Kathleen Kennedy is still running Lucasfilm, despite another misfire in “The Acolyte,” which Disney+ quickly canceled after just one season.
Puck’s Matt Belloni has asked around and “nobody at Disney seems to have a good answer for why Kathy’s still there.” Belloni got a lot of “she was George’s choice” type of answers, but most seemed bewildered by her continuing tenure as the overseer of all things “Star Wars”
This past May, George Lucas told a Cannes audience that Kennedy “lost” the Star Wars ideas that he had suggested to her.
“I was the one who really knew what “Star Wars” was…who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it. The force, for example, nobody understood the force,” said Lucas. “When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up.”
There have been reports pointing towards Lucas not being particularly impressed by “The Force Awakens,” calling it an act of “retro” filmmaking. He even gave subtle hints of his dissatisfaction by quipping in an interview that selling Star Wars to Disney felt like selling his kids to slavers.
Sure, there have been rumors, for almost five years now, that Kennedy would be getting the boot, but that hasn’t materialized, and if anything the Star Wars brand has continued to decline since then.
Back in 2022, you had a Business Insider piece practically begging Bob Iger to do something, anything, to steer the Star Wars ship back on track. It doesn’t help that the last Star Wars movie was 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker” and the franchise’s next film, “The Mandalorian and Groku,” is only coming in 2026. That’s seven years of inactivity.
A planned trilogy from ‘The Last Jedi’ helmer Rian Johnson, originally announced in 2017, was recently put in the backburner, but Johnson has stated that he still hopes to make it. You also have projects brewing from filmmakers Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, Shawn Levy and Patty Jenkins.
For 13 years, Kennedy has presided over the Star Wars brand and has borne the wrath of the fanboys, especially when it comes to the recent trilogy of films that reinvented the lore of the franchise.
There’s been zero indication that Disney is willing to bring Lucas back into the fold, not even as a creative consultant, which would help — if I were them, I’d think about including him. He’s the mastermind behind the ideas and millions of fans could get back on the train if it meant that Lucas approved the direction.
The best Star Wars movie since Kennedy took control of the ship is also the one that was the biggest production headache for Disney, that would be Gareth Edwards’ “Rogue One,” which Lucas seemed to really like.
While Marvel Studios, Pixar, Disney Pictures and even 20th Century Studios have been enjoying a successful comeback this summer movie season, the disastrous tenure of Kennedy as LucasFilm president continues. Lucasfilm is the only Disney studio that hasn’t had a major success in recent years. They have been consistently releasing Disney+ shows with middling reviews and viewership.
With the cancellation of “The Acolyte,” Star Wars is floundering now, more than ever. It doesn’t help that their slate of upcoming films just doesn’t scream “major success” to anybody. I don’t think LucasFilm’s upcoming projects will reinvigorate audiences like “Deadpool 3” or “Inside Out.” Longtime Star Wars fans are checking out of the franchise, interest is at an all-time low and the future looks grim.
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