Kelly Marie Tran’s ‘The Wedding Banquet’ Bombs at Box Office After Star Wars Fan Backlash—Why This Epic Flop Is Stirring Up a Galactic Storm! 👇
The Star Wars saga has long been a cultural juggernaut, but its fandom’s passion can cut both ways, as Kelly Marie Tran, the actress who played Rose Tico, is learning the hard way. Her latest film, The Wedding Banquet, a queer rom-com remake directed by Andrew Ahn, has crashed at the box office, grossing a mere $918,598 during its opening weekend across 1,142 theaters, failing to crack $1 million. The flop, reported on April 24, 2025, has been linked to Tran’s recent comments criticizing Star Wars fans, with some accusing her of alienating the very audience needed to support her new project. Viral X posts and YouTube videos, like one titled “Rose Tico Actress Kelly Marie Tran’s Film ‘The Wedding Banquet’ Fails to Make $1 Million at Box Office After She Publicly Trashed Star Wars Fans,” have fueled a narrative of fan retribution and industry missteps. Is Tran’s outspokenness to blame, or are deeper factors at play? Let’s dive into the controversy, the film’s failure, and what it means for Tran’s career and Star Wars’ polarized fandom.
The Controversy: Tran’s Comments Spark Outrage
The seeds of the backlash were sown during The Wedding Banquet’s promotional tour, when Tran revisited her tumultuous experience with Star Wars fans. In an April 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she described feeling “persecuted” by fans after her role as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), citing racist and sexist comments about her Vietnamese-American heritage and gender. “I was already being ridiculed. There were comments about my race or comments about me being a woman,” she said, noting the harassment led her to therapy and support groups. These remarks echoed her 2018 New York Times essay, where she detailed a “spiral of self-hate” triggered by online abuse, and followed similar comments by co-star John Boyega, who criticized fans’ “racial preferences” in 2025.
While Tran’s experiences with toxic fandom are well-documented—she deleted her Instagram posts in June 2018 after months of harassment—her decision to reframe the narrative during The Wedding Banquet’s promotion struck a nerve. X posts, like @TPPNewsNetwork’s on April 24, 2025, accused her of “trashing” fans, arguing her comments alienated the Star Wars community, a key demographic for her new film. @VASettler’s post on April 22, 2025, labeled the film “super-woke” and celebrated its failure, while @Supportarg10161 quipped, “Get woke, go broke.” The sentiment suggests Tran’s remarks, combined with the film’s heavy focus on queer and Asian identity themes, turned off mainstream audiences, particularly Star Wars fans still bitter over The Last Jedi’s divisive reception.
However, Tran’s defenders argue her comments were taken out of context. In the same interview, she emphasized personal growth, saying, “I’ve been able to learn how to celebrate the parts of myself that I was scared of,” and credited The Wedding Banquet’s queer set for inspiring her to come out as queer in November 2024. Supporters on X, like @HeavyWingsDX, praised her resilience, noting, “Kelly Marie Tran deserves better than this hate—she’s making art that matters.” Reddit’s r/StarWars thread on April 23, 2025, argued that blaming fans oversimplifies the film’s failure, pointing to broader market challenges.
The Wedding Banquet: A Box Office Disaster
The Wedding Banquet, a remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 rom-com, stars Tran as Angela, a queer scientist who enters a “lavender marriage” with Min (Han Gi-Chan) to secure his green card while funding IVF treatments for her partner, Lee (Lily Gladstone). The cast, including Bowen Yang and Youn Yuh-jung, and director Andrew Ahn’s vision of “queer joy” earned buzz at Sundance 2025, with an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score and praise for its heartfelt storytelling. Despite this, the film’s opening weekend gross of $918,598 across 1,142 theaters, reported on April 24, 2025, fell far below expectations, raising questions about its $15-$20 million budget’s recovery.
Several factors contributed to the flop. The original 1993 film, while critically acclaimed, was a niche title with limited mainstream recognition, making the remake a hard sell. The marketing leaned heavily on identity themes—queer representation, Asian narratives, and Tran’s personal story—which, while resonant for some, failed to attract a broad audience. Industry reports suggest the film’s focus on a predominantly queer, Asian cast and its rom-com format struggled to compete in a crowded April release window, overshadowed by Oblivion Remastered’s 190,000 Steam players and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s 92 Metacritic score. The sub-$1 million debut signals weak word-of-mouth, with digital releases now critical for recouping costs.
Tran’s Star Wars comments likely exacerbated the issue. Her role as Rose Tico, a Resistance mechanic in The Last Jedi, made her a lightning rod for fan criticism, with some disliking the Canto Bight subplot and others launching racist, sexist attacks that drove her off social media. Her reduced role in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), with just 76 seconds of screen time, sparked the #RoseTicoDeservedBetter campaign, but also left lingering resentment among fans who felt blamed for studio decisions. By revisiting this during The Wedding Banquet’s promotion, Tran may have alienated Star Wars fans who could have supported her new project, as suggested by @Oldbikerfirst’s X post: “Kelly Tran’s Queer, Super-Woke ‘Wedding Banquet’ Humiliated at Box Office.”
