Star Wars News Thread

[Gwangi]

RIP Peter Mayhew

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/peter-mayhew-dead-dies-chewbecca-star-wars-1203203816/

I keep forgetting that it was Charles Schneer who discovered him and cast him as the non stop-motion Minoton in "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger".

[mr.negativity]

THR MAY 07, 2019:
Three New 'Star Wars' Films Get Release Dates in Disney Schedule Reset

In a major overhaul, Disney has updated the studio's and Fox's theatrical release schedules.

As a part of that shake-up, multiple Fox and Disney titles have been rescheduled, unscheduled and revealed, including three untitled Star Wars movies.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will conclude the nine-picture saga that began with the original 1977 film, while what comes next has been a mystery. Disney has dated three untitled Star Wars films, the first hint of the franchise's big-screen future. They are set for Dec. 16, 2022; Dec. 20, 2024; and Dec. 18, 2026.

While it is unclear what the new untitled Star Wars films will tackle, it is known that The Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson is developing a trilogy, while Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are penning their own trilogy.

There's been at least one Star Wars film every year since 2015's The Force Awakens, but Disney has indicated it would take a big-screen breather after Rise of Skywalker, as Lucasfilm is focusing on series for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. Projects including Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian and an untitled Diego Luna-led Rogue One prequel. At Star Wars Celebration last month in Chicago, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy told The Hollywood Reporter she was plotting out the future of Star Wars on the big screen in consultation with Johnson, Benioff, Weiss and Favreau.

"We are looking at the next saga. We are not just looking at another trilogy, we're really looking at the next 10 years or more," Kennedy said.

Meanwhile, James Cameron's Avatar 2 and its follow-ups have been delayed again. The first of the planned sequel films has been pushed back a year, from Dec. 18, 2020, to Dec. 17, 2021; Avatar 3 has been moved back two years, from its previous December 2021 release date to Dec. 22, 2023; Avatar 4 has been delayed a year, from December 2024 to Dec. 19, 2025; and Avatar 5 has been shifted back two years from December 2025 to Dec. 17, 2027. The Avatar sequels have a long history of being delayed, with filmmaker James Cameron saying he needed more time to refine the technology for the films, which he is shooting consecutively. "Busy on set, so no time to hang around but just dropping in to share the news — Sivako!," Cameron tweeted Tuesday after the news broke.

Taking the first of the planned Avatar sequels' original date of Dec. 18, 2020, is Steven Spielberg's West Side Story.

On the Marvel front, New Mutants, an X-Men film that was shot under the Fox regime, is moving from August of this year to April 3, 2020. The horror-tinged project has been delayed multiple times in the past and was originally slated to have opened on April 13, 2018. Sources have said the film needs reshoots before being released, and it has been speculated that Disney, led by Bob Iger, would forgo a theatrical release and instead put it on its Disney+ platform. Tuesday's news suggests Disney is moving forward with a theatrical release.

Meanwhile, Gambit, a film about the card-throwing X-Men bad boy, has been removed from the calendar. Its previous date was April 13, 2020, but it was not expected to survive the move from Fox to Disney. Despite long having Channing Tatum set to star, the project had trouble getting off the ground, with a number of filmmakers coming and going over the years, including Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman and Gore Verbinski.

Other big date changes include Ad Astra, James Gray's sci-fi feature starring Brad Pitt, which was originally scheduled to bow May 24. The movie has been moved to September in a possible awards play.

Disney's adaptation of Artemis Fowl is moving from August of this year to May 2020, while the live-action movie Cruella, which has Emma Stone attached to star as the 101 Dalmatians villain, has been dated for a Christmas 2020 release.

See the full list of changes below.

