It’s honestly taken me this long to really understand that Star Wars Episodes VII-IX were all flying by the seat of their pants. I truly thought that after Disney had shelled out $4 billion for LucasFilm, they mapped out where the stories would go and they would have launched the “final trilogy” with a set plan. How could they not with all of that money at stake and with all of those eager fans? But they didn’t. Instead, they gave Kathleen Kennedy free rein and she hired of series of bros to milk the franchise with ill-conceived films, several of which became the biggest and most expensive production catastrophes of the 2010s. She also hired JJ Abrams, who had no interest in finishing what he started with The Force Awakens. Then they left Rian Johnson out to dry when fanboys had issues with The Last Jedi. The Rise of Skywalker wasn’t made because of a particularly urgent need to complete the STORY. It was made because of corporate decisions.
Now that The Rise of Skywalker is out and the “last trilogy” is done, Disney has already said they’re taking a break from Star Wars for a few years. Well, they’re taking a break from Star Wars movies – they’ll still have tons of Star Wars content for Disney+, like The Mandolorian. But it will be a few years before we have another Star Wars movie in theaters. So… did Kathleen Kennedy and Disney learn their lesson? Are they actually going to sit down and map out where to go from here? Or are they just going to borrow a “hot director” from Marvel, give him $300 million and let him do whatever? In this case, I do think Taika Waititi could do something interesting though:
Following the recent installment Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the space-fantasy franchise is set to go on pause, in terms of theatrical movies. But that does not mean the process has ground to a halt. Taika Waititi, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok, has been approached to develop a Star Wars movie, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
It is unclear where things stand in those talks. It is also unclear whether the project is separate from the one being developed by Kevin Feige, with whom he closely worked on Ragnarok, or a separate Star Wars project. Disney and Lucasfilm, producers of the Star Wars movies, had no comment.
The move comes as two Star Wars streams arc in different directions. Waititi is coming off great acclaim from the fan community for directing the final episode of season one of The Mandalorian, the live-action series on Disney+ that became must-watch TV in part thanks to Baby Yoda. He also voiced the popular droid character, IG-11. Additionally, Jojo Rabbit, which he wrote and directed, earlier this week earned six Oscar nominations, including for best picture.
Working on Mandalorian put Waititi in the same sphere as Jon Favreau, the series’ creator, writer and executive producer and who is now emerged as a key architect of the Star Wars universe moving forward. Favreau is also a key player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, overseen by Feige. (Separately, there is a sense that Mandalorian could act as a training and testing ground for directors hoping for a larger role in Star Wars. Deborah Chow, who became the first female director to helm anything Star Wars, is now readying to direct the next Star Wars series, the one focusing on Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Ewan McGregor set to reprise the role.)
Meanwhile, the theatrical Star Wars experience is drawing to a close for the time being. Rise of Skywalker, while recently crossing the $1 billion mark, marks the lowest-performing entry in the main Skywalker Saga series since Disney relaunched the franchise in 2015 with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
[From THR]
If the future of Stars is “fewer bros, more Baby Yoda, Taika and women of color,” then maybe we’ll finally get some interesting projects. I guess. I feel weird about mocking all of the Disney-Star Wars films because they made billions of dollars, but I feel like this era of the franchise will not be looked upon kindly.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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