If you had KK's job right now...

I would keep JJ, but I would change the screenplay writer. No retcons though. TLJ is a part of this trilogy.

I would only make one standalone movie: Kenobi. Then I would just focus on Rian's and the GOT makers' trilogy. No single spin-offs movies anymore.

I think it was always the plan that she stepps down after EPIX hit theaters.

 

I personally feel that the idea of "course correction" or "righting the ship" is an illusion of assumption. The assumption is that we can predict the outcome of the reception of a film. In other words, "righting the ship" implies some objective measure by which we can proceed to bring about a favorable situation. An actual ship can be righted because there's an objective procedure to be followed that will accomplish the task. But in the case of something like movies, this is not an option because there is no way to know how a film will be received until it is received. Do we honestly think Disney expected TLJ's reception? Of course they didn't.

The fact is that all people involved in the monetary side of film are gambling. Nothing more, nothing less. They are investing money into an outcome that is wholey unpredictable and unknowable. There is only one thing to do: stay at the table and roll the dice. Attempting to "right the ship" is nothing more than calling for a new dealer after taking a bad beat. It's not going to do anything. Future outcomes are still unknown and unpredictable. You sit at the table, you continue the game; you may experience hot streaks, or bad beats, you may break even, you may crap out. That is the nature of the economic game they are in. Nothing will change it.

So if I suddenly had her job, I would walk up to the table, take the dice, open my hand to Daisy Ridley, she blows on the dice, then I shake them and say "Come on, poppa needs a new pair of shoes" and throw the dice. If the result is "Winner!" I exclaim "Fair and square, baby!" rake in the chips and act like I'm responsible for the outcome.

 

I would stop to give a trilogy to different writers. The ST clearly look like the Exquisite corpse game ( not sure of the translation )

A trilogy needs coherence, coordination and a global theme. You can't have a movie following another with the feeling that the director didn't see the previous one. I would have take more time to build a terrific story.

For the Stand Alone movies, I would do some but in a different way. Not really taking former characters but more about people in the galaxy.

A stormtrooper movie like : Saving private Ryan for example.

 

I'm sure that when Empire was released, no one involved was certain it would be successfully received and not flop. Just like with episode 4, they had no idea. It was completely unpredictable. Any ship can sink at any time without any warning. Citing a hot streak payoff doesn't exactly mean that every roll of the dice was a guaranteed payoff. You really think Disney wasn't sweating with the release of episode 7? You're basically pointing at the one film in the franchise that has not made a return and concluding that until that lack of return, all previous returns were a certainty. But they weren't. Anything can end as quickly as it began. This is an axiomatic truth.

Were you around for the backlash against the SW prequels? If so, I'm not sure how you can reasonably come to the conclusion that before Solo, SW was a "safe bet", I certainly doubt George Lucas would share your feelings on the matter. I do agree that if you have a large enough and loyal enough fanbase, you can pad your initial loss. But that is anything but a "safe bet"

If you are taking a beating at a poker table, and a new dealer arrives, and suddenly you're raking in the chips, you may be inclined to conclude that the new dealer is desirable to have as a dealer. But you'd be making a false correlation. People don't understand what it is they're dealing with, and directors and actors don't have anything to do with the critical success and reception of a film. If you think otherwise, how do you explain directors and actors with movies that are not well received or not critical box office successes? Writers, directors and actors do contribute what they contribute to a film. But great directors and actors cannot guarantee their work (though it may excel in quality) will be well received. You cite Solo, I cite Ron Howard. He was sought out by the franchise. He is a great and talented director. His work in the film is top quality. None of it mattered. Patty Jenkins is responsible for the direction on Wonder Woman; but she is not responsible for the success of the film. The dice were rolled on the proverbial table of the fickle nature of the populace, and the film won the roll.

Are you of the mind that movies that are not well received and/or not critical successes only involve unknown actors and directors?

 

First order of business get a good chair... good chairs are important..... maybe a cool new mug.......then work......


Episode 9:
I don't think they should retcon anything, the way to unite the fan base is to try and bring the story together, not rip it further apart. So regardless of my feelings towards the last Jedi its cannon now and episode 9 needs to follow on from that. So if you are not going to retcon anything the only really big decision made by the Last Jedi you could change and it make sense to the story is Rey's parentage. I would leave it how it is, to much screen time has been given to it already, we are two films into this trilogy and I don't feel like I know Rey at all, we need to develop her as a character and forget about any mysterious surrounding her. While I think the film needs to carry on from the last Jedi, it also needs to feel like it finishes the story started in the Force Awakens, and fit in with in with the Saga as a whole.