The Art of Racing in the Rain (Fox) previously dated on 9/27/19 moves to 8/9/19

Ready or Not (Fox Searchlight) is now dated on 8/23/19

Ad Astra (Fox) previously dated on 5/24/19 moves to 9/20/19

Ford v. Ferrari (Fox) is the updated title of previous untitled James Mangold project dated on 11/15/19

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Disney) is the updated title of previous Star Wars: Episode IX dated on 12/20/19

Spies in Disguise (Fox) previously dated on 9/13/19 moves to 12/25/19

Underwater (Fox) is now dated on 1/10/20

Call of the Wild (Fox) previously dated on 12/25/19 moves to 2/21/20

The New Mutants (Fox) previously dated on 8/2/19 moves to 4/3/20

Artemis Fowl (Disney) previously dated on 8/9/19 moves to 5/29/20

The One and Only Ivan (Disney) is the updated title of previous untitled Disney live-action dated on 2/14/20 and moves to 8/14/20

Death on the Nile (Fox) previously dated on 10/2/20 moves to 10/9/20

West Side Story (Fox) is now dated on 12/18/20

Cruella (Disney) is the updated title of previous untitled Disney live-action dated on 12/23/20

Nimona (Fox) previously dated on 2/14/20 moves to 3/5/21

Avatar 2 (Fox) previously dated on 12/18/20 moves to 12/17/21

Untitled Star Wars (Disney) is the updated title of previous untitled Disney live-action dated on 12/16/22

Avatar 3 (Fox) previously dated on 12/17/21 moves to 12/22/23

Untitled Star Wars (Disney) is now dated on 12/20/24

Avatar 4 (Fox) previously dated on 12/20/24 is now dated on 12/19/25

Untitled Star Wars (Disney) is now dated on 12/18/26

Avatar 5 (Fox) previously dated on 12/19/25 moves to 12/17/27

Gambit (Fox) previously dated on 3/13/20 is removed from schedule

Untitled Fox Marvel (Fox) previously dated on 6/26/20 is removed from schedule

Untitled Fox Marvel (Fox) previously dated on 10/2/20 is removed from schedule

Untitled Disney live-action (Disney) previously dated on 10/9/20 is removed from schedule

Untitled Fox Marvel (Fox) previously dated on 3/5/21 is removed from schedule

Foster (Fox) previously dated on 3/5/21 is removed from schedule

Untitled Disney live-action (Disney) previously dated on 12/22/21 is removed from schedule

[lhb412]

^ No one cares about Star Wars or Marvel or Avatar: we're hungry for more Poirot!

[mr.negativity]

^ No one cares about Star Wars or Marvel or Avatar: we're hungry for more Poirot!

SCREEN RANT OCT 19, 2018:
Murder on the Orient Express Sequel Death on the Nile Moves to Oct. 9, 2020!



SCREEN RANT MAY 07, 2019:
Aquaman 2: Will Star Wars Force DC To Change Release Dates?

[lhb412]

POIROT! POIROT! POIROT!

[emeGoji]

Pissed that they are needlessly delaying Avatar 2 a whole year so they can use it to break up their Star Wars releases. An eleven year wait becomes a twelve year wait because they over saturated the market with a bunch of Star Wars films nobody asked for. At least with three years of post production A2 should end up looking like the most polished movie ever.

[lhb412]

POIROT!

[mr.negativity]

POIROT!

[Dai]

That moment when a fan remake of one scene from A New Hope is better than any of the lightsaber scenes in the sequels... or anything in Solo.

phpBB [media]

[Jinzo Ningen]

There was a trailer for the next entry... Rise of Skywalker, in the mix before ENDGAME. After the speakers thundered and the trailer was over there was silence, followed immediately by a guy down in the first section who yawned loudly and another guy up behind us who said "no thank you" and these both got huge laughs. Other than that, no reaction. That was it. Perhaps Disney is offering something folks really don't want anymore? After those awful Lucus-driven prequels and some fairly lackluster cashgrab Mouse house efforts, could it be that the Force is fading??

I know Disney will continue to make more films (at least a couple)... but diminishing fan interest and weak BO returns might signal the death (or at least hiatus) of the Star Wars universe ...for a while.

[Dai]

There was a trailer for the next entry... Rise of Skywalker, in the mix before ENDGAME. After the speakers thundered and the trailer was over there was silence, followed immediately by a guy down in the first section who yawned loudly and another guy up behind us who said "no thank you" and these both got huge laughs. Other than that, no reaction. That was it. Perhaps Disney is offering something folks really don't want anymore? After those awful Lucus-driven prequels and some fairly lackluster cashgrab Mouse house efforts, could it be that the Force is fading??

I know Disney will continue to make more films (at least a couple)... but diminishing fan interest and weak BO returns might signal the death (or at least hiatus) of the Star Wars universe ...for a while.

