Latest news with #LucasFilm
Time Magazine
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Why There Hasn't Been a Star Wars Movie in 6 Years—And What Comes Next
The second and reportedly final season of Andor, easily the best Star Wars television show or film that LucasFilm has produced in years, is set to premiere on Disney+ on April 22. But it arrives at a moment of potential transition for the studio. Creator Tony Gilroy recently said he doesn't think the streaming era can support shows like Andor. "No one's ever gonna start a show on this scale again, and shoot it practically, and have the resources and the protection to do something like this," he told Empire. So what does the future of Star Wars television—and film—look like? Eight years after The Last Jedi hit theaters, we haven't gotten a single Star Wars film. Instead, Disney has churned out a glut of television series: The mega-hit The Mandalorian, the miraculous Andor, and many more shows of varying levels of quality. The Star Wars universe even expanded into the real world with a hotel at Disney World that invited its guests to play Jedi and Sith as they interacted with in-character hotel staff. The closure of that cosplay resort sparked a multi-hour long viral video analyzing why the concept failed. The future of the franchise does seem to hinge on a successful return to the big screen. And many potential Star Wars movies from famous writers like Game of Thrones' David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Lost' s Damon Lindelof, and The Shape of Water' s Guillermo del Toro have been announced and then scuttled. Meanwhile, President of LucasFilm Kathleen Kennedy is reportedly contemplating stepping down soon. Earlier this year, she told Deadline, "We'll probably make an announcement [about my replacement] months or a year out, and I have every intention of sticking around to help that person be successful." Kennedy does have a couple films on the theatrical calendar. Iron Man director and Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau will helm The Mandalorian and Grogu, a spinoff of the hit TV series set to debut next year. And Deadpool & Wolverine' s Shawn Levy will soon begin shooting Star Wars: Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling. Here's where LucasFilm stands ahead of Andor' s final season. The critical success of Andor From a critical perspective, Andor should be a blueprint for success at LucasFilm. In theory, the story could have been a rote Rogue One prequel: The show focuses on one of that film's heroes, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and his indoctrination into the Rebellion. Instead, its a compelling spy thriller interrogating the reality of a gritty fight against totalitarianism. There are no Jedis, no secrets about Darth Vader's past for Reddit sleuths to hunt down, no adorable creatures to slap on backpacks and lunchboxes. The show resists the temptation, to which so many of its peers have caved, to incessantly reference characters, objects, or plot points from its mother IP. (See: House of the Dragon or The Rings of Power' s obsession with flashbacks and Easter eggs.) And while The Mandalorian is structured like a monster-of-the-week series with a new planet or challenge every episode or so, Andor is structured like well-crafted prestige television. Every few episodes, Cassian visits a new planet. Gilroy, who also wrote Rogue One, settles into each new location, meticulously builds character arcs there, and delivers an often crushing emotional blow at the end of each character's story. As I wrote of Season 1, Gilroy's use of language is precise, and we'll often hear the same turn of phrase uttered by both Empire stooges and the rebels, blurring the lines between good and evil. And the show's focus on the daily, deadly, often stifling struggle against fascism strikes particularly hard at this moment: House of Cards' Beau Willimon wrote a harrowing three-episode arc in Season 1 during which Cassian is picked up by authorities for a crime he didn't commit and arbitrarily sentenced to years in a labor camp. If there is a reason why Andor has succeeded creatively where other Star Wars TV shows have failed, credit must go to Gilroy, the writer behind Michael Clayton and the Bourne movies, as well as Willimon, who has become perhaps the most in-demand script polisher in Hollywood thanks to his work on both Andor and Severance. Gilroy has credited the incredible commercial success of The Mandalorian, Disney+'s most popular series, with his ability to take creative risks with Andor. "The success of The Mandalorian gave us the platform to jump off," he told Empire. "No Baby Yoda, no Andor. Seriously. Don't think that we don't know that." And LucasFilm certainly deserves credit for trusting Gilroy and giving him ample funding even if his contemplative show didn't reach the ratings highs of The Mandalorian. They were willing to take the risk because of the potential upside. Why the studio hasn't found a similar collaborative approach with the likes of Lindelof or del Toro remains a mystery. Star Wars' struggles to find a footing on the big screen Before LucasFilm even wrapped the Skywalker saga with 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX—The Rise of Skywalker, the studio seemed to be struggling with the cinematic direction of the franchise. Originally Colin Trevorrow was supposed to direct the ninth entry in the Star Wars series, then titled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates. But LucasFilm replaced Trevorrow