So my first order of business would be read JJ's script, this guy has a reputation for not been able to close stories, so I would have to make sure he seems capable of closing out this one, which is really hard considering its quite disjointed right now. If JJ was on the right lines I keep him, if not I would let him go. If i need to push episode 9 back a year then so be it, the script needs to be perfect. Personly i think the biggest mistake Kathleen Kennedy made was rushing out episode 7, it had a knock effect for the rest of the Saga, and simply started out with wrong mind set. So I would take my time, story first then think about a release date.

The Future:

I would cancel Rian Johnson Trilogy, it just isnt worth it at this point it, and from what has come out about it Johnson hasn't got much of an idea what it is to be and might even feel relived getting away from Star Wars considering what has happened. So it would be best for everyone if we just move.

I would also cancel the Boba Fett movie and the Obi Wan Movie. While this would be heart breaking to do becuase I think a Boba Fett movie could actually be a Crimson Dawn movie and i'm desperate to see how Quira and Maul's story continues, but people just don't seem interested so we have to move on. Also while again im desperate to see Ewan Mcgergor back as Obi Wan, I Just don't think its a good idea to do another film about an old character that we know the fate of right now.

So my plan would be to get David Benioff and DB Weiss to write a Knights of the Old Republic trilogy, with the intention of shooting it in one big go similar to how the Lord of the Rings Was done. This would not be a beat for beat retelling of the game/story but a lose interpretation of it similar to the way Marvel did Civil war. Use some of the same characters and plot ideas but make it new and take it in different directions if it is right for the story. I would give them as long as they needed, to get the whole script for the entire trilogy absolutely perfect. Then i would find a director who buys into the story whose is capable of taking on all 3 films. Some directors i would have in mind would be Alfonso Cuarón, Alex Garland, Kathryn Bigelow, Zhang Yimou, Julie Taymor, Andrew Stanton, Doug Liman, John Krasinski, but to be honest who ever was the best person for the job!
Once the script and the director had been chosen I would let them work out how long the needed to do this and plan the release date from their. At the absolute earliest this would be coming out Christmas 2221, but much more likely be Christmas 2222. and I would release the remaining two films the following 2 Decembers.

During this period no other star wars films would be released, but I would carry on with Filonis Resistance cartoon and Jon Favreau's Live action tv show..

During the production of this trilogy I would start to get Ideas about where we want to go next. I would Ideally like to number(probably 3) stand alone stories before embarking on the next big trilogy. The thoughts on these would be:
After the gap of spending time in the old republic, people will probably fancy catching up with old characters. I would re-consider an Obi Wan film, or possibly depending on whether James Ear Jones and Ian McDiarmid where still with us see if a Lords of the Sith movie (or at least a film featuring them) would be possible. Another idea would be see where de-againg technology was, would it be possible to do a Luke in his prime film?
The second film i would be interested in doing would be something a bit different, along the lines Lost Stars or a sort or 7 Samari style film,
For the 3rd film in the series I would look to bring a poplar cannon character to the Big Screen, whether that be a Thrawn, Ahsoka, Sloane or some one from Legends like a C'baoth, Mara Jade or even a Plagueis ( dependant on whether they wanted to use him for .......)

Then around 2230 I would gear up for Episode 10, these films would be released in a classic Star Wars way with 1 film every 3 years.

And I think thats probably going far enough. But my main philosophy would be get the story and script right before you even think about release dates.

 

Star Wars Fantasy League

Oh boy, if I had the keys to the toy chest... what would I do?

First of all, an OB1 film with McGregor would be a priority.

I would bring back all the Star Wars fans with an authentic Star Wars film based on OB1 and showcase a teaser at next years celebration, and as the head LFL give a heart felt speech at celebration that would re-unite all the fans.

I would release a Star Wars film every 2 years, at Christmas, no more yearly Star Wars films.

I would scrutinize Favreau's TV series, most likely cancel it... This is not Star Trek...

Keep RJ's trilogy, but make sure it feels like Star Wars. Slap his hand when he strays too far... sort of what Alan Ladd Jr. did with Young George Lucas during the early 70's.

Tease the GoT show runner's films( in all media) up until their release to get everyone hyped on an Old Republic / GoT version of Star Wars. You know you want it!!!

Establish a Star Wars Cinematic Universe of films, for example create a story thread that affects all standalone films going forward, continue Qi' ra's story with Maul, in a Boba Fett film, leading to a great big gangster film with Black Sun/ Prince Xizor and the Hutts.

I don't want KK fired. I have no hatred toward her. I know that George wouldn't give the keys to the proverbial toy chest to someone who knows nothing of Star Wars. I hope all Star Wars films are successful going forward.

 

I really don't feel that drastic change is really necessary here.