Don't forget that three of Disney's four movies made over a billion at the box office, and that Solo was only considered a flop because SF movies are so expensive these days that $400-million can be considered a flop. The fact that no one wanted a mediocre Han Solo movie without Harrison Ford shouldn't be rocket science, but typical Hollywood studio and media panic-mongering has turned it into a narrative of the death of the brand. The MCU has shown that there's no such thing as over-saturation if you have quality and variety, and even the DCEU has shown that flexibility and variety can overcome inconsistent quality. Disney's Star Wars hit its first speed bump and treated it like a brick wall, when it should have just taken it as a sign that the mainstream audience had their desire for a nostalgia fix sated by The Force Awakens, and now they're ready for something new in the Star Wars universe.

[Jinzo Ningen]

The lack of ANY response (except negative/joke) really caught me off guard. Not one word of encouragement ("Cool", "Woah", "Alright.", "Yes!", clapping, etc.,etc.)... total cricket time. I mean the comic book/nerd/geek audience would seem like a shoe-in for enthusiastic response for this kind of film, and a well-known/beloved franchise like STAR WARS in particular. And yet the big blustery trailer for RISE OF SKYWALKER got absolutely zero love.

I've never been a big fan of the franchise myself (I've been indifferent to everything after 'Empire'), but that's just me. Some of the aftermath has been OK ...or at least mildly diverting for a bit. Regardless, hardcore SW fans were certainly not in attendance during the first sneak preview of A:E ... at least not where I live.

[O.Supreme]

Addmittedly, we saw CM & A:E in fairly empty theaters (not opening weekend, and matinee), so there really wasn't much reaction to anything, except, unexpected chuckles from my wife and I at Luke's Last line "Noone's ever really gone " since RedLetterMedia ruined that for us.

I dont think fans in the rest of the world were as put off with TFA as hadcrore SW fans in English speaking countries. I mean China never had it back in the 80's, or even the prequels in the 90's so they dont really have that nostalgia, they just like SPFX, doesn't necessarily have to be a good story.

I feel like the last film will be like the last couple of Pirates OTC films or even the 3/4th Transformers film. English speaking countries are sick and tired of them, and done, but it will still make 1B+ because for foreign markets.

[Benjamin Haines]

I also got the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer when I saw Avengers: Endgame on opening weekend. It was a Saturday matinee and the theater was packed with families and kids. There was a lot of murmuring after the trailer finished. The only other trailer was for The Lion King and that left a lot of giggling at the ending shot of Timon riding on Pumbaa. Then the lights dimmed and it was straight to Hawkeye with his family.

Don't forget that three of Disney's four movies made over a billion at the box office, and that Solo was only considered a flop because SF movies are so expensive these days that $400-million can be considered a flop. The fact that no one wanted a mediocre Han Solo movie without Harrison Ford shouldn't be rocket science, but typical Hollywood studio and media panic-mongering has turned it into a narrative of the death of the brand. The MCU has shown that there's no such thing as over-saturation if you have quality and variety, and even the DCEU has shown that flexibility and variety can overcome inconsistent quality. Disney's Star Wars hit its first speed bump and treated it like a brick wall, when it should have just taken it as a sign that the mainstream audience had their desire for a nostalgia fix sated by The Force Awakens, and now they're ready for something new in the Star Wars universe.

Exactly this. The manufactured online narrative where 'The Star Wars franchise is doomed!' reminds me so much of how Snakes on a Plane crashed and burned at the box office back in 2006 despite months of unprecedented online hype. Internet-based, internet-driven narratives don't actually impact the consumer activity of real-life moviegoers.

General audiences don't care about the latest BuzzScreenHype clickbait article about how Disney is plotting to destroy everyone's childhood Star Wars memories or whatever. Paying moviegoers don't care about the latest YouTube video from RandomGrownMan1234 ranting about Star Wars movies for not comporting to his preferred sociopolitical agenda. Real people in the real world don't care about that nonsense.

