The Star Wars franchise is undoubtedly one of the most famous franchises in the history of entertainment. The estimated total earnings from the Star Wars movies at the global office are roughly $10 billion and obviously, a role in the franchise is quite beneficial for an actor, in terms of popularity as well as financially.
However, being so famous doesn’t mean everyone’s a fan of it but be ready to face the strong backlash if you criticize the franchise publicly as some fans love it to death. Actor Michael Shannon previously explained that he was offered a role in the franchise but he rejected it because he believes that it is “mindless entertainment.” Obviously, fans then ruthlessly trolled him on social media.
Michael Shannon turned down a role in the Star Wars franchise
In a recent interview with Empire, actor Michael Shannon explained that he is not a huge fan of very big franchises like Star Wars. He said,
“I’m always a bit wary about those giant movies because they take a lot of time and I don’t find them very stimulating to work on. I don’t ever want to get stuck in a franchise. I don’t find them interesting and I don’t want to perpetuate them. If I’m making something, I want there to be some kind of purpose to it – I don’t want to make mindless entertainment. The world doesn’t need more mindless entertainment. We’re inundated with it.”
The Star Wars franchise is the third largest entertainment franchise in the world, with total earnings estimated to be more than $50 billion (including merchandise sales, box office, video games, book sales, etc.)
Star Wars fans trolled Michael Shannon
Michael Shannon’s statement invited a lot of trouble as fans of the franchise trolled the actor on social media. Many pointed out that Shannon recently appeared in The Flash, which comes under DC Studios, a franchise that has earned over $5 billion at the global box office.
The Star Wars franchise is much bigger than the DC franchise in terms of sales and popularity, however, it still qualifies as a “big franchise” that Shannon described.
Michael Shannon was confused when he was asked to play General Zod again
In March 2023, Shannon opened up about his role in The Flash. The actor explained that he was confused when he was approached by the creators,
“I was a little confused. I said, ‘As memory serves me, I think I died in Man of Steel. Are they sure they got the right guy? But then they explained to me the whole multiverse phenomenon, which… I was a little behind the times on that.”
The actor was not very thorough with the concept of the multiverse. Even in this interview, Shannon explained that he is not “a huge consumer of this genre of films” but he doesn’t have anything against them.
Source: Empire
