Discussion The wait in between films is getting to be too much

How would we know if the sources are correct are not? We got official confirmation of Rogue Squadron and it ultimately led to nothing. Point being, there's no official word on this and it's not like even Lindelof has been directly quoted.

 

The official confirmation of RS wasn’t an untruth though.

If their sources are correct about Lindelof and the other people involved, it’s doubtful that the report is only partially true. I don’t see much point in picking and choosing from the report. We’re very rarely going to get named sources for obvious reasons.

 

You're bemused as to why I wouldn't agree that TFA being a 'safe film' isn't a problem?

 

What?

No, I’m bemused that my meek criticism of TFA was leapt upon with a paragraph of ‘there’s playing it safe and there’s playing it safe.’

This is why don’t go into the Released New Films section - everything is always getting rehashed every other post.

 

Whose 'picking and choosing' from a report? I was pointing out that there's an obvious fundamental difference between The Hollywood Reporter having an interview with Lindelof, where they can directly quote him stating that the SW films he's working on 'will be set after the ST', yadda, yadda, yadda... and The Hollywood Reporter stating that a 'source' says 'will be set after the ST'.

 

Be good to have stories post TROS and not just prequels.

 

'Leapt upon'? I think you need to calm down. I've already explained why I replied directly to that comment. That was not a criticism of you, or as a direct criticism of TFA...

 

THR sources are typically correct and it’s correlated with Deadline. This means the fact Lindelof is working on this is almost certainly true. That means that the other elements of the story are almost certainly true.

I’ve never understood the ‘unnamed sources’ being a reason for skepticism if the publication is reputable. These stories are rarely wrong.

I think you’re missing what I’m tilting at. I’ll leave it at that.

 

Indeed.

Spoiler

Last November, right after Patty Jenkins’ much-touted Rogue Squadron was placed on the dreaded back burner, I politely asked Disney C.E.O. Bob Chapek to remove Star Wars movies from the purview of Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. After five films and about $6 billion in box office under Disney, this A+-level film franchise—a property other studios would kill for—had been essentially left half-digested in a Sarlacc pit.
No continuing storylines, no new characters worth following, several top-tier creators hired and then discarded, and little overarching creative vision. Lucasfilm was continuing to churn out a mixed bag of competently made and highly-watched series for Disney+, but on the film side, the franchise was essentially dormant, and, at least to me, Kennedy’s stewardship was a stunning example of I.P. mismanagement.

Maybe I was a bit harsh. But now, nearly a year later, things are… pretty much the same. No new Star Wars film before at least December 2025, which would be a six year gap after the much-maligned The Rise of Skywalker. You can argue that former C.E.O. Bob Iger’s initial one-movie-a-year mandate was too much, and that it led to rushed decision-making and hired-and-fired filmmakers like Gareth Edwards (Rogue One), Lord and Miller (Solo) and Colin Trevorrow (Rise of Skywalker), and that a little break for a reset is a good thing.

But with Marvel churning out multiple movies and D+ series every year, such a massive pause at Lucasfilm is borderline corporate negligence. And that’s if the 2025 date holds. After all, none of the three projects that are furthest along in development have been officially greenlit. Disney’s D23 event came and went last month without Kennedy offering even a status update on the film side. (Next summer’s Indiana Jones, also from Lucasfilm, did get a spotlight.)

Yes, the company has been focused on stocking Disney+ with Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the currently airing (and very good, though underwatched) Andor, and the in-the-works Ahsoka, The Acolyte, and The Skeleton Crew. If Mandalorian hadn’t hit so big right out of the gate in 2019 and established a template for a big I.P.-driven streaming series, would Disney+ be anywhere near 152 million subscribers worldwide? Similarly, Star Wars is still thriving in the theme parks and on store shelves.

All the more reason why the film franchise seems adrift. At this point, part of the hesitation is simply media management. I’m told Kennedy was advised by Disney to stop announcing projects and creative partners, lest the ravenous nerd press pounce when those projects don’t actually happen, as is the case frequently at Lucasfilm. Remember that hokey video with Jenkins in a flight suit that played at Disney’s investor day in 2020? Ummm… Or the triumphant press releases about new trilogies from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and the Game of Thrones guys? Seems like ancient history now.

