OUT ON A LIMB: Disney’s new Star Wars movie, the Rise of Skywalker, is a mess.

Well, yes, it is. But having seen it in a three-quarters sold out theater in Dallas on Boxing Day, it’s a much more watchable mess than its immediate predecessor, The Force Awakens, in no small part because the in your face Wokeness factor was dialed waaaay back. Plus the story focuses primarily on the latest trilogy’s three main characters, in an attempt to try to recapture the chemistry of the Luke, Han, and Leia triad that drove the original Star Wars back in 1977. But Adam Driver’s perpetual Lord of the emo-Sith Kylo Ren, who, like Rick Moranis’ “Dark Helmet” from Spaceballs or the interstellar equivalent of SCTV’s Guy Caballero, seems to only wear his mask “for respect,” generating none of the pathos of the horribly scarred Darth Vader, permanently trapped behind his black mask. And Carrie Fisher’s role was created largely from outtakes of her appearances in the prior two Star Wars movies, which makes the interactions of those around her, particularly Daisy Ridley’s Rey, seem largely incoherent, as the writers were forced to craft dialogue to match Fisher’s outtakes.

All of which may be why, as Forbes speculated yesterday: Star Wars: Rise Of Skywalker Could Join The $100 Million Losers Club As It Nears $1 Billion.

If so, as Steve wrote in October, “Disney, as Bill Whittle pointed out, has done the impossible: They killed the Star Wars movie franchise.”