After the box office disappointment of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story,' the studio plans to expand the universe with new characters introduced in movies and television shows.
Kathleen Kennedy has reignited her lightsaber. The lead producer and architect of the Star Wars franchise has renewed her contract to remain president of Lucasfilm for another three years, through 2021, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The move is a vote of confidence in Kennedy, who took command of Lucasfilm after Disney’s $4 billion acquisition from George Lucas in 2012 and has overseen the relaunch of Star Wars, one of the most revered movie properties in cinematic history. Disney's four new Star Wars films have grossed almost $4.5 billion at the worldwide box office. Ancillary and merchandising have brought billions more into the studio's coffers.
But it hasn’t always been easy money. Kennedy has had to replace directors on two movies that were either in production or post-. Chris Lord and Phil Miller were fired from Solo: A Star Wars Story on June 20, 2017, less than a year before the film's release. Kennedy also effectively replaced Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards with helmer Tony Gilroy, though Edwards kept his directing credit. Last year, Colin Trevorrow, who was to have directed Star Wars: Episode IX, was fired and replaced with the series' Episode VII helmer, J.J. Abrams, a week later.
Kennedy’s position is one of the most visible, and her actions the most highly scrutinized, in Hollywood due to the immense popularity of Lucasfilm’s franchises, which also include Indiana Jones. So it's notable that her renewal follows this summer's Solo: A Star Wars Story, the first big-screen box office disappointment for the franchise, grossing "only" $392 million worldwide and leading analysts to estimate a loss for the film at $50 million to $80 million or more. (In contrast, 2017's The Last Jedi and 2016's Rogue One grossed $1 billion globally, and 2015's The Force Awakens topped $2 billion in receipts.)
Kennedy's deal extension also follows a polarizing reaction to Last Jedi — which sits at 91 percent fresh on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes but was flooded with unusually angry fan complaints on social media about key plot choices. The reaction to Last Jedi and Solo is resulting in a shift in studio strategy, with Disney making plans to slow the output of movies. "You can expect some slowdown," Disney CEO Bob Iger told THR in an interview published on Sept. 20, adding, "but that doesn't mean we're not going to make films."
The only Star Wars film currently underway is Episode IX, currently shooting in London, and due for release Dec. 20, 2019. Sources tell THR that Episode IX will be the last of the "chapter" installments, with Disney planning on touting it as a selling point in the promotion campaign for the film in the year leading up to its release. Lucasfilm is developing feature projects from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, as well as a potential trilogy from Rian Johnson, the filmmaker behind Last Jedi. Johnson, however, is currently prepping to shoot a detective thriller that is to star Daniel Craig.
Sources say that the near future of Star Wars lies in television with Kennedy-led Lucasfilm planning on expanding the universe with new characters in that medium. The shows at this stage include a live-action series run by Jon Favreau (which is currently casting) and the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, both of which will air on Disney’s untitled streaming service, which is set to launch in the second half of 2019. Meanwhile, another animated series, Star Wars Resistance, premieres this month on The Disney Channel.
Lucasfilm is also developing a new Indiana Jones movie, the fifth in a series starring Harrison Ford and directed by Spielberg, but that project recently saw its release date push from July 10, 2020, to July 9, 2021. Script issues were the cause. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bowser:
Episode VII was a carbon copy of Episode IV, but people by and large were either ok with it or just accepted it.
Rogue One was a smashing success, outdoing all expectations and left fans wanting more of THAT.
Episode VIII was a complete swing and miss clunker. They ****ed it up rather hard.
Solo was better than what the box office tells us, and it's a shame that people stayed away because of the Episode VIII shitshow.
Lucasfilm is either tone deaf or just can't be bothered to care about what their fans want, apparently.
In case you haven't heard from their marketing department, the only people who disliked episode VIII are loser man babies who hate women and black people.
You see, it wasn't that episode VIII was bad. It's that Star Wars fans are and always have been bigots. Every non bigot loved it. All criticism comes from russian bots who hate america.
Just ask the Lucas film PR department. Ask Rian Johnson. They'll tell you the problem with Star Wars EP VIII is that star wars fans suck.
Interesting public relations strategy. Let's see if it works. [Reply]
No opinions outside Hollyweird matter to these freaks.
Barring something amazing happening, like Kennedy's sudden and violent fucking death :-) this will be the first Star Wars movie in my fairly long life that I won't see in the theater.
I would not have thought that could happen. [Reply]
Hopefully the box office success and glowing reviews for The Last Jedi, the best Star Wars film since Jedi, will help her to ignore whiny fans and hire more visionaries like Rian Johnson, who created the deepest, most self-aware Star Wars film yet.
Bitch better chill on the SJW stuff, though. [Reply]
Hopefully the box office success and glowing reviews for The Last Jedi, the best Star Wars film since Jedi, will help her to ignore whiny fans and hire more visionaries like Rian Johnson, who created the deepest, most self-aware Star Wars film yet.
smh god damn it. How in the hell can ANYONE be excited about this BS???! I'm just a casual SW fan but I see right thru Disney's bullshit.
Kennedy is a straight up unapologetic SJW & it has shown in her handling of these Disney Star Wars movies . On top of that , they just aren't good movies . The new cast sucks and they killed off Solo & Luke in the worst ways . (We won't ever get to see them reunite for one last adventure smh)
Seems like a good of place as any to ask this, there is a guy that does rants on youtube. I know he has done several on Star Wars and Kennedy in the past. He has long black hair with dark sunglasses and I think he talks with a bit of a lisp. Anyone know who I am talking about? [Reply]
Hopefully the box office success and glowing reviews for The Last Jedi, the best Star Wars film since Jedi, will help her to ignore whiny fans and hire more visionaries like Rian Johnson, who created the deepest, most self-aware Star Wars film yet.
Bitch better chill on the SJW stuff, though.
At this point I'm sure you're just doubling down to be a contrarian.
The film fails as a film first, and as a Star Wars film second.
The narrative is trash and it did irreparable damage to the marketability of the brand. I hope it can recover, but I thought it was impossible to make a BAD star wars movie. [Reply]
Rose was the worst character in the history of cinema.
And Kylo Ren might be the worst villain in the history of cinema. Dude's a giant pussy. Gets his ass kicked by a chick half his size w/ zero lightsaber/jedi training, but we're supposed to take this new saga seriously?
He makes Hayden Christensen look like Charles Bronson.
Can't have one of the worst characters and ALSO one of the worst bad guys in cinema history and really expect anything out of the franchise that's worth a shit. [Reply]