with J.J. Abrams, who had helmed The Force Awakens, the first of several director switch-ups for the franchise. The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street directing team Phil Lord and Chris Miller were dismissed from 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story, an origin story for Han Solo, midway through production and replaced by Ron Howard. Solo underperformed at the box office, and the sequels that were seeded in the movie never came to fruition. Disney CEO Bob Iger said at a 2023 conference that the 'disappointing' box office returns for Solo, 'gave us the cadence was a little too aggressive." He added that going forward, "we're going to make sure when we make one, it's the right one. So we're being very careful there." And careful, they have been. Star Wars movies that were announced only to disappear include a Boba Fett film from A Complete Unknown' s James Mangold, a Jabba the Hutt movie directed by del Toro, a trilogy from Benioff and Weiss, and a movie from Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. Films from Thor: Ragnarok' s Taika Waititi and Wonder Woman' s Patty Jenkins appear to be on indefinite hold. That's a lot of big directorial names who have come and gone with nothing to show for it. The Disney+ television glut When Disney+ launched in November of 2019, just before the pandemic, they flooded the streaming service with content derived from the House of Mouse's most popular franchises, Marvel and Star Wars (and, for children, Pixar). A few early shows were huge hits, including The Mandalorian and WandaVision, in part because they defied expectations of what paint-by-numbers franchise TV-making might be. Marvel's high-concept WandaVision, for instance, spoofed sitcoms through the ages. And The Mandalorian featured a massive twist at the end of the first episode: the introduction of an adorable creature we on the internet collectively dubbed "Baby Yoda." But perhaps in an effort to churn out as much content as possible, the shows that followed often felt like pale imitations of what came before them—series that were less creative, less compelling, more dependent on the viewer having watched hundreds of hours of Marvel or Star Wars content just to keep up with the plots. For Marvel, the simultaneous glut in content and drop in its quality have had an impact on box office for its feature films, which have not performed as well as the studio had hoped post- Avengers: Endgame. LucasFilm hasn't suffered the same fate in theaters simply because the studio has not produced any Star Wars movies in six years. But they have continued to flood Disney+ with TV shows, including Ahsoka, The Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Bad Batch, and Boba Fett. None of these shows have quite captured the zeitgeist like The Mandalorian did or garnered the critical praise of Andor. The overall effect on fans, based on social media chatter, has been simultaneous Jedi fatigue on the small screen and a yearning for a larger, sweeping stories in the cinema. What's next for Star Wars Star Wars fans shouldn't despair. Disney's shareholders will pressure the company to eventually get another film set in a galaxy far, far away into movie theaters. Two Star Wars projects currently have a firm release date. The Mandalorian & Grogu, a spinoff of the hit TV series starring Pedro Pascal and Baby Yoda, is set for May 22, 2026. And Levy is directing a movie called Star Wars: Strarfighter starring Ryan Gosling, will debut in May 2027. That second film will star entirely new characters and be set about five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. Meanwhile, after his Boba Fett movie fell by the wayside, Mangold is now reportedly working on a different Star Wars movie set 25,000 years before The Phantom Menace. And Simon Kinberg, who wrote many of the X-Men movies, has signed on to do a trilogy for the franchise. The Last Jedi' s Rian Johnson says he may or may not return to the Star Wars universe for a once-announced trilogy after the he finishes writing and directing the Knives Out franchise. Jenkins' Rogue Squadron movie was originally set for 2023 and has been delayed for years. An announced Waititi film similarly seems to be trapped in development purgatory. Still, perhaps one of these movies will see the light of day. LucasFilm also announced a movie—or perhaps even trilogy—based on Rey Skywalker. Initially, the studio hired Lindelof for a Rey project. Lindelof later said (with good humor) that he was "asked to leave the Star Wars universe." LucasFilm then tapped Locke' s Steven Knight to replace The Leftovers creator, though Knight, too, left the project, which may now be in limbo. Intriguingly, frequent Lindelof collaborators Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Nick Cuse (The Leftovers and Watchmen) are reportedly working on a Star Wars live-action series. Though a separate project, it's easy to imagine those writers might share Lindelof's sensibility. Amid all these announcements, in 2023, Dave Filoni was named Chief Creative Officer at LucasFilm and charged with planning the future of Star Wars films and shows. Filoni cut his teeth on Star Wars animated series like The Clone Wars before working on The Mandalorian with Iron Man director Jon Favreau. But beyond bringing his biggest TV project to the big screen, details on the other future plans remain scarce. That's a lot up in the air, and fans are hopeful that some of these tentative plans will firm up in the near future. Until then, at least we've got Andor.
