re: Rumor: Disney has finally gotten the message, will return Star Wars to "boy brand" roots

Disney simply made a marketing mistake. In a way, you can't fault them for trying.

You ASSUME Star Wars and the MCU has the male viewers locked up. They normally are good for huge numbers.
There's as many females as males, largely untouched by these films. If you could get a big chunk of them too- say, maybe a block about a quarter to a third of the size of the male audience in addition- you're talking enormous numbers. Half as many females as males IF you keep the males, and you're replacing Avatar at the top, with established properties. You're talking massive profits, coming once a year over and over.

But they misjudged. They didn't capture the female share, and they pissed off and lost a big chunk of the male share. Most people could probably see this coming, but someone at the top thought it was worth the gamble. If they HAD scored, it would have made many people rich.

Sometimes, you have to temper your greed, and realize that even a Star Wars or comic book nerd can be pushed away from your product, if you don't take care of him. I think they thought that was impossible.