Solo failed because it had such little marketing, in a crowded month. You can convince people to see any dumb blockbuster if you market it right, and I think the consensus is that Solo is a decent film, but they didn't have a trailer or poster until 4 months before the film came out, when TFA had those thirteen months prior. With all the bad press, there was no time to do damage control and build hype, and the competition at the time didn't help. So to me Solo is not this watershed moment, again because fans agree it's a fairly good film. It just wasn't sold properly. This is the lesson Disney has to learn--you can't depend on brand recognition, especially when it's a film with such a bad reputation pre-release.

So really I would just mainly soldier on, and learn that you can't skimp on the marketing, and these things need time to build up. You have to do some films for fan service, and some films for a general audience. The stand alones seem more on the fan service, but they still need a huge hype train behind them.

Fast-track a Solo sequel disguised as a Boba Fett stand-alone, as you now have estabished that world and those actors. This is apparently happening. Based on reception you can either expand or cancel this series, but I think it would do well--just make sure to market it too.
Fast-track the Kenobi movie, and you can tie it in with the Solo world. This is apparently already in pre-production. McGregror or bust.
Benioff and Weiss KOTOR series, but take your time and get it right. They are still very busy with GOT.
Get Rian Johnson's trilogy to be a main "going off in its own direction" series not based on EU material or character origins or fan service. Just make a great adventure in the GFFA, but don't dawdle.

And that's it really. All these things are already happening, this is the next 10 years of Star Wars, and to me it seems like a good plan.

 

I also don't completely disagree with the spirit of what you're saying. A famous actor or director with a loyal fanbase and good name recognition can definitely play a part if as you allude, the cards are dealt favorably. But it's still resting on those cards being dealt. At the heart of the matter, it's just a big question mark and we can't know how any movie idea or "course correction" will actually be met when all is said and done. It could even have the opposite of the desired effect in the end. "Course correction" in such a scenario is analogous to being in the middle of the ocean in a fog bank as thick as pea soup, course correction is impossible without some sort of guiding light.

The topic here is, what would you do with the franchise direction, right now? I can't see how anything could be a better idea than just sticking to whatever the plan is and just keep rolling the dice. Catering to a group of troublemakers won't do you anything, especially when a good portion of them clearly to me are of the "there's no pleasing some people" variety. There is I'm sure a core few (and I feel, misguided) people who genuinely mean no trouble and just want to voice themselves. But come on, the vast majority of these "fans" are really just troublemakers seizing the opportunity to sow discord and ill-will while hiding behind the mask of the word "fan"; and I'll just end the post here.

 

Listen to POC!Fans.

 

The underlying premise of this thread is about Kathleen Kennedy, and her career, and what should be done to "course correct". We are three movies in. So far, the first two were well received. The third, I Google "The Last Jedi" and I get IMDB 7.3/10, RT 91%, Metacritic 85%, Google Users 74%. This is the track record for the reception of three films which are a group effort. These "fans" are now bending over backwards to the point of fighting against the franchise of which they claim to be "fans" in order to cause ill-will to this woman. Again, three movies in, all three positive reception. We can argue about TLJ all day, but in the end, her track record is positive and if we call TLJ "mixed reception" that gives her exactly one movie that she headed that was "mixed", and these people have taken ONE stutter to the point of flooding the internet with a modern day witch hunt. Again. ONE MOVIE.

The only reason I said "I'm sure there is a core few" in that comment was to try to be agreeable, and give the benefit of the doubt that there may be some of these people who are genuine (if misguided- again ONE movie). Otherwise, I'm saying, all of them are simply troublemakers. There is no real reason whatsoever for a minority to act in such an extreme fashion, going out of the way to jeopardize one woman's career (not to mention causing two young women to leave social media) because of ONE stutter (possible stutter, given the data from Google reviews). This is not normal, and I don't have to know the specific numbers to see the face of the spirit behind the movement.

So when I say "a few", that is not an actual appeal to numbers, it is me being generous in giving the benefit of the doubt. It's me being nice.

 

Has any one got any numbers to back this up? everywhere i go I saw Solo marketing, still do.

 

Thank you very kindly. I did have a lot of fun doing this..... though maybe spent too much time on it

 

I'm not that interested in a Boba Fett stand alone. He's just not that interesting to me as a leading character.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 10, 2018, Original Post Date: Jun 10, 2018 ---

If I were Kathleen Kennedy, I would keep a firmer grip on handling the franchise or find someone to oversee the trilogies. And I would not release the films as often as the Marvel people. I don't regard the MCU as the supreme way to handle a movie franchise. Kevin Feige has made a great number of mistakes along the way. But I think the comic book world's multiple titles allow for constant releases of films.