I can confirm there’s a new film project in development for the past few months with writer-producer Damon Lindelof, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a TV and documentary short director, is in talks to direct it (which would make her, not Jenkins, the first woman to direct a Star Wars film). That movie could actually shoot before the Taika Waititi project with The Good Nurse writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, which was announced back in 2020 with a spiffy logo and concept art. Taika’s currently in New Zealand making his HBO Max show, Our Flag Means Death, until the end of the year, and in June—two years after the film was officially announced—he said, “I’m still trying to figure out what the story is.” Not great. There’s another concept that’s apparently also far along, and that may be a rumored project from Marvel’s Kevin Feige and writer Michael Waldron. Or not. There’s other stuff in various stages, but nothing is apparently set.

Stars Wars movies will eventually restart, of course, and probably soon. But the Jabba the Hutt-like pace can be attributed to a culture of fear and indecision around the next installment, according to the people I talked to. The nice way of saying it, and a new mantra at Lucasfilm, is “getting it right.” It’s accepted internally that the last trilogy, and especially Rise of Skywalker, was rushed to meet aggressive release dates, and Kennedy played it safe in every possible way, choosing fan service and franchise management over creative swings. Look at her decisions: From jettisoning most of original writer Michael Arndt’s ideas and essentially remaking A New Hope with The Force Awakens, to freaking out and bringing back director J.J. Abrams and the villainous Emperor for Rise of Skywalker after some fans complained about Johnson’s mythology-busting choices in Last Jedi—choices that Kennedy had enthusiastically supported… right up until she didn’t.

And while the Disney+ shows have kept the brand ubiquitous, they’ve also cheapened it by making Star Wars far less special in the lives of its fans, thus raising the stakes even more for what will be “movie-worthy” in this franchise. (They already burned a showdown between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader in the Obi-Wan series, which was initially supposed to be a movie.) While I love Andor, it’s an adult drama and definitely not for some fans, especially kids. That likely explains the lower ratings.

Kennedy, say those who have spoken with her, seems to realize that the next installment needs to actually be good, and different from the D+ stuff, and also kinda the same, and it needs to steer the franchise away from fan service based on the original trilogy, but also be rooted in what fans love about Star Wars. And did I mention it has to be good? Disney essentially has to re-introduce Star Wars while Star Wars is also constantly on television. This is a very tough task—or a very big hole she has dug for herself, depending on your perspective—far tougher than simply saying yes to these D+ series.

I returned to my Lucasfilm sources this week when the news finally broke that Michelle Rejwan, senior V.P. at the unit and one of Kennedy’s key right hands for Star Wars, was leaving her post after three years and transitioning back into producing full time for Lucasfilm. Rejwan, who is currently working on Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte, had been telling people about this for weeks; and she may not be the only executive there to either exit or go full producer soon. Lucasfilm declined to comment, as did a rep for Rejwan. (She has her own personal publicist.)

It’s not acrimonious, both sides insist. But it’s also a common frustration among Lucasfilm executives that the strategy there is often changing, and there have been disagreements on which creatives have the best vision for the franchise. Kennedy, a legendary producer who spent decades with Steven Spielberg, has put a lot of stock in outside creators to figure out the path forward, rather than the Marvel style of developing in-house and engaging filmmakers to execute. And Kathy is said to change her mind often. That’s tough, especially since her executives have to play conduit with the creative community and all the representatives.

Still, Kennedy has been executing on Disney+, the platform Chapek cares most about. And in the decade since Disney paid $4 billion for George Lucas’s company and installed Kennedy, Lucas’s personal choice to run the unit, Disney has recouped its investment several times over. But it’s clear Disney needs to refresh and restart Star Wars as a film franchise, which, of course, is how the whole thing began back in 1977.

