Star Wars Thread (a Galaxy Far Far Away) Obi-Wan Movie In The Works! (36)

Colin Trevorrow out as Director of Episode 9. Why they felt the need to hire him in the first place is beyond me, but getting rid of him is probably the right call. But it brings up a disturbing trend of Lucasfilm not being on the same page with their filmmakers. Michael Ardnt being axed as he is writing Episode VII, Josh Trank getting axed, Rogue One reshoots, The Han Solo Lord/Miller debacle, and now Trevorrow?

I'm not worried in the short-term, but this is kind of worrying me long-term. They seem to be concerned with creating another perfectly synergistic Marvel-type universe that works with shows, books, toys, etc. It worries me that we will never see some really good stories because they won't work with Disney's marketing vision. Disney would have zero problem running this into the ground if they knew they could make enough money before it happens.

Kathleen Kennedy is a producer, not a creative. She is not Kevin Feige who has a very specific vision and knows how he's going to get it done. And what talented director is going to want to come in and work with Lucasfilm if this keeps up? How many dudes can they kick to the curb before directors just stop wanting to work with them? And is this going to make Lucasfilm gun shy about hiring talented directors with a vision that may be a bit outside the box?

 

Well from the get-go I didn't like Trevorrow. I think he got the job simply because Jurassic World was a box-office hit, not because he's an actually talented director. In fact, Jurassic World is a pretty stupid movie, it just did well as a mindless summer movie. I never liked the fit and I thought it basically doomed Episode 9 to being the same thing that Episode 6 was: a good capper on the series, but not necessarily a great movie.

I think you're right that Disney knows what they want in these movies much like Marvel. I think Marvel enjoys differentiation between their franchises, but they still have a basic outline that all the movies have to follow and most directors aren't eager for that. Most directors view themselves as artists and don't want a cookie cutter keeping their stories in a certain vein. Oddly though, I think Star Wars isn't that, at least the sagas aren't. Rian Johnson is a really unique director with a unique vision and style. He's said that he has been encouraged to think outside the box and really push things in other directions. The cast has said his vision is tremendously different and really blew them away.

I'm guessing this particular thing had to do with Trevorrow not being that great. He had two "good" movies in Safety Not Guaranteed and Jurassic World, but his latest movie "The Book of Henry" was critically crushed and didn't do well at the Box Office. There's some rumors that he's got weird, destructive streaks to him (I'd heard he was charged with destruction of property at a house he rented when he threw a party that got out of control).

I do agree that they don't seem to have the same concise, visionary decision making on these. They make choices based off of popularity in the moment, but get cold feet with the products. I'd be nervous if I were a new director for sure. For now I'll call it a feeling out process.

 

I think the bigger issue is it is happening with every movie. One movie got scrapped (Trank's rumored Boba Fett movie). One movie they redid the entire script. One movie they fire the directors 85% through the shoot. One movie they reshoot the last act of the movie with a different director. Now episode 9 they fire the director after he gives them a script and has been on the project for years. Episode 8 seems like the only movie not to have a significant creative shift.

 

I don't think the Boba Fett movie ever actually existed and again Trank was a train wreck. I think those two are basically non-issues on the creative side from Lucas.

The Rogue One issues were legit. I think they thought they wanted a dark, military movie in Star Wars, but when it tested poorly (test audiences left the movie feeling really depressed apparently) they got cold feet. That to me again is testing the waters. I think Disney thought they could pull all these different genres into Star Wars similar to what they want to do with Marvel, but they can't. Star Wars is way more poetic and way more uplifting and when people saw a product of Star Wars that wasn't uplifting, they probably freaked out.

The issues with the Han Solo movie are just... stupid. I mean you give the reigns to comedic directors and then get mad when they make a movie in their own style? Like I said, it's a creative mistake as they figure out how to get this going. They're going to go through mistakes like this. Hey Marvel screwed up trying to make things work with Edgar Wright. These things happen although usually not late.

And again Trevarrow, in my opinion, isn't very good. They thought they were getting in on the ground floor with a great young director and instead got a turkey.

I'm not saying these aren't issues, but I'm not worried yet; at least not about the saga movies.

 

I think this is very good news, I was worried about Trevorrow finishing out this saga from the beginning. Everyone in the cast has said Rian Johnson has done a great job, the process went smoothly apparently and Disney is happy with what he did, so why not offer him 9 too. Let him finish his vision if he did well with 8, you don't want to close the saga out on a weak note. I do hope that when they start making movies not connected to characters we know that more freedom is given to directors. An old republic movie doesn't need to follow a formula or be careful not to ruin characters we know and love.

What I never got from the start though is hiring these directors years in advance. Why would you do that when someone like Rian Johnson could make an incredible episode VIII and then you want him to come back for 9? Why hire 3 separate directors from the outset, before truly knowing who's vision is going to be the best or if they are all going to be so different the movies don't even feel like a cohesive trilogy? Seems to me having one or 2 people in charge with one vision is the best way to go. Abrams brought SW back in a safe way, Johnson is said to be taking it to some new exciting places, and if they love what he's done with 8, no reason to not let him close out the trilogy with 9.

 

What I meant is that it was in such a new, precarious position that a lot of those movies don't get made.

Just look at the DC lineup. I'd say at least 50% of their planned movies won't happen. Same with Sony's Spider-Man spin-offs (although two of them are already pushing forward). It doesn't take much to kill an idea early on like that and Trank's career suicide really imploded the Boba Fett idea.