Solo was a box office disappointment in the making from the moment it was announced. It had nothing to do with audiences suddenly hating the Star Wars franchise just months after flocking to see The Last Jedi to the tune of over $1.3 billion in worldwide ticket sales. Solo underperformed because a Harrison Ford-free "Young Han Solo" prequel is something that comparatively few people wanted to see, and even then, the key word there is comparatively. Solo's $213m domestic box office is only chump change when compared to The Last Jedi's $620m domestic or Rogue One's $532m domestic. Solo was only disappointing for Disney because it showed that they can't just release anything with Star Wars in the title and expect a $500m+ domestic cume and a strong international run as a matter of course. With $213m domestic, Solo was still a bigger draw in North American theaters than well-received hits like Kong: Skull Island ($168m) and A Quiet Place ($188m). Solo may not have been nearly as big of an event film as the latest adventure of Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren but it was still the 12th-biggest domestic draw of all the movies released in 2018, and it has been trending on Netflix in the US as a popular streaming option for months now. There are big audiences for Star Wars flicks.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens sold more tickets in North America than all but 10 other films in moviegoing history, including every previous Star Wars movie except the original. Star Wars: The Last Jedi sold more tickets in North America than all but 40 other movies released up to that point in history. The trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker drew more online views in its first 24 hours than the debut trailers for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi even though most hardcore Star Wars fans already saw the trailer when it premiered during the Star Wars Celebration livestream event. These are facts.

I feel like the last film will be like the last couple of Pirates OTC films or even the 3/4th Transformers film. English speaking countries are sick and tired of them, and done, but it will still make 1B+ because for foreign markets.

One funny thing about the Star Wars franchise compared to most other big action-adventure Hollywood franchises is that Star Wars has always been a proportionally bigger deal in the US and other English-speaking countries than in the rest of the world. Since the international theatrical marketplace expanded so much in the late 2000s, most Hollywood tentpole films in this decade tend to earn about a 33/66 split between their domestic and international box office totals, usually doing about a third of their business in North America and about two thirds internationally, sometimes leaning more toward 30/70 in recent years if a hit movie does particularly huge business in China like Kong: Skull Island or Aquaman.

When a tentpole movie gets closer to a 50/50 split or even does the majority of its business in North American theaters, that indicates that it's a film that really means something to domestic audiences. Tentpole movies like Black Panther (52/48), American Sniper (64/36) and Wonder Woman (50.2/49.8) fit that bill.

Star Wars has a special place in American pop culture history so the franchise is always going to be a proportionally bigger deal in North America compared to other Hollywood franchises, and all four of Disney's Star Wars releases in this decade have reflected that particularly domestic-heavy appeal in their box office splits, some more than others. Both Episode VII (45.3/54.7) and Episode VIII (46.5/53.5) demonstrated a relatively broader foreign appeal in their respective $2.06b and $1.33b worldwide hauls, compared to the more fan-driven Rogue One (50.4/49.6) and especially Solo (54.4/45.6).

Solo was actually rejected much more decisively by international audiences than domestic audiences. Like I mentioned above, Solo's $213m domestic box office may have been a lot less than Disney's three previous Star Wars flicks but it was still the #12 movie of the year in North America and a bigger draw than a lot of other well-received hits. It was at the international box office where Solo really floundered. While The Force Awakens pulled in over $1.1 billion outside of North America, Rogue One did $523m internationally and The Last Jedi topped $712m in foreign markets, Solo's international take was a comparatively paltry $179m for a worldwide total of just $392m. For comparison, if Solo had matched Rogue One's 50.4/49.6 domestic/international split with its existing $213.7m domestic haul, it would have made it to $210m internationally. The fact that Solo couldn't hit that international mark even as it did bigger business in North America than a lot of hit movies indicates that Solo's box office was the most fan-driven of any of Disney's Star Wars films to date, which makes sense. Even most of the people who paid to go see the previous flicks in theaters weren't interested in a Harrison Ford-free prequel about "Young Han Solo." One really had to be a Star Wars fan to have a chance of being interested in that concept, and there are proportionally more Star Wars fans in North America than there are in countries where Star Wars isn't as deeply embedded in their popular culture.

[jellydonut25]

I'm not on the Star Wars is Doomed train, but there was a palpable lack of interest in the trailer when it played before Endgame in my almost completely sold out theaters BOTH times I saw Endgame.

I think people are always going to SEE Star Wars movies, but the EXCITEMENT isn't there. Star Wars will settle in as a perennial $1B-maker that is the Feel-Average hit of the year.

