To be fair, Manu said it was 3 years to retirement, not 12 months. It's not my fault if you can't wait that long and you're mad that you thought it would be sooner than he himself said it would be...
His dream and vision and anticipated cost and timeframe for rollout has all been laid out for months. You either believe Manu's statement that any dilution is for the good of the company or you don't. This is typical way movie business works. You incur massive costs up front to make the production and recoup hopefully many times back after picture is released. Some costs you can defer and tie to revenue but other costs have to be paid up front. I believe things will be infinitely better after Yellow is released in July as that revenue can be used to offset lots of future costs.
I think you're right on the money. If the company had let people know early on that there might be such an outlandish degree of dilution on the horizon, I don't think shareholders would be feeling so betrayed. It's not illegal what the company did, but it is tantamount to a bait & switch. Following dilution, the shares just don't hold the same value - and it keeps happening!