Discussion Kathleen Kennedy Given Contract Extension

This is good news. Kennedy is doing a fine job, but reading this makes me think we may not see a film in 2020 with the focus being on tv. I guess I’ll just have to wait for celebration to find out. still hoping for a Obi-Wan movie as well as a Donald Glover Lando movie

 

Remember She & LF wanted Solo to have a December release.....and I think EP9 will bounce back with around $1.4 to $1.5 billion so look for KK to get another extension to 2025

 

Good! I'm glad. Her track record has been great for the most part, save for a handful of stinkers, but no one is perfect, except for Denis Villenueve.

 

She's earned it. Solo was a box office disappointment due to a multitude of factors, but having the highest grossing domestic film for 2015, 2016 and 2017 speaks for itself.

 

Good! Her 4 movies have made 4.5 billion at the box office. If she was fired after that it would be a bad move. I also like how it’s gone so far. So I hope she sticks around after 2021

 

Kathleen’s extension is well earned and refreshing. She’s done an extraordinary job helming LFL.

This news shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. But, of course, it is for certain folks. Hilarious.

Donald/Childish is so hot right now. A well marketed, really well written Lando movie could so well, whether streaming or theatrically. Throw in Alden, but make Han a secondary or cameo character. A good way to explore the Solo era galaxy.

Make it happen KK!

 

Meh, all of those last minute firings, emergency hiring of directors, emergency rewrites and the lack of a cohesive creative vision for the sequel trilogy (as evidenced by RJ ignoring all of JJ Abrams' script) really doesn't give me any faith in her management ability. So it was probably not the best decision to keep her around, unless they couldn't find any suitable replacement.

But lets wait and see. I hope she finally gets a grip on the beast that is the Star Wars franchise.

 

All of those emergency actions she took were decisive attempts to salvage those films, and the results were excellent. The only hiccup was a decision that Iger made against her wishes (releasing Solo in May instead of December). All these actions Kathleen took would be called “decisive” if she were a man.

 

I really do wonder why Iger thought solo being released so soon after TLJ was a good idea. But that’s for another thread.

 

The finished article is what matters. Rogue One is a very good film, and Solo isn't bad either. Her "emergency" actions paid off in those instances, it would seem. I think audience’s general apathy towards Solo had nothing to do with the shift in directors (most normal people just don't care about that stuff). Treverow, meanwhile, had to go. He was an awful fit from day one. His hiring was clearly a knee-jerk reaction to the success of Jurassic World. The biggest mistake she made there was giving him the job in the first place. So on that one, I agree that she made a boo-boo. But she cause corrected. As Bor Mullet said, and I'm not a raving feminist by any means, I really think her decisions would have been looked at very differently if she had a penis. Guess we'll never know.

 

Emergency actions are certainly a necessity in some jobs but when they happen so often one must wonder if the fault didn't lie in the preparation? How is it even possible that the script needs a complete rewrite during filming when you got millions of dollars at your disposal? A lot of fan productions are less chaotic than that. Sure the directors also carry some blame but Kennedy is after all the big head honcho and should keep it all together.

Also I don't know what penis or not has anything to do with the discussion. Rather than bringing in gender we should look at the facts. I know there are some sexist Youtubers out there but I'm certainly not part of that group.

 

I agree. The facts show that she has produced some of the highest-grossing films of all time that have received very favorable critic reviews, that her instincts on Solo were correct (but overridden by Iger), and that similarly decisive actions by male studio heads in the face of production problems (Marvel’s Kevin Feige, for example) have been widely lauded as the actions of a decisive and responsible leader.

All of that evidence leads me to believe that Kennedy is being held to an impossibly high standard that male studio heads are not held to.

She’s done a phenomenal job. Given her record, I see no reason why her firing should even be contemplated. It would be unprecedented, I think. Nobody with her financial and critical record has ever been fired for having such a record. Were it to happen, it would have to legitimately be scrutinized as sexist.

 

TFA was a huge success, TLJ couldn't quite follow up while still bringing in money, Solo flopped (worse, there were apparently fan boycotts as well) and Rogue did well. Discovering some new markets like China failed spectacularly and toy sales declined (and toys were the biggest sector when it comes to company revenue). Rebels did okay-ish.

So in total I don't think SW is doing exceptionally well, it's more of a mixed picture imo.

I can't comment on Feige because I don't follow Marvel studios as closely. If you want I can give you some dirt on the narcissistic male managers working at the company I am employed at. Such incompetence and pettiness. Would that correct the gender-imbalance?

 

Oh it's pretty easy to know. Track how much complaint gets lobbed at Bob Iger vs Kathleen Kennedy.

I literally read a post just yesterday, on this board, in the ST criticism thread where a poster ripped into KK, yet goes on to acknowledge that Bob Iger is the one who hired her, is the one who decided Solo's release, but praises him for being an extraordinary executive.

If you don't think over 4.5 billion in box office receipts alone, in less than 3 years, is exceptional than you're franking, factually wrong.

Even the way you paint TLJ's success is biased beyond opinion. It's one of the most lucrative films of all time. No film released on planet Earth in 2017 made more money.

Solo (which still earned an amount many blockbusters would kill for) is the only misstep, and that's for reasons that aren't traced solely back to Kennedy.

The woman isn't a success. She's a massive success as the head of LFL. George chose very well.

 

To be fair to Iger, if Solo was pushed back to December 2018, that's an additional six months of post production costs for a film that's already ballooned over budget due to reshoots. Sure, perhaps it performs a bit better at the box office in December than in the summer, but I'm not sure it would have been much of an improvement. I think part of Kennedy's rationale in bringing in Howard was that she knew he could deliver the film on time for the May release. She made the best of a very calamitous situation.

 

Imagine the fan hollering that would have happened if they heard Kennedy was responsible for the Solo timing decision (May release date). Shouts of "fire her!" would be ringing across social media even more than they are now. Instead, Bob Iger, who took responsibility for that decision, is being lauded by these same fans for doing so, and for speaking to the press while "Kathleen stays quiet." The sexism is rampant across a wide swathe of the vocal SW fans on social media. Ugly and obvious double standard.

 

Well, this thread is...shockingly positive.

I'm a little meh on this topic personally. I think it's smart that KK is sticking around considering her management has brought in massive amounts of revenue. However, I'm pretty sure it's going to create a huge ripple in the fanbase so...yay for that.

 

Is kathleen Kennedy involved with live action tv series coming to Disney streaming?

 

Solo was an experiment.
Can Star Wars handle a movie every six months?
Can now Kathy, and us, know the answer.

 

I think the whole Lord and Miller fiasco and the subsequent budget problems on Solo are KKs fault.

But the fan advise to Disney about their decision to extend KKs stay is amazingly arrogant. They are one of the most successful corporations in the world. Something tells me they don't need your assessment on whether KK is the right person to continue forward business wise.

 

I think that wasn't the only, or even the main, factor. Let's not forget it released only 3 weeks after Infinity War with Incredibles 2 coming out not long after Solo hit theaters. Also we can't forget the budget issues regarding the reshoots.

How on earth do we know Colin wasn't right if we never got to see what he had planned? Mark seemed to like what he had in store.

 

Lord and Miller weren't following the written script and it also didn't sound like they were receptive to instructions from LFL higher ups that countered their own vision. Don't you think it's conceivable that their actions and the consequential firings could have been, well, their fault?

 

I didn't say that them being fired wasn't their fault or the right decision. Lord and Miller are known in the industry for their improvisational style, and unless they lied during the negotiations, surely LFL would have known this. They should have also been fired earlier since it would have been apparent early on in production.

So I think KK should have better chosen her director(s) and acted sooner.