[mr.negativity]

/film May 14th, 2019:
A Third Live-Action ‘Star Wars’ Series May Be Released Between Episode 9 and the Next Trilogy

[mr.negativity]

BuzzFeed May 23, 2019:
A New “Star Wars” Movie Based On “Knights Of The Old Republic” Is In The Works

BuzzFeed News has exclusively learned that Laeta Kalogridis is writing the KOTOR screenplay.

A movie based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic — the beloved video game first released in 2003 — is currently being written by Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Shutter Island) for Lucasfilm, three sources close to the project told BuzzFeed News.

The project should be welcome news to the Star Wars fandom, who may be feeling beaten down after Solo's disappointing box office led Lucasfilm to reevaluate the franchise's ambitions and scale back the studio's release schedule. Knights of the Old Republic, nicknamed KOTOR by its devotees, is a role-playing game about Jedi versus the Sith set nearly 4,000 years before the events of 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope. Fans have long yearned for its rich story to be adapted to film.

At Star Wars Celebration in April, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy told MTV News, "Yes, we are developing something to look at," after being asked about KOTOR. "Right now, I have no idea where things might fall."

Kalogridis is close to finishing the first script of a potential KOTOR trilogy, according to the three sources. She is the first woman writer of a Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, when Leigh Brackett received a cowriting credit with Lawrence Kasdan. Lucasfilm has been criticized for hiring only white men to shepherd the world of Star Wars.

Representatives for Kalogridis, Lucasfilm, and Disney did not respond to BuzzFeed News' requests for comment.

Disney announced earlier this month that after J.J. Abrams' new Star Wars movie — The Rise of Skywalker, which will close out the nine-film Skywalker family saga in December — the next film in the franchise will be released in December 2022. That film, by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, will be the first of a new trilogy, and, according to Disney, will come out "pre-Christmas weekend every other year."

While there are many corners of the formidable Star Wars internet that have speculated that Benioff and Weiss will be the stewards of KOTOR, Kalogridis was hired in spring 2018 to develop the property.

In the KOTOR game, the player helps fight an uprising against the Republic led by the villainous Darth Malak, a Sith Lord. The player eventually joins forces with Bastila Shan, a Jedi Knight and one of the most revered women characters in the Star Wars extended universe. The story has Wookiees, droids, the Jedi Academy, and the Force — a wealth of material to be mined.

Lucasfilm's post-Solo retrenchment, and the fact that there are only the three Benioff–Weiss movies on Disney's current release schedule through 2026, doesn't necessarily make KOTOR an orphan. None of the movies in Rian Johnson's upcoming Star Wars trilogy are slated yet either, and as recently as last month, Kennedy told the Hollywood Reporter she would soon be talking to Johnson, Benioff, and Weiss about "where do we go next?"

What's chronologically next for the Star Wars franchise will be Disney+, the megacompany's streaming service that kicks off Nov. 12. From its launch, Disney+ will feature Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian, a sci-fi drama set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi. Disney+ has also announced a Rogue One prequel series (currently untitled) that follows Diego Luna's character, Cassian Andor.

With Cassian Andor — and with the Marvel properties Disney+ is developing — Disney is proving it's interested in building stories around characters cherished by the fandoms. If made, KOTOR's Bastila Shan, Darth Malak, and Darth Revan would join that roster.

[mr.negativity]

THR SEPTEMBER 20, 2018:
The Real Reason 'Star Wars' Is Struggling

/film:
Ron Howard Believes ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Failed at the Box Office Due to Internet Trolls

It’s no secret that Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t turn out to be the box office hit that Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm hoped it would be. The film’s performance convinced Lucasfilm to hold back on anymore spin-offs under the “Star Wars Story” banner until they regrouped and figured out how to best approach the future of Star Wars.