This isn’t quite a do-or-die moment, I don’t think. Avatar, as a franchise, has way more riding on whether The Way of Water performs this December. If it grosses less than $1 billion and leaves audiences limp, where does that leave the three planned sequels? But Star Wars does need a big swing, though. Given how badly the franchise was damaged by the last trilogy, the easy choices will no longer cut it. That’s what Kennedy, a seasoned moviemaker who has been playing it safe for years, likely knows well—and it probably terrifies her.

 

And I think you're missing what I'm 'tilting' at... this isn't about whether Lindelof is in fact working on a Star Wars film (which will probably never see the light of day anyway), it's about the dissemination of stories where the fact that it comes from an 'indirect source' (anon), as opposed to a 'direct source' (in this instance Lindelof, Kennedy or similar) is ignored or not considered relevant.

 

The parts that aren’t editorialised seem like good news. He’s clearly a fan who has a clear opinion about certain recent films, and he definitely lets that colour his writing, unfortunately.

 

It’s not considered relevant that neither KK nor Lindelof have provided comment because it’s corroborated by two very credible publications and another publication notes that KK is a little skittish on explicitly announcing new projects (and this is normally how they would do it covertly if they wanted give some news like this without an official announcement). The source could literally be Lindelof or someone else in the room.

All we need to know is that the journalists who published it are reliable.

 

That's not really how it's traditionally viewed when it comes to sources. It's the difference between facts and conjecture. It doesn't matter whether the anonymous source turns out to be Kennedy or Lindelof; the fact is that, as it currently stands, they are stated as being anonymous... and as such, should come with a health warning/caveat. That The Hollywood Reporter is 'reliable' does not mean that everything they publish is unequivocally 'true', (which is what you seem to be alluding to), and historically the legitimacy of a source typically comes down to whether it's a 'primary' or 'secondary' one... and whether they can produce direct quotes. I suspect you know this already.

 

If you want the concession to something I never claimed otherwise, namely that we can’t know that the story is 100% true, then sure.

My point is that the idea that we should be skeptical of stories from two of the most reliable publications in Hollywood independently corroborating each other because the sources are anonymous seems incredulous. It’s very unlikely this story is made out of whole cloth or has significant holes in it. The reliably of the publication/journalist is paramount in deciding whether to believe these stories.

You’re trying to feed us much more salt than we need.

 

If one believes that it's 'incredulous' to be skeptical of such stories, then one is naive to the point of incredulity. However, that really wasn't the point I was making... which was rather than one stating "Hollywood Reporter says Lindeloff’s film will be post-TRoS", it's actually more factually accurate to state that "anonymous sources for Hollywood Reporter state that Lindelof's film will be post-TRoS'. Hence why I actually posted the quote. The former implies a factual position without transparacy. The latter is the factual position of the story presented. The latter is also a key tenet of 'good' journalism IMO.

 

I agree with Darth PJ, while the HR story is tantalizing, there’s not really a whole lot to go on, basically just some reports that Lindelof and a few others had some writing sessions. Of course people will want to draw many conclusions from this, and confirm what particular hopes and dreams they have for the franchise’s future, but for now there isn’t much happening really.

 

After so many false starts and disappointments, everyone is raring for something that really seems to be the real thing... a reliable report on an actual SW movie that will actually be released. IMO, this one also isn't it.

 

This seems to have something the others dont. Taika and Jenkins were never going to happen both. Borh those always busy. This one seems to be going forward.

 

Which is what?

 

It's different, but it's still unlikely. Lots of people still wanted to believe in the Taika movie until they saw this.

 

Taika always being busy and same Jenkins. This movie seems to be going more forward. Taika seems to not happen. If a 2025 still is on, it be this. Taika maybe 2027.

 

This "movie" isn't even a completed script yet. Far more likely this ends up in the pile as the next Disney SW film will be heavily based on D+ series.

 

I doubt first be movie connected with a Disney plus show. This movie, will live or die on KK, and rumor is this movie will happen regardless.

 

Exactly. This sums it up. Like I said, people really want it to be the real thing, an actual SW movie that gets released.

 

I hope this is it. LFL vedn in flucks since TROS with the movies.