A stunning scene and a blueprint for what Disney can do with Star Wars.
During a recent presentation to investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke candidly about the future of Star Wars.
After acquiring the rights from Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion, the sci-fi saga was always going to be an integral part of Disney’s future plans, both commercially and cinematically.
With The Rise of Skywalker currently sitting on a global box-office haul of $1,058,334,504 – despite that staggering sum, it’s still the lowest grossing of the three most recent episodic instalments – there’s no denying that Star Wars will return to your local cinema, but Iger has suggested that Disney will “take a bit of a hiatus in terms of theatrical releases” and that “the priority in the next few years is television.”
Given that Star Wars films are usually an excuse to print money, that statement is very interesting.
Fears of over-saturating the market with Star Wars sequels and spinoffs, combined with the surging popularity of The Mandalorian – Season 2 has now been confirmed for an October release date – has seen the approach to production shift.
Iger added that Disney+ could be the most fertile area for a shared Star Wars Universe with “the possibility of infusing The Mandalorian with more characters and taking those characters in their own direction in terms of series.”
Aside from The Mandalorian, there’s also a series based on Cassian Andor (the Rebel captain played by Diego Luna in Rogue One) in development and the Obi-Wan Kenobi series too.
Like Han Solo at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, the cinematic world of Star Wars appears to be temporarily frozen.
The list of properties in the galaxy that’s far, far away is endless but make no mistake about it, with the streaming wars set to escalate to Jedi vs Sith levels, Disney + will need new shows and films to entice customers to their platform.
Star Wars will always be a massive draw, however with the Skywalker saga now over (we think?), what about the saga’s cinematic future?
While countless reviews, opinion pieces, and theories have been dedicated to the likes of Rogue One, Solo, and the most recent trilogy, there’s still a lingering doubt among Star Wars fans with regards to Disney’s creative vision.
You may love, loathe, or feel indifferent to the five Star Wars films that were made by the Mouse House – each to their own, but we think they all have merit and flaws – but there’s no denying that one stunning scene in Rogue One captured everything that we love about Star Wars.
Dark hall. Panicked rebels. That breath. Red lightsaber. Vader arrives. Hell unleashed. Bodies everywhere.
Here’s why the standout moment from Rogue One should be embraced by Disney.
Embrace the dark side of the Force
At its core, Star Wars is a simple story of good vs bad, light vs dark, Sith vs Jedi, family vs family.
You know, with added lightsabers, aliens, planets, X-Wings, blasters, TIE Fighters, droids, Death Stars, brilliant one-liners, characters that are loved by generations of film fans, and Jar Jar ‘f**king” Binks.
The good guys will always win and Disney needs to keep the majority of these films family-friendly. Why? Well, an 18-rating massively cuts their potential audience but that’s not to say that things can’t go dark.
After all, this is the franchise where severed limbs are the norm and billions of people have been killed with the flick of a switch.
The finale of Rogue One understood all of that.
As fans will know, the Rebel Alliance are successful in stealing the Death Star plans but millions of people on Scarif are killed in the process. You’d imagine that things couldn’t get any bleaker. Well, it does. Cue the arrival of Darth Vader in pursuit of the stolen plans.
Every single doomed member of the Rebel Alliance knows that they’re going to die, but what unfolds is a giddy thrill as the Dark Lord of the Sith deflects blaster fire with contempt, Force-chokes his enemies, and slices through anyone that’s in his path.
It’s a horror scene that you’re actively cheering for because the final boss has been unleashed. The phrase “lambs to the slaughter” comes to mind.
Despite Leia getting the Death Star plans, the finale of Rogue One is a downer but that’s why it works so well. The same applies to The Empire Strikes Back.
After all, this is a saga that has killed millions of people (on more than one occasion), featured a scene where innocent children are slaughtered in cold blood, showed us dead Ewok babies, gave us a scene where a man’s flesh was burned off, and we got to witness a young boy (Jango Fett) watching the decapitation of his father.
Not what you’d usually associate with a Disney franchise.
However, darkness is 50% of what makes Star Wars so good. More of this please.
Clip via Kenneth Garaza
Use main characters sparingly
A large reason why