Fox News
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Diddy's Trial Moving Forward As Planned
Diddy's trial will move forward as scheduled despite his defense asking for a postponement. LucasFilm announced it's next Star Wars film. Plus, WWE wrestler CM Punk slammed Elon Musk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit Jeffrey Petz
CBS News
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Ryan Gosling to star in new standalone "Star Wars" movie
After his scene-stealing performance in "Barbie," actor Ryan Gosling is entering a galaxy far, far away. LucasFilm announced Friday the next installment of the " Star Wars " franchise, "Star Wars: Starfighter" with Gosling will hit theaters in May 2027. Shawn Levy will direct the film. Appearing on stage before a lightsaber-waving crowd at Makuhari Messe center outside Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, Gosling shared a photo of his childhood bedsheets, plastered with illustrations from the space epic created by George Lucas. "I guess I was dreaming about ' Star Wars ' even before I saw the film," he said. Levy, who also directed "Deadpool & Wolverine," told the crowd that the new movie will not be a prequel or a sequel in the famous franchise but a new standalone adventure with new characters set several years after 2019's "Star Wars: Episode IX -- The Rise of Skywalker." Filming starts later this year, he said. "I can't say much about it because I understand the rules," he added. Only the title was shown on a giant screen, although that was enough for the crowd to burst into cheers. Wearing a baseball hat with the slogan "Never Tell Me The Odds", Gosling said: "I think it's just exactly the advice that we need as we embark on this journey." The event, called Star Wars Celebration, which runs through Sunday, is full of "Star Wars"-themed merchandise including T-shirts, toys, books, manga comics, AC chargers, cellphone covers, autographs, posters and more. The Lego booth featured a man wearing the ominous black mask and cloak of Darth Vader, made out of Legos. The deep-breathing villain also appeared as traditional Japanese lacquerware decorating earphones in a limited edition of 10, each selling for 990,000 yen ($7,000). Darth Vader T-shirts were more affordable at 8,000 yen ($56). "It makes me so happy to think everyone here loves 'Star Wars,'" said Yoshiki Takahashi, 26, who was holding a remote-controlled R2-D2 miniature robot. "I love the directing, the sound of the gun and the lightsaber, but above all the story, with great fight scenes and, of course, human drama," he added. Another Japanese man, who said he goes only by Hiro, was dressed as the "Star Wars" character Mandalorian, in a detailed costume he made himself, complete with a plastic sword and armor. Also present were "Star Wars" fans from around the world, including a robed Raul Herrera, a computer science teacher from Chile, who was there with friends. "All of them," said Herrera, when asked which 'Star Wars' films he'd seen. "The sense of commitment of the characters, I really like it." With offshoot stories spanning generations and literally the cosmos, "Star Wars" is one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time since its 1977 debut, starring Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. AFP contributed to this report.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How to Watch Fortnite's Big Star Wars Celebration Live Stream
Star Wars has seemingly returned to Fortnite. Following weeks of rumors that the hugely popular battle royale shooter Fortnite would be doing an entire season of content themed around a galaxy far, far away, it may soon be official. On Wednesday, the official Fortnite account on X (formerly Twitter) revealed the game would be making a special announcement at the Star Wars Celebration in Japan on Saturday, April 19. While the Star Wars-centric season wasn't confirmed in the post, it did tease "what's coming next to Fortnite." There's no specific time for when this Star Wars-Fortnite announcement will be made on Saturday, so if you're interested in checking it out, stay tuned to the official Star Wars YouTube page, where all the Celebration livestreams are typically hosted. Disney, LucasFilm and Fortnite creator Epic Games didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. "With all the recent map area takeovers, it wouldn't be surprising if Epic and LucasFilm teamed up to do the same for Star Wars,"CNET Senior Reporter David Lumb said about the situation. "Since there aren't any big Star Wars shows or films coming out that this could help promote, aside from the second season of the excellent (but not very Fortnite-friendly) political thriller Andor, I expect it's just good old crossover fun for fans of both -- and thankfully something more fun than adding a few skins to the game." While this announcement seems to make things official, a Star Wars season of Fortnite has been rumored for a while now, based on claims from some of the game's more trustworthy leakers. On March 26, FNBRIntel claimed on X that Chapter 6, Season 3 of Fortnite would be entirely Star Wars-centric and feature "New POIs based on the series, new mythics & skins, and the storyline should connect to it in some way." Other leaked info claims this new content will be focused around the original trilogy of movies, so sorry to be the bearer of bad news for all the Clone Wars fanatics and Reylo stans out there. If you're not familiar with Fortnite, then try bonding with the 10-year-olds in you life a bit more, as they have much to share on the subject. But what you need to know most is that a typical "season" can last a few months. It might seem strange for a game like Fortnite, well-known for featuring almost every IP ever created, to focus on one property for that long, so leaks have also indicated that Chapter 6, Season 3 will only last for about a month, running from May 2 to June 8. Disney, LucasFilm and Epic Games have a history of working together, with Star Wars content and characters prominently featured in the game throughout the years. Most notably -- and befuddlingly -- a major canon story development key to the 2019 movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, played out exclusively in Fortnite. As the name makes clear, Star Wars Celebration is a celebration of all things Star Wars, so you can bet your bottom credits that there will be more video game news than just a Fortnite collaboration. Earlier this week, Electronic Arts announced that Star Wars: Zero Company, a new turn-based strategy game from Respawn Entertainment and Bit Reactor, would be shown off at Celebration on April 19. Respawn is the studio best known for creating the Titanfall shooter series and its battle royale spinoff, Apex Legends, as well as the acclaimed Star Wars: Jedi series. Bit Reactor is an upstart developer committed to strategy games featuring veteran talents that previously worked on the XCOM and Civilization franchises.