But what was the reason for Solo: A Star Wars Story underperforming at the box office? If you ask director Ron Howard, it might have something to do with the competitive summer release date as opposed to the new Christmas tradition for Star Wars movies. But he also believes relentless trolls may have influenced general audiences unaware of any malicious internet activity.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Cinema Blend), Solo director Ron Howard looked back on the Star Wars movie and the reception, both at the box office and with fans. Howard doesn’t seem to have any regrets, but he has certainly thought about what resulted in the movie’s disappointing box office returns. The director said:

“I feel very good about the way it turned out. I love the way it played to audiences, which I witnessed and was a part of. So all of that I’m able to feel good about. Sure, I wish it would’ve done [better] and lived up to the box office and so forth, so that’s disappointing. Why? Maybe it’s the release. Maybe it’s the idea that it’s sort of too nostalgic, going back and revisiting an origin story for a beloved character may not be what the fans were looking for. It kind of seemed to me, looking at it, the opening — which was big, not as big as the others, it was probably my biggest opening, personally, it was still disappointing to them — I think those are the hardcore fans. It sort of tells you how many people are tagalongs who need to wait to see what people think and whether it’s essential, if it’s a zeitgeist movie or not, and whether it’s just ‘I love Star Wars and I want to see what’s next.'”

This is exactly why Lucasfilm probably can’t, or at least shouldn’t, churn out as many Star Wars movies as there are Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Star Wars may be extremely popular, but it’s also more niche than the Marvel Studios movies have become when it comes to general audience interest. While many average moviegoers are very interested in what happens in the primary Star Wars saga, they’re not necessarily interested in these side stories, whether they’re about familiar characters or not.

That’s likely why we’ll start seeing more Star Wars stories going to Disney+ in the form of shows like The Mandalorian, the Rogue One spin-off focusing on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, and potentially an Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which could be the mystery third live-action series that Disney CEO Bob Iger has referenced.

Because Star Wars doesn’t have as big of a draw as the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, general audiences are more easily influenced by word of mouth and online buzz. And that’s where Ron Howard thinks Solo also suffered, largely thanks to internet trolls trying to tank the movie simply because they didn’t like Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Howard added:

“Whatever millions [Solo] made worldwide, those were the core fans, but it didn’t hit that zeitgeist point, for whatever reason. Timing, young Han Solo, pushback from the previous movie, which I kept hearing was maybe something. And some trolling, definitely some trolling. Some actual aggressive… It was pretty interesting. Not so much, a little bit the Twitter feed, yes, but it was especially noticeable prior to the release of the movie. Several of the algorithms, whether it was Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes, there was an inordinate push down on the ‘want to see’ and on the fan voting. And when you look at it, it’s like 3, 4, 5 — or whatever the rating is, I forget what the rating is on Rotten Tomatoes, whether it’s a scale of 1-5 or 1-10 — but pretty high, and then a series of 0s or .5s or 1s.”

It seems like the audience score for Solo: A Star Wars Story isn’t in bad shape as of today, with a 64% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 3.44 out of 5. That’s not too far off from the critical score of 70% and an average rating of 6.39 out of 10. But at the time of release, with far fewer Rotten Tomatoes users having actually seen the movie, the audience score probably didn’t make the movie all that appealing to general audiences.

At the same time, let’s not forget that Solo: A Star Wars Story had plenty of problems before the movie hit the big screen. Directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller were famously fired from the movie due to creative differences with Lucasfilm. Ron Howard was brought in to steer the ship home and get the job done. That likely didn’t have a positive influence on audience perception.

When all is said and done, it’s probably better that this happened early for Lucasfilm so they can figure out what fans and casual moviegoers really want from the future of Star Wars. With the end of the Skywalker saga around the corner and a new trilogy on the way three years later, the studio needs to figure out how to make Star Wars simultaneously engaging and profitable.

YouTube:
Ron Howard Blames Fans For Star Wars Failure

Spoiler Below:

phpBB [media]

[mr.negativity]

/film:
‘Age of Samurai’: Netflix Greenlights Docu-Drama About Japanese Warlord Who May Have Inspired Darth Vader

Deadline June 14, 2019:
‘Age of Samurai’: Netflix Sets Japanese Warrior Docu-Drama From ‘The Dictator’s Playbook’ Producer Cream

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is to launch Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan, a docu-drama about the warring kingdoms of feudal Japan that is described as a real-life Game of Thrones. The series is a co-production with Blue Ant Media-run Smithsonian Canada.

The SVOD service has commissioned the multi-part series from Canadian producer Cream Productions, the company behind PBS’ The Dictator’s Playbook and ID series BTK: A Killer Among Us and Fear Thy Neighbor.

