I am going to watch it. This Saturday even. But I can already predict that i'm not going to like it.

I read about that, hoping it were not true. Terrible writing. Man, they keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars on fan fiction, it is crazy!

First time watching it?  I watched it last weekend.  I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.  I liked the first one, even though they ruined a lot of the best jokes by having them in the trailers.  I just didn't think they could deliver a solid sequel, but I was wrong.

No it isn't.

While you can argue that TFA had the advantage of being the first star wars movie in a long time, and didn't have the disadvantage of a bad prequel, TLJ also had the hype of the return of Luke, as well as the advantage of not being an introduction to a new trilogy. 

It interesting to say the least, how certain people are obsessed with this topic, all while Disney laughing to the bank. 

Disney aren't laughing, mark my words they are disappointed over not meeting their projections.

Very true.  It also opened only ~15% lower than TLJ WW.  If there had been no fan backlash, it would have most likely stayed around that range.  So, it should have made ~$1.7B-$1.8B.  In fact, BOM said that $750M-$830M at the DBO was the safe bet.  Hell, it even performed worse than my most pessimistic prediction of being ~$600M down.  Instead it was ~$735.7M down.

It amazes me the lengths supporters of this new Disney set of films, or the messages they are trying to push, go to ignore a major fan backlash, when all the evidence is staring them in the face.

Agreed.

Do either of you see the EXTREME irony of saying ANYONE should get a life when both of you visit a video game SALES SITE!  Not just a gaming site, but the extra "no life" step of coming to one focused on the sales of games and consoles.  And both of you spend much more time and effort on this site than the average user that you actually contribute to it, one as a mod and the other as a DB admin.

Personally, I don't give a shit what your passions are, as I wouldn't say you have no life.  But, the high level of hypocrisy is astounding.

This.  They made a $4B investment in this franchise.  They aren't doing this to break even on the franchise, but to make billions more.  TFA and RO was a good start.  But, they aren't going to get to where they want by making a few hundred million on each movie here or there, with much lower merch sales.  And there's a chance this film doesn't even make them $100M. 

Pretty sure, between the movies, merchandise, licensing agreements, and the soon to launch star wars land, they will have more than made returns on their purchase and gain bigger threshold of the marketplace/increased revenue/increased profits, which enforces their bottom line. They were 3-5th before 2010, and ever since TFA (started this journey) they have now had huge lead at first in total market share. 

So yes, I do imagine Disney is laughing to the bank. 

Luke's return was also a huge part of the hype surrounding Force Awakens. He was a focus in the trailer, he was the focus of the story and he was doing press before the films release. Fans were completely expecting him to have a significant role and TFA completely blew that hype with the lackluster ending.

However, that's not what I take issue with.

I take issue with pointing at The Last Jedi's box office total as some kind of "proof" that it was a poorly received movie that damaged the franchise. It did over $1.3 Billion worldwide and was the 9th highest grossing movie of all time before Black Panther and Infinity War passed it just recently. It managed this despite another Billion dollar movie releasing shortly after in Jumanji. It was a massively successful movie, eclipsing the other high budget releases of 2017 like Beauty and the Beast and Fate of the Furious.

As a side note, The Last Jedi has flaws, many of them, but I think the hyperbole on internet forums about how it's ruined the franchise is pathetic.