Well, that sucks imo. Normally, I'm all for fun and adventure, but that is clearly not mutually exclusive with severity, drama, tragedy, gloom and a dark tone in general. I hoped (and continue to do so) that Rogue One would be principally a gritty action warmovie set in this universe, one that doesn't frantically try to please and comfort every single person in the potential audience but instead doing it's own thing and maybe even challenge the viewer a little.
I think the film *should* feel different from the others. Made for fathoming the limits of PG13 and maybe thrill and shock the crowd with stirring character deaths. Fair enough if the ending of the movie has to fit the tone of A New Hope, but seriously, the situation there wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, but pretty dark, too. If they now soften Rogue One with jokes for levity, I'd be disappointed as this most probably diminishes the impact.
This is a spin-off. It's not supposed to be the same. Here is the place where they can try and take a few risks, at least tonally, to show us something different and to prove what Star Wars can also be. Relapse to formula only because of money concerns, even though this is not one of the mainline episodes, feels just bad and wrong and at least for me reduces the appeal of this franchise.
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Those aren't the mainline Episodes. I thought the whole point and concept of making these spin-offs was to create and discover stories that otherwise wouldn't fit that well into the franchise - also tonally. Now it seems they just want copy after copy of what came before, instead of branching out and widening the appeal. Honestly speaking, I thought the trailer looked much better than The Force Awakens. I hope they don't try to adjust it to that. Not every Star Wars movie has to be the same. I, for one, would have appreciated the variety.
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There's a fine difference between the look and feel of a movie as part of a franchise, and it's tonal integrity as a story. I was never pleased about the original trilogy apparently having to be the benchmark for everything, and I am happy when they try something new, as long as it's still recognizable as Star Wars. My main criticism with The Force Awakens was that it is effectively just a rehash of old concepts and even designs, basically a remake of A New Hope. Star Wars doesn't need more nostalgic retro pandering in regard to the old movies. Say what you want about the prequels and their myriad of problems, but at least they were creative and tried new things.
Batman v Superman was pretty bad, and the brooding dark seriousness and lack of humour was part of the issue. But that doesn't mean that this has to be the case for every other story, depending on the material. It is also a question of intensity. BvS has gone over the top with it. Who knows if Disney is anxious exactly because of the failure of that DC movie, and in an overreaction making Rogue One funny where that is not appropriate? Keep in mind that this has been labeled a "war movie". A somewhat more serious tone in comparison to the mainline episodes should be expected. And who knows if it already had a few nice lighter moments?
The problem with Ghostbusters is that the trailer looked nothing like the original. The visuals, the tone and humour are of a completely different (and imho lesser) style and sort of filmmaking. Still, they reuse the basic concept and remake the old story. In a way, you can't get much more formulaic than that. The fans wanted a new story in the old continuity, something that positively reminds them of the classic but still offers them a new and different experience. Compare the Rogue One teaser, which nearly everyone loved, and rightly so: It *felt* like Star Wars, looked like Star Wars, but showed or at least promised a whole new side and kind of story for this universe, with a slightly different edge to it. That is what we want. So in all honesty, I can't see any double standard in this case.
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The concerns on both sides should be clear. Is it the director making this too serious, dark and humourless, or now Disney taking the edge mentioned above out of the project? I hope it ends up finding a middle ground. But if we could only have one extreme, I guess most people, including me, would prefer that harder and grittier vibe as the more interesting and different choice over one that just gives us more of the same, playing it save, not risking anything, not trying anything really new.
Nobody says one should not be able to watch it with one's family, but that is not the same as making it a light and funny "family film". This isn't R-rated for a reason. But at the same time, with it's theme, plot idea and setting, it shouldn't be tailored towards the younger kids either. So when there is talk about "lightening the mood" and "bringing more levity to the story", while precisely the mood and desolation could very well be the strong points of Rogue One, considering the topic of the story, all my alarm bells start ringing in my head.
