Disney CEO Says They Will Be More Careful About the Volume and Timing of Future Star Wars Movies Going Forward

Disney boss Bob Iger spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about several projects and topics including Star Wars. When told that 'many believe' (though we find that phrasing to be a bit arbitrary) Disney should pump the brakes and not put out a Star Wars movie every year, Iger responded with a reflection on the recent past but with his eyes on the future for the franchise.

I am sure many versions of this story you'll see floating around will have you believe Bob Iger is saying Disney is halting making Star Wars movies in the near future, but Iger didn't say that. It just seems they will be taking a more logical approach that best fits the Star Wars brand and franchise.

What Iger did say does confirm a report of ours from June, where several sources gave us a rundown of what happened between Disney and Lucasfilm in regards to Solo: A Star Wars Story. Let's take a look at what the Disney boss did have to say recently, followed by a reminder of what we told you a few months back which all begins to make much more sense.







Iger in response to The Hollywood Reporter declaration that many want Star Wars to slow down:

Iger's initial response, to which he pauses as if catching himself, falls directly in line with what I heard from sources months ago which we reported to you in this article here. From that piece we told you:

• In light of the director change and having to nearly reshoot the entire movie, Lucasfilm wanted to move Solo: A Star Wars Story to December 2018, but Disney had enough of their previous films’ delays and put their foot down. Our source tells us that Disney granted Lucasfilm the budget and time to make all the production changes they needed to fix anything broken with Solo, but that they had to make the May 25th release date.

• In addition to this, Disney told Lucasfilm that they would not let Solo interfere with their plans for Avengers: Infinity War, meaning Solo would not get any preferential treatment in marketing to make up for lost time due to its reshoots that lasted into the Fall of 2017. Disney is in new territory, having bought up so many different companies and franchises they are now quite literally competing with themselves to an extent.

• Lucasfilm is returning focus to one project at a time per-medium. So right now the only projects in development are Episode IX (live action film), Star Wars: Resistance(animated series), and Jon Favreau’s live-action TV series. It sounds like they will continue to develop a solid structuring among those three departments under the Lucasfilm banner, with Dave Filoni still heading the animation department.

• Disney is done experimenting with new or unusual filmmakers and will go back to proven veteran talent who they know can handle a big budget Star Wars production in an effort to prevent future production chaos, drama, and firings.

Nothing in Iger's statement to THR states Disney is halting production on Star Wars movies, he actually makes it a point to bring up projects still in development, including the brand new saga by Game of Thrones series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. We realize he didn't mention Rian Johnson's trilogy, but that could simply be Iger not feeling the need to rundown every project they have in development. He didn't mention Favreau's live action series either but we know that is heading to production soon for a 2019 release on the new Disney streaming service Disney Play.



Iger's most recent quote was brought to our attention by Empire Online.





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Can we be careful about not confusing ones own views with Bob Iger's and not putting words into his mouth?

He has said nothing about them being 'hastily put together' and nothing about what he thinks of the quality of those films. Only that that there was 'too much, too fast'.

 

For what it's worth, Marvel, a Disney property had three films this year and will have three next year.

 

I'm really happy with this decision. Star Wars movies have always been events in themselves, and you just can't sustain that on an annual release schedule. At least, not in the same way. I'd much rather they have time to build something really great, build the hype, and make it a big deal like in the Lucas era, or like they did with Force Awakens. Thanks Bob.

True, but I think there's a difference. Star Wars isn't as flexible, for one thing. Marvel movies have a HUGE variety of flavors and can still feel like Marvel. Star Wars has a much stricter aesthetic--you just can't go too far before it stops feeling "like Star Wars." So it will wear out alot faster.

Also, like I said above, Star Wars films are events. Marvel has big event films like Infinity War and smaller character pieces like Ant-Man. But Star Wars is basically all Infinity Wars, and they haven't really come up with a satisfying way to scale it down, in my opinion, without losing the "Star Wars" feeling.

 

Nothing past Episode IX has been greenlit yet. What other writers have are development agreements, but Disney doesn't have to necessarily greenlight anything they present to them, it's not mandatory.

As far as volume and speed and timing go, that's not a concern you'd hear anybody talk about with Marvel who put out like 3 movies a year now.


(calendar effect)

 

The main word to remember from this Bob quote is hastily.
- too much ? I don't care, from the moment the quality is here, "a lot" is never "too much"
- too soon ? same thing: if all is good, from the plot to the photography, from the pacing to the humor, from the acting to the dialogues, I wouldn't mind a new SW every week.
- hastily put, ah yes, here we are! When they bought the franchise, Disney wanted to remake the whole SW and rebadge it Disney. That's the reason why they wanted to kill the Big3, introduce new characters, but also, that was what led them (and us) to "a few new aliens and none from the ancien times". The new audience, still to conquer, would have bought something like that. But Disney has deeply underestimated the installed audience, a.k.a the long time fans. They swept the EU and sent all to Legends. They ignored all of the previous worlds, planets, forms of life that had been established 6 films long. They all made new. And they triggered the anger of the fans, forgetting that 1. everywhere, it's always the most angries who shout the louder, and 2. the shy new audience wouldn't defend the stuff as firmly as the frustrated old audience would criticize it.

All of that led to a bronca, a backlash about the ST, growing day after day on the internet.

Too hastily, man, yes, definitely. Disney should have thought to a better integration of the future with the existing, for a better reception, and they should have better considered the old fans, instead of considering them as negligible minds with a wallet.

 

except for the fact that Bob didn't say that. he never mentioned the word.. that's the OP's opinion.

 

Slightly concerned by no hints of Rian's trilogy being a given. It could mean nothing, I know, but still.

Yet another reason to believe there won't be any movie in 2020. They could focus on streaming content in that year and work out the plan for movies behind the scenes. They've stumbled only with Solo so far and the main lesson is to keep equal intervals between movies. So I guess they would be fine with one movie per year in future as long as they rely on proven directors. That's a lot of movies, but I don't think it's too much. A year-long break between streaks movies could be a good idea. Perhaps better that a gap after each movie.

I also think that the supposed "slowdown" could have affected projects we've never hear about officially and their main idea for the future (RJ and B&W) stays on course. At least that's what I want to believe.

 

He did mention B&W, though. I know, I know, this is not a reason to worry, but I guess I won't rest until I see further confirmation it's happening.

 

TLJ failed. Solo was good. Make good stories and you won’t fail.

 

To play devil's advocate: if Disney/LFL pulled the plug on the project behind the scenes, I guess the filmmakers would play ball and claim it's happening up until the official news about cancellation. Kinda Affleck style. Well, on the plus side, they've never cancelled an officially announced SW film, so that's encouraging.

 

Rian Johnson: I'M STILL BATMAN YOU INSENSITIVE CLODS!

 

Guys who made Lord of the Rings could handle SW movie.

 

Please no more Peter Jackson.....if he made a SW movie then Legolas would have to be in it somehow

 

This is interesting.

I like it more than I hate it. Even though I'm sitting here complaining that the wait for 9 after Solo is unbearable, less volume of films will help restore the magic that I think even the biggest of fans can admit has faded in recent years.