Tag: Kathleen Kennedy

Posted on in News

‘Star Wars’: Are The Knives Out For Rian Johnson’s Trilogy & Patty Jenkin’s ‘Star Wars: Rogue Squadron’?

Lucasfilm and the Disney era of Star Wars have had a contentious relationship in the development and execution of their feature films. We’ve seen plenty of examples of this with Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi movies between retooled as Disney+ shows as they ditched the A Star Wars Story wave of movies entirely after Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t do stellar business at the box office.

There is a new rumor/report coming from Matthew Belloni (former The Hollywood Reporter editor) at Puck stating that both Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (only announced last December) and Rian Johnson’s original trilogy have been shelved at Lucasfilm.

The reason for Rogue Squadron seems to be down to Jenkins and Lucasfilm brass being unable to agree upon a script. Filming had been expected to begin next year at Pinewood Studios UK and this would mean that the studio might have to select a replacement project to appease Disney or forego their December 2023 release spot for the next Star Wars movie.

I talked to a few insiders this week that said the real culprit was the dreaded “creative differences”; specifically, Jenkins couldn’t agree on the script with Lucasfilm executives, including senior V.P. Michelle Rejwan. That’s not unusual, of course, but it’s a laughably recurring problem at Lucasfilm under president Kathleen Kennedy, say agents: Top filmmakers are dying to make a Star Wars movie—until they sign on and experience the micromanagement and plot-point-by-committee process. It happened to the Game of Thrones guys, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who were hired to create a new trilogy but bailed. It also happened to Rian Johnson, writer and director of 2017’s The Last Jedi, whose own planned trilogy was shelved.

It’s been rumored for ages that Johnson’s trilogy has been scrapped only for the filmmaker to debunk reports online and unclear if this rumbling is real or not. Time will tell.

Could it be a case of Disney and Lucasfilm caving to the Fandom Menace? The vocal minority within the Star Wars fandom had been quite vocal of their distaste for Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi and the idea of a female director handling a Star Wars film or anything female-centric.

To be fair, the outlet doesn’t have the most favorable opinion of Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy if their headline is any indication, which skews a bit hyperbolic. They’re actively pushing the idea of removing her from the Star Wars franchise, despite the report also mentioning a contract extension adding another three years to her tenure at Lucasfilm, so her removal won’t be happening.

SOURCE: PUCK

Posted on in Film News

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Reportedly Has No Ambition To Run Lucasfilm

There has been a growing number of YouTube channels and websites that hellbent on pushing bogus Star Wars gossip for views/clicks. One of the biggest lies circulated from the group of butt-hurt fans known as the “fandom menace” is that Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige is being lined-up to replace Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and that Kennedy is on the cusp of being fired by Disney (started in the wake of Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s release). This stems from a vocal minority online that have spun a narrative that Kennedy is the real problem behind every single hiccup with the Star Wars franchise, which for the most part comes off as misogynistic as a lot of the gripes have been cited as adding female leading characters and diversity being a priority. It comes off like the same group that have directed a lot of their ire towards actress Brie Larson and her Marvel movie Captain Marvel.

Well, Variety released an article recently commenting on the power structure of Disney’s various studios and specifically mentioned that Kevin Feige has “no ambition” to run Lucasfilm. This would debunk false fan speculation for another couple of months before it’s resurrected by sketchy online sources looking for attention.

After it was announced in 2019 that Feige would produce a “Star Wars” movie, there were rumors that he might assume more control of Lucasfilm. However, insiders say that Feige is fully committed with his Marvel duties and has no ambition to lead Lucasfilm or take more of a role. Few details have emerged about the “Star Wars” film he wants to make, and no production timeline has been set.

The bunk rumor was birthed from legit trade reports that Kevin is aiming to produce an untitled Star Wars film with screenwriter Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange 2, Rick & Morty) attached to work on a script. However, Feige was granted the new role of chief creative officer at Marvel by Disney. This essentially gave him full creative control of the company and allows him to oversee everything Marvel-related. With that in mind, it really wouldn’t make sense that he would throw that away to run another studio division that is making money and earning Emmy awards.