Furthermore, it isn't the first time a studio interferes with the vision of a director. Sometimes those decisions are warranted, but we have seen or heard often enough about movies being compromised by corporation execs, so it's natural to be at least sceptical when hearing that just the Mouse House of all things is doing it (again). I think Godzilla wasn't bad. Not great, just above average. Still haven't seen enough of Edwards to judge him comprehensively, but I sure trust his talent more than the opinion of some faceless and nameless studio higher-ups that are first and foremost committed to selling a product, not to making a good movie.
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I agree that the humour in Episode VII was well done. While I thought the movie was kinda okay, it stayed way behind it's possibilities. But that kind of humour would seem very inappropriate to Rogue One from what we've seen and heard so far. Too many laughs may diminish all serious dramatic momentum the plot built in conjunction with the tone. So I hope that stays absent. This concept is what got many fans excited for Rogue One in the first place. I fear too much levity, fun and adventure won't go well with the intended war movie overtones and distract from the impact it could have otherwise. That doesn't mean I'm against a few clever jokes, situations and cool quotable one-liners thrown in for good measure. But I definitely do not advocate this being a funny or light film overall. At least not as much as in The Force Awakens. However, the recent news report seems to indicate that Disney wants just that, or something along those lines.
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How boring it would be if everything stays the same. The tone already is quite different between the original trilogy, the prequels and the sequel(s). I really don't understand your reasoning here: Just because it is one universe, it should all be tonally identical? Star Wars sure is a *big* fictional universe, that's the whole point, just like others (Lord of the Rings, Star Trek...) got their fans, young and adult, because you can immerse yourself into those worlds and find different aspects and stories you like.
I get that the main series should be well rounded and the movies not too different from each other. But with the side stories? What's the sense in making them, when they wont bring anything new at all to the table? Just more Star Wars? That will kill the charme of the franchise in the long run. The spin-offs are the perfect opportunity to explore different sides of that universe. What a sad, pitiful sight it would be, to have just a ton of uniform Star Wars movies, year after year after year. Again, nobody said it should be R-rated or that one shouldn't be able to whatch it with kids. But that absolutely doesn't mean it has to be funny and have an overall lighter tone to it.
As a child, the original trilogy challenged me with some elements, especially the darker and dramatic ones. Children even like to be scared and shocked by movies to a certain degree, it's part of growing up. Inserting too many jokes and codifying the exact feeling a Star Wars movie has to have as an absolute rule will diminish that prospect for future generations. In general, it won't surprise (!) us anymore. Making a war movie with a more or less serious tone doesn't mean it is all blood and gore. It still has cool robots and warriors and a hot lead in it, the kids will love it anyway, one way or the other.
Your remark about those "man-childs" seems a bit offensive to me, even more so with such a reasoning behind it. Instead of their girlfriend's opinion about collectibles, did it ever occur to you that the grown up fans just see through overly formulaic storytelling, that they have gotten higher aspirations in the meantime, demanding something with a little more finesse or originality from the franchise they love? Perhaps, just perhaps, some of the original audience wants the films to grow with them a tiny bit. You can't have that by just watching some Saving Private Ryan. It's not wrong to want the IP you adore to sprout, trying new things, branching out, getting better.
I emphasize the quality of variety, creativity, originality. I don't want Star Wars to completely stagnate on that front. I want it to find new ideas and fans. If Disney has the same opinion on this topic like you do, then what the writers can come up with is extremely limited and constrained. So in this context, what you are saying and how you are saying it comes across somewhat egoistic - no hard feelings. There is that whole mainline movie series of numbered episodes, which nobody will take away from you, and you still require the complete franchise to be exactly like you think it should be? Even though the divergence only happens in some side stories, and even if those are still watchable by the whole family? I'd gladly endure one or two big Star Wars movies that are really not my cup of tea, if there is always a new and exciting and different one coming every couple of years. But if it stays just the same, I'm sure I and many others I know will be horribly bored by it in at the latest a decade from now.