Here’s some interesting news from a galaxy far, far away: a new report claims that the Star Wars Story spin-off movies are being put on hold at Lucasfilm. Rian Johnson’s planned trilogy and the Game of Thrones creators’ series of movies are still in the works, but the long-awaited Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone movie and the planned Boba Fett film are reportedly on ice…for now.
Collider reports that in the wake of the disappointing box office performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Lucasfilm has decided to put all of its planned Star Wars spin-off films on pause indefinitely. This includes the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie which was to be directed by The Hours filmmaker Stephen Daldry, and a Boba Fett movie which had Logan’s James Mangold in early talks to direct. Collider says Daldry and everyone else who was actively developing the Obi-Wan film are “no longer involved”, and they also imply that because Mangold was in early talks to write and direct the Boba Fett film before the extent of Solo’s box office disappointment was apparent, that deal may be off.
That means that a Yoda solo movie, a Solo sequel, and a Lando spin-off are currently frozen in carbonite.
The Star Wars Story spin-off movies have had something of a bumpy track record thus far. Fantastic Four director Josh Trank was fired from a Boba Fett movie just before being officially announced at Star Wars Celebration a few years ago. Even Rogue One – which performed far better than Solo at the box office – saw the highly-publicized removal of director Gareth Edwards while Tony Gilroy was brought in to reshape the movie during post-production. Most recently, of course, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were replaced with Ron Howard just weeks away from completing principal photography on Solo.
Collider’s sources say that Lucasfilm is setting those standalone films aside and focusing on J.J. Abrams Star Wars: Episode IX and “what the next trilogy of Star Wars films will be after that film.” Last year, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said she was interested in making more films with Rey, Poe, Finn, and the rest of the new cast after Episode 9 concluded:
“We’re looking at the next 10 years of Star Wars stories. We’re looking at narratively where that might go; future stories beyond Episode IX with these new characters – Rey, Poe, Finn, BB-8. We’re also looking at people who are interested in coming into the Star Wars world and taking us places we haven’t been yet.”
That last part of her sentence – “places we haven’t been yet” – is key. Solo: A Star Wars Story was a film that no one wanted, filling in gaps that no one needed filled. Disney and Lucasfilm made the safe choice to tell a story about a familiar character, but audiences rejected it. While this development of the Star Wars Story movies being put on hold may seem like another speed bump for Lucasfilm, it’s one of the best decisions they could make. It signals a desire for creativity and exploration within George Lucas’s vast universe, and that’s something fans of this franchise actually have been clamoring for. Rian Johnson’s trilogy will feature all-new characters audiences haven’t seen before, and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss‘s planned movies will be separate from Johnson’s trilogy and the main Skywalker saga entries – though we admittedly still aren’t sure what time period their films will be set, and if any familiar faces may pop up in them.
The post Future ‘Star Wars Story’ Spin-Offs Are On Hold at Lucasfilm appeared first on /Film.
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