The show will explore the warring kingdoms of feudal Japan when several powerful warlords fought to become absolute ruler. It brings to life a cast of characters in an epic struggle through stylized drama that will pay homage to the noir of graphic novels and Japanese art.

It will tell the story of Date Masamune, a notorious samurai known as the ‘One-Eyed Dragon’ who fought alongside the three founding fathers of Japan – warlords who led fierce armies of samurai against each other to unite the nation 400 years ago. His is thought to have been the inspiration for the design of Darth Vader’s iconic helmet. As a child he infamously plucked out his own eye when it became infected with smallpox, murdered his younger brother to ensure his line of succession, succeeded his father when he was 17 and soon after conquered neighboring clans to unite most of northern Japan under his control.

The series is exec produced by Simon George, who has exec-ed Nat Geo’s Jason Silva-fronted Origins: The Journey of Humankind, History’s Barbarians Rising and Showtime doc Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston. George will exec produce alongside Cream CEO and co-founder David Brady, President Kate Harrison and senior production executive Matthew Booi.

The show is currently being filmed in Japan, the U.S. and Canada and is expected to air later this year.

[mr.negativity]

THR SEPTEMBER 28, 2018:
'Star Wars' Chief Kathleen Kennedy's Lucasfilm Deal Extended for Three Years (Exclusive)

Deadline June 17, 2019:
Lucasfilm Names ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Producer Michelle Rejwan As SVP Live Action Development & Production

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has named Michelle Rejwan as SVP of Live Action Development and Production for Lucasfilm.

Rejwan is a producer on the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and was a co-producer on 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and also a co-producer on Bad Robots’ pics Star Trek: Into Darkness and an associate producer on his 2011 movie Super 8.

Rejwan will oversee a new slate of feature films and episodic series for Lucasfilm and Disney+ and continue to produce with Kennedy as Star Wars franchise is built out.

“Working with Michelle over the last seven years as a producer on both The Force Awakens and now The Rise of Skywalker, I have seen first-hand her skills collaborating with writers and directors, and I’ve been incredibly impressed with her creative skills and her ability to manage the complexity surrounding these massive projects,” says Kennedy. “I know the importance of building a team that you trust and have fun working with – it is paramount to our success. There’s an exciting momentum building around the future of the franchise, and both myself and the Lucasfilm team look forward to working with Michelle in shaping the future in all areas of story development, from theatrical film development to live action content for Disney+.”

[Henry88]

after the Skywalker era i hope we could get good villains like vitiate from the old republic games the fill the void.

phpBB [media]

[mr.negativity]

Making Star Wars, August 15, 2019:
Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Trilogy steps beyond the legacy characters!

My favorite Star Wars director has a new film coming out called Knives Out. Johnson spoke to The Observer and briefly discussed his Star Wars saga that’s coming down the road. There isn’t anything very specific but there is sort of a general promise that Johnson is going to play in the Star Wars sandbox in a fun and creative way.

Johnson told The Observer:

“I think that the fun and challenging part of it is to dive in, figure out what’s exciting and then figure out what it’s going to be,” he said. “We’re doing something that steps beyond the legacy characters. What does that look like? To me, the blue sky element of it is what was most striking about it. I know the way that I’m coming at it and what’s fun about it for everyone in George Lucas’ films is figuring out, ‘what’s the next step?’ It really makes you think and figure out what the essence of Star Wars is for me and what that will look like moving forward.”

It almost feels like his story takes place after Rey, Ben, Finn, and Poe’s saga we’re currently wrapping up as an audience. Of course he could be speaking purely in intellectual property terms. One of my favorite themes and ideas from Rian’s Star Wars film is how Kylo and Rose both deal with letting the past go but holding on to what we love. It sounds like that idea is guiding Johnson’s hand to some extent here.

Star Wars fans (like myself) are nostalgia prone. It takes some bravery from the audience and the creators to move forward and not just remake what we already have. I’m looking forward to enjoying another one of Rian’s Star Wars films and with an audience that doesn’t have expectations of the characters they’ve carried around with them for decades.

As a fan I will be very happy to have four Star Wars films with Rian Johnson involved.

[mr.negativity]

Screen Rant:
Star Wars: Disney Sneakily Reveals A New Logo For The Original Movie

Spoiler Below:

[XvGojira]

That's not a new logo.

[mr.negativity]

That's not a new logo.