. 

As long as I'm off-topic, I might as well add another interesting phenomenon about Lego: scale of their products does not matter. In the same "play area," one can see very, very small cars and humongous trucks but the characters all remain the same size, and no one cares. Some finished sets rival any other objet d'art.