There have also been chatter among those same fans that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are looking to replace Kennedy as well. The problem with that theory is they’re way too busy producing, writing, directing and running multiple Disney+ shows to be stepping back from their current creative roles to become administrators.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

‘Star Wars’: George Lucas Explains Why He Sold The Rights To Disney and Didn’t Make The Sequel Trilogy Himself

While George Lucas has been hands-off with the franchise since selling it to Disney back in 2012, fans have sort of wondered what the reasoning was behind handing over the franchise to Disney beyond the billions they gave him.

Author Paul Duncan has posted on Twitter an excerpt from his new book The Star Wars Archives Episodes I-III giving some insight, in the pages he asks George Lucas why he ultimately sold the rights to Disney and stepped away from making the Sequel Trilogy himself. Lucas’ answer seems to be more about having free time and not having to spend the next decade working on film trilogy.

DUNCAN: I wonder why you passed control of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012?

LUCAS: “At that time I was starting the next trilogy; I talked to the actors and I was starting to gear up. I was also about to have a daughter with my wife. It takes 10 years to make a trilogy, Episodes I to III took from 1995 to 2005.”

“I was 69. So the question was am I going to keep doing this the rest of my life? Do I want to go through this again? Finally, I decided I’d rather raise my daughter and enjoy life for a while.”

“I’m one of those micromanager guys and I can’t help it. So I figured I would forgo that, enjoy what I had, and I was looking forward to raising my daughter. Also, I wanted to build a museum, which I’d always wanted to do, so I was thinking ‘if I don’t do this now, I’ll never get that done’.”

“I’ve spent my life creating Star Wars, 40 years, and giving it up was very, very painful. But it was the right thing to do. I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else. Things don’t always work out the way you want it. Life is like that.”

Lucas previously dished to Duncan about what some of his ideas for the new trilogy were that didn’t ultimately get used by Disney including the villains and how the Luke would started a new wave of Jedi with help from the survivors of Order 66.

SOURCE: STAR WARS ARCHIVES EPISODES I-III

Posted on in Film News

Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy Teases Desire To Explore ‘The Old Republic’ Again?

Could we finally see Lucasfilm tackle a cinematic version of The Old Republic era?

While speaking with The Wrap, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy recently talked about the future of Star Wars suggesting an interest of exploring other eras in the universe as they’re currently stepping back to figure what they want to do as they focus more on the Disney+ shows for the next couple of years.

Specifically mentioning the mythology of Star Wars spanning over 25,000 years, an obvious reference to The Old Republic.

KENNEDY: “And now we’re stepping back. Stories have been told within this universe over the last 40-odd years, and there’s now the realization that this is a mythology that actually spans about 25,000 years, when you really start to look at all the different stories that have been told, whether it’s in books and games.”

“We just need the time to step back and really absorb what George has created, and then start to think about where things might go. That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’ve been having a great deal of fun doing it, and meeting with lots of different filmmakers and talent. There’s so many fans out there and so many filmmakers that have been influenced by Star Wars for so long that it’s a fantastic opportunity to get a sense of who wants to be a part of this. So that’s what we’ve been doing.”

This isn’t the first time Kennedy has teased an interest in going backwards with Star Wars mythology, when asked by MTV News about development on something in The Old Republic, Kennedy confirmed development but stopped short on giving any details about when that could happen.

KENNEDY: “You know, we talk about that all the time. Yes, we are developing something to look at.”

You can see that exchange from last year’s Star Wars Celebration below.

Last year, BuzzFeed reported that the Altered Carbon series creator Laeta Kalogridis was writing a Star War film that was set within The Old Republic and could potentially become a trilogy.

There was also some interesting news this week as it was announced via Deadline that Netflix has cancelled Altered Carbon after two seasons allowing Kalogridis to move on to other things, like this potential Old Republic trilogy for Lucasfilm/Disney.

Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love & Thunder director Taika Waititi is officially helming a Star Wars movie for the studio, but details about his project are scarce. He’ll be co-writing with Oscar nominated screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns (Last Night In Soho, 1917).

We still don’t know where in the timeline that film will be taking place.

The scope of The Old Republic would allow Lucasfilm and filmmakers to create a brand new path for the Star Wars film franchise since they could jump into certain points in the past and not being beholden to the original trilogy along with forced to connect to it because there is so much time between the eras.

I guess we’ll have to wait to get some solid details from Lucasfilm what they are planning on doing.