Years ago ‘Star Wars‘goes to the most debatable moment of his long career. It is no longer an economic issue, but about pure creativity: new series and films seem not to arouse the expectation of other times. In this context, Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasarts since Disney bought it, leaves the company, and leaves it without a clear helmsman. Who happens is a more than complicated situation.
Twelve years of decisions. In the decade and peak that leads to Kennedy company, it has not been easy, facing One of the most volatile and aggressive fandoms: He has been accused of reorienting the franchise TO THE WOKEbut it has also been said that it was excessively immobilist and was pending past glories. All his ‘Star Wars’ films They have been box office successesbut when he has tried to distance himself from the fee with projects such as’Han Solo‘, things have not done well. It could be said that Kennedy was in a position where he did what he did, he was going to be criticized.
Producers against authors. What is clear is that, under his mandate, Kennedy has tried to convert ‘Star Wars’ into an author franchise … while he has collided countless occasions with his creators. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller went out to unbeatted boxes of the ‘Han Solo’ set, Patty Jenkins and David Benioff and DB Weiss were going to revolutionize the franchise and their respective projects They ended up vanished. Currently, the purpose continues, almost as a legacy of Kennedy’s plan, but she will not see it from her position: James Mangold, Taika Waititi, Donald Glover … who knows if we will see it.
The Marvel mirror. Comparisons with the other superfranchice owned by Disney are inevitable. Kevin Feige, with a position comparable to the one that Kennedy has just left, has dodged the ghost of the need to find prestigious authors for his films (now the vast majority sign them creators with cut wings Or, directly, Yes-Men Like Shawn Levy), but it crosses a bump of prestige and box office comparable to ‘Star Wars’. Possibly, the first to find an exit will mark the path that the other will follow. That is why they are under the same roof.
How is the situation: movies. There has been a pump, involuntary but between which they mediate seven years and a pandemic between the last film released in the franchise, ‘Star Wars: Skywalker’s rise‘And next,’The Mandalorian and Grogu‘, which will arrive in 2026. It is a parenthesis, the result of chance and bad luck, unheard of franchises whose only strategy is to primar fans with medium cooking products. It is certainly the first challenge that Kennedy’s successor will have to face: return the big projects to the saga.
How is the situation: series. As in Marvel, some saturation and lack of course has taken over the television faction of ‘Star Wars’, although the results have some quality that surpasses Kevin Feige’s projects. Despite the controversies, ‘Ashoka‘or’ The Acolyte ‘have also collected good reviews, and both the first season of’The Mandalorian ‘ (especially) like pride ‘Andor‘They are among the best that the franchise has given from the films and the classic video games. Even so, these series almost exclusively arrive at the Fandom of the franchise: Lucasartes needs ‘Star Wars’ to return to mass conversation.
Broken visions. Perhaps Kennedy was not the producer who needed ‘Star Wars’, who could have achieved the same box office successes but at the rate of one (or more) per year with a less ambitious approach, but it was noteworthy that Kennedy always wanted to find exploitation ways for a saga whose main characteristic is that (except ‘Andor’ and some other isolated case) repeats the same tropes again and again. His was the idea of raising high Republic as a new coordinate to explore, and wanted to take Lucasfilm beyond ‘Star Wars’ and Indiana Jones, adapting new projects, such as the trilogy ‘Children of Blood and Bone’. We will not know what so much ambition would have been.
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