I certainly expect not to do well critically. I never have. You sort of accept this. When you get a situation like this where you have so much high expectation, you can't possibly live up to that. This is a Saturday afternoon serial for children.
People forget what the movies actually are.
Lucas deflected criticism that he has tried to control every aspect of the film, from distribution to production to the size of the theaters where it is shown. Everybody says I control everything. All I do is make the movie. But he acknowledged insisting on certain standards from theaters such as limiting the pre-film commercials and keeping the movie in a large room. Which is not to say he doesn't expect to make money from the movie.