Tran’s Star Wars Legacy: A Polarizing Figure
Tran’s Star Wars journey is a tale of triumph and tribulation. Cast in 2015 as the first Asian-American woman in a major Star Wars role, she brought Rose Tico to life, a character praised for her underdog spirit but criticized for a subplot many found extraneous. The harassment she faced—documented in her 2018 essay and supported by co-stars like John Boyega and Rian Johnson—was undeniable, with Wookieepedia’s Rose Tico page vandalized with racist slurs. At 2018’s San Diego Comic-Con, fans rallied with #RallyForRose, and at 2019’s Star Wars Celebration, she received a standing ovation, showing significant support.
Yet, her recent comments have reopened wounds. In interviews for The Wedding Banquet, Tran framed the Star Wars fandom as a source of persecution, a narrative echoed by Boyega but criticized for lacking nuance. Fans on Reddit’s r/StarWars argue their discontent targeted The Last Jedi’s writing, not Tran personally, with u/FanOfFinn noting, “Rose’s arc was sidelined by Lucasfilm, not fans.” The studio’s decision to cut Rose’s role in The Rise of Skywalker, attributed to CGI issues with Carrie Fisher’s footage, fueled perceptions that Disney scapegoated fans rather than addressing creative missteps.
The Internet’s Reaction: A Galactic Divide
The Wedding Banquet’s failure has polarized online communities. On X, critics like @TPPNewsNetwork link the flop to Tran’s “trashing” of fans, with @NewaiGreen’s April 22, 2025, post declaring, “Garbage needs to go out!” Some, like @EastJabib, frame it as a “woke” miscalculation, arguing the film’s identity-driven marketing alienated audiences. Reddit’s r/movies thread on April 24, 2025, speculated that Tran’s Star Wars comments, combined with the film’s niche appeal, doomed its box office, with u/MovieNerd88 citing Y2K’s similar streaming pivot after a theatrical flop.
Supporters, however, rally behind Tran. X users like @QueerFilmFan praise her for celebrating her queer identity, with The Wedding Banquet’s 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes reflecting a dedicated fanbase. r/StarWars’ u/ResistanceRose argues the flop stems from market saturation, not Tran’s comments, pointing to Snow White’s $169 million gross as evidence of audience fatigue with remakes. Defenders, including Variety’s April 16, 2025, profile, highlight Tran’s transformative experience on the queer set, with co-star Lily Gladstone’s mantra, “Joy is an act of resistance,” resonating as a counter to fan backlash.
The Broader Implications: Fandom and Accountability
The Wedding Banquet’s failure raises questions about celebrity-fan dynamics. Tran’s experience mirrors Rachel Zegler’s Snow White backlash, where outspoken comments fueled fan resentment, as seen in prior rumors involving Spielberg and Jack Black. Both actresses, as women of color, face disproportionate scrutiny, with Tran’s harassment echoing Zegler’s racist trolling. Yet, critics argue Tran’s focus on fan “persecution” risks alienating supporters, as Star Wars’s diverse cast—James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, John Boyega—has often been embraced without similar controversy.
The flop also underscores challenges for identity-driven films. The Wedding Banquet’s marketing, emphasizing queer and Asian narratives, resonated at Sundance but struggled commercially, akin to Y2K’s 42% Rotten Tomatoes score. Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy, criticized for inconsistent storytelling, left characters like Rose Tico underdeveloped, fueling fan discontent that Tran’s comments inadvertently reignited. Lucasfilm’s silence, as with Rose’s reduced role, suggests a reluctance to address creative missteps, leaving actors to bear the brunt.
What’s Next?
As of April 26, 2025, The Wedding Banquet faces an uphill battle, with digital releases critical for recovery. Tran, undeterred, has a robust slate, including Control Freak, Forge, and Rock Springs with Benedict Wong, per Collider. Her coming out as queer, inspired by The Wedding Banquet’s set, has solidified her as a voice for representation, but the box office failure may impact future leading roles, as speculated by industry reports. She expressed enthusiasm for reprising Rose Tico at Star Wars Celebration 2025, but Lucasfilm’s focus on new projects like Daisy Ridley’s Rey film dims prospects.
Disney and Lucasfilm, navigating Star Wars’s polarized fandom, face pressure to address past missteps, with Andor’s political themes also sparking debate. The Wedding Banquet’s flop, while tied to Tran’s comments, reflects broader market challenges, as seen in Snow White’s $115 million loss. This saga, fueled by X posts and YouTube videos, is a stark reminder of fandom’s power and the perils of public discourse in a galaxy where a single comment can spark a box office rebellion.
