re: 'Star Wars' Chief Kathleen Kennedy's Lucasfilm Deal Extended for Three Years

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The fact that this was "reported" on a Friday afternoon and not officially announced with quotes from Disney's top brass speaks volumes. It shows that, while Disney is staying with Kennedy, they don't necessarily support her and will be keeping her on a tight leash.

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The 1950s wants their press release strategies back...

Honestly, they should have just given JJ Kennedy’s job from the start. Now he’s just here to clean up some of the mess.

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Honestly, they should have just given JJ Kennedy’s job from the start. Now he’s just here to clean up some of the mess.

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No thanks. TFA was garbage.

Did any of you guys really think this was going to turn out any differently? They are fricking up one of their best properties by possibly messing up Guardians. They already fricked up Star wars with the current trilogy and solo. With the political environment we live in, there was absolutely no way they were not going to show her the door. Even if their movies are printing money for them. Regardless of how bad they are made. Get ready for more shitty star wars movies and TV shows.

At the risk of wading into this perpetual shitstorm, I don't see why anyone thought Kennedy was in any danger of losing her job. First off, she's not some rube, she's one of the if not THE most successful producer in Hollywood history. Her list of credits is pretty astounding, dating back to ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Back to the Future. She's earned more money for the industry than just about any living person not named Steven Spielberg.

And she didn't inherit the Original Trilogy Star Wars franchise, she inherited the Prequel Star Wars, and these movies have simply put, outperformed the prequels save the crazed environment for Episode I. In inflation adjusted gross, Episode II ranks 98th all-time and Episode II ranks 68th. The ranks of her releases:

TFA: 11th (which is like Episode 1 which is 18th, boosted by the scarcity and long layoff)
Last Jedi: 43rd
Rogue One: 61st
Solo: U/R

That's three successes out of four at the box office by any rational standard of the franchise, plus these movies have earned far better critical reviews while still keeping an A rating in the audience scores from Cinescore. The one relative failure was SOLO which, let's face it, is by far the most traditional and conservative Star Wars film so far. It's the one most like the older movies from an aesthetic standpoint, and it failed (relatively speaking, it still made over $200 million).

So, Kennedy has revamped a franchise that was permanently scarred by the prequels, made a ton of money, tied the movies into the parks which is going to make another fortune, and found a new audience going forward. SOLO reveals that for all of the talk of an alienated fanbase, the new fanbase she's forged won't really show up for the old model. Now, the side universe movies may have been a mistake, and she's already announced they are going to dial that back, but the main universe was able to reorient its stroytelling and tell a new story. And yes, it alienated some old fans, but they've been more than replaced by looking at the numbers, and they are getting better critical notices than the franchise ever has. It's on pretty firm footing, and frankly, the movies are more interesting than they've been in 30 years. I think THE LAST JEDI was bold and radical, which explains why older, conservative fans didn't like it, but... these movies don't just belong to you. They have to keep expanding the audience to a young audience or the fanbase will die out. Literally. I rather admire their bold stroytelling and radical steps taken. I don't agree with all of their choices, but they at least made bold artistic choices instead of just churning out more product.

Kennedy has been a good steward of the franchise, but she has certainly not been bound by tradition. She's radically remade the franchise, and done so while retaining more revenue than the prequels made, when comparing apples to apples. Star Wars needed an overhaul. Now, that's painful and scary to people who want things never to change, but it was necessary, and makes the franchise healthier than its been since the end of the Original Trilogy which frankly, is a standard that will never be attained again with the death of the monoculture.

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First off, she's not some rube, she's one of the if not THE most successful producer in Hollywood history.

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By fetching coffee for the actual most successful producer in Hollywood history.

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That's three successes out of four at the box office by any rational standard of the franchise

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TLJ has a metric frickton of tickets sold due to the good will set by the previous two. That’s out the fricking window now.

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The one relative failure was SOLO which, let's face it, is by far the most traditional and conservative Star Wars film so far.

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While I still have yet to see Solo, that honor clearly goes to TFA. It was a very traditional and conservative Star Wars film. I enjoyed it, but it took no major risks.

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Now, the side universe movies may have been a mistake

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The side universe movies were a mistake because they only reference casual lines in the OT that no one gives a shite about and focus on characters we already know about (Boba Fett and Darth Maul). If JJ were the producer and not Kennedy, I feel certain he could do this much better than her and make good movies not at all affiliated with the OT save for sharing the same universe and very occasional fanboy service instead of that being the primary thing.

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I think THE LAST JEDI was bold and radical, which explains why older, conservative fans didn't like it, but... these movies don't just belong to you.

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Not anymore. They did, but it’s been so shat upon at this point and they’ve demeaned the fans so much that they’ve basically said today we don’t exist with the Russian troll story among others. Some of the rabid fanboys that would accept a movie of a guy farting so long as an AT-ST was in the background will stick around, but the core fans are done, especially if the Rian Johnson trilogy moves forward.

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They have to keep expanding the audience to a young audience or the fanbase will die out.

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They’re trying to be Marvel and are failing miserably at it. Marvel knows to listen to their fans rather than to ignore them. Like I really disliked Age of Ultron, as did many other fans. What did Marvel do? Did they say we were racist, sexist, or didn’t exist at all? No, they learned from their mistakes, took the fans advice, and Phase 3 has been excellent so far thanks to that.

Star Wars on the other hand has used the ostrich approach, pretending we don’t exist, but the lions are already attacking the ostrich as it kicks its feet denying there’s a problem. Star Wars is basically dead, and I do think younger generations will have a hard time processing our obsession with Star Wars when Marvel was just so much consistently better. They are alienating younger generations rather than appealing to them.