Where Star Wars is going hard on Disney +, the promised new cinema films havenot been forthcoming for years. After several canceled projects, there is nowgood news: a great Marvel talent and the brain behind lost get started withthe franchise.
At the end of this week it will be ten years since Disney bought Lucasfilm andwith it Star Wars film. An expense of $4 billion.
Disney gives gas
Thanks in part to the merch factory that Disney is, that investment will havepaid off for them, but not entirely in the way that then CEO Bob Iger hadhoped.
The plan was to create a new trilogy of films, interspersed with standalonefilms. The Force Awakens wash with a box office of 2 billion dollars amega success, but the déjà vu level already went too far for many fans. Disneyplayed on safe with way too much fan service. A safe repetition of moves,rather than new ground.
That didn’t get much better with the following films. It also didn’t help thatthe trilogy felt like a story whose course was drastically changed by title.Add to that the spin-off movies that didn’t meet Disney’s extremely high salesbar, and you’ve got a situation that disappointed fans and the company itself.
Star Wars on the silver screen
A shame, because Star Wars is a gigantic universe in which you can always tellnew stories. But then you have to dare to focus on exactly that: new,unexplored territory. Not recycling the Skywalkers.
After the poorly received The Rise of Skywalker, the now three-year-oldclosing of the film trilogy, we have not seen Star Wars on the silver screen.Fortunately, Disney+ still exists. The Mandalorian was immediately a greatsuccess, and the current Andoro is the best Star Wars we’ve seen in years.
Star Wars as a resistance story, a raw war world. No Disney factor, nolightsabers or unnecessary cameos. Just a good story. What a relief.
Where are the movies?
The (not so) new Star Wars owner is better off on Disney+. But hey, Disneywouldn’t be Disney if they didn’t quietly make plans for a rematch intheaters.
Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins would be a dogfight film will bedelivered in 2023. The project was announced in a big way, with the promisethat we would be a kind Top Gun but then in the Star Wars universe. Thatsounded great, but recently the news came out that Disney has removed theproject from the cinema schedule.
What’s left then? Not so much. The Last Jedic director Rian Johnsonconfirmed last week that he still plans to make a Star Wars trilogy. He justdoesn’t know when yet.
What about Taika Waititi?
It is also known that Taika Waititi is working on a film that will show acompletely new side of the franchise. Initially, that film would also bereleased in 2023, but the latest update was that that film is also plagued by_scheduling conflicts_ and a downright uncertain future.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy claimed last year that Waititi’s filmwill be the next Star Wars film. But yes, that too clearly remains uncertainfor the future.
Damon Lindelof and Marvel talent
We can now add another piece of music. none other than watchmen -showrunnerDamon Lindelof, also the brain behind lost is developing a new Star Warsmovie for Lucasfilm.
This is reported by the renowned journal Deadline. It is also already knownwho will direct the film. For that Lindelof managed to get Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The journalist and activist who also made two episodes of the Marvelseries Ms. marvel directed. A series that stood out because of the freshtwist on what you are used to from Marvel.
SharmeenObaid-Chinoy with her Oscar for Best Documentary Short for ‘A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness’ (Image: Robyn BECK / AFP)
drawing board
In any case, you can’t buy a ticket for the time being. Deadline reports thatthey are still working on a script, “which means that the actual productionwill probably take a long time.”
A source within Lucasfilm adds: “It was important to Lucasfilm and Lindelofthat a director was brought in right away so that that person’s own vision ofwhere they want this story to go can be processed from the start. be in thescript.”
Furthermore, Lindelof and Obaid-Chinoy’s plans remain a complete mystery. Theyare really still at the drawing board. In fact, many films are completelydeleted after this phase.
Deep breath
It should be clear: it will really be years before we see another Star Warsfilm in the cinema. Fortunately, it is also clear that Lucasfilm is working onall sides to shape the future of the Star Wars universe with great talents,without too much haste.
A mindset which they actually needed in 2012, but luckily Disney has learnedits lesson now. Let’s hope you see that in the final films as well. In themeantime, we look forward to the next episode of Andoro and the third seasonof The Mandalorian.