 

One thing that maybe sucks for Trevorrow, I wonder if he took Episode 9 in place of the Jurassic World sequel. (he wouldn't have been able to both)

 

I think they've embraced the prequels pretty solidly. If anything I think they're running from the originals even more. This last trilogy is their farewell to that saga and now they're rumored to be moving on from the Skywalkers completely. The odd thing is that Disney owns episodes 2-7+, but the rights to the first movie isn't really theirs it's all licensed. We know how Disney likes to only promote their own services and products.

 

I don't think they'll ever fully own Episode 4, but they own everything else.

I agree with what you're saying conceptually, but I'm saying they've worked to include the prequels as well with certain objects, references, etc. They're keeping everything on the table in a respectable way as far as those movies go. They could have just shunned them completely and forgotten them altogether, but they chose to bring some of those pieces back.

I think they're absolutely making the Jedi "bad", but not evil just very flawed. They're going to really try to nuance things I think.

 

JJ is back. Thoughts? I worry a little bit. He did a good job with Episode 7, but will he undo any sort of edginess that Rian Johnson brings? Also, it's moved to December 2019 from May 2019. One week from Wonder Woman 2. It will be an interesting game of chicken as WW won't want to deal with Star Wars a mere one week later.

 

WW won't move, but they'll definitely lose to Star Wars.

I preferred RIan to come back, but JJ will do fine. My friend put it best: JJ will make sure the movie isn't bad. We're getting, at worst, a pretty good and entertaining movie.

My problem is pretty much what you said: JJ forsakes plot details for drama and glosses over character building moments to reach the end result he wants. I just hope he allows more time for us to feel the movie. Small things that he shouldn't miss (like Chewie hugging Leia) he can't miss a second time.

Better than Trevarrow though.

 

Better than Trevorrow for sure. But I do have concerns. He likes his mystery box. He likes to create questions and mystery around characters and events. Lost and Alias were prime examples of that. In Force Awakens he set the world in a tizzy with, "Who is Snoke? Who are Rey's parents?" I guess that's all fine and good if you're directing the first in a trilogy. But Abrams is going to have to open his beloved mystery box in this one. This could very well be the last saga film for a long time. He can't leave us with a bunch of questions. On a side note, I'm convinced he didn't know the answer to either of those questions and left it to the future film makers to figure out. I hope they have it figured out and he has a good idea for a reveal.

As for WW, I don't think it'll move, but it wouldn't shock me if it did. WW was a nice success for WB. It's not Star Wars. Just move it back one week. THat'd give it enough room to at least breathe.

 

Yeah I realized after I posted that WW just finally signed a director. They have room for adjustments. I wouldn't be surprised either if they move. They could move to the last week of November.

I'm with you. JJ is going to have to bring in something different this time around. All the really great reveals should be done character-wise. There will be a few plot twists, but there shouldn't be any real mystery about characters.

 

True. Having just signed their director, I could see them shifting. I mean, it's not like WB hasn't moved off dates in the past. They moved BvS away from Captain America: CW. And that was before we knew how bad the WB universe was going to be. Maybe they move it to Valentine's Day and sort of pitch it as a movie your girlfriend/wife will want to see!

 

It's their only working title right now! There's already minor controversy around the writing for The Batman (might not even be connected to their universe, but has the same Batman? okay...), Aquaman has almost zero buzz, just about all the Justice League buzz is already bad and apparently Whedon is reshooting a third of the movie... Wonder Woman is their only winner and now it's going up against probably the strongest existing franchise today.

I'm moving on out! I'd go to September. Next summer is going to be great for movies.

May 4- Infinity War
May 25- Han Solo solo
June 1- Deadpool 2
June 15- Incredibles 2
June 22- Jurassic World 2
July 6- Antman and The Wasp
July 27- Mission Impossible 6
Aug 3- The Predator

And those are just the big franchise types. If WB was really confident, they'd move into the middle of July and steal from Antman/Wasp. I'd probably go August or September though. There's nothing solid from late Aug to Nov. besides Equalizer 2. That would give them a ton of open space to work with.

 

Not thrilled about this. I like episode 7, but I much prefer Rogue One. 7 is a reboot, its extremely safe, and the Death Star version 3 was maybe the laziest idea ever. Besides that I have many other issues with 7 as well, and a lot of them feel like JJ Abrams things, so I'm concerned we're going to get a safe, less dark, episode 9. I know we haven't seen what Rian Johnson did with 8 yet, but all reports are Disney is very happy, and he was offered 9 before JJ and turned it down. Bummer to me, I think we could have gotten something epic. Now we might get RoTJ, good, but not Empire.

Kathleen Kennedy seems to be the one mainly playing it safe here, there's a disturbing trend of going back to what's safe, or firing anyone with any differences in vision. There was really NO ONE other than JJ who could take 9 that was more interesting? That concerns me, playing it safe is fine, but allowing for creativity has to come into play at some point. I've seen Ava DuVernay brought up in multiple places and that seems like an at least more creative choice to me. But I guess they want these things in the hands of safe (even boring) directors like Abrams and Howard for now, gotta keep making a billion dollars a movie. I'm glad SW is back, but again, at some point it needs to stop being all about money and something about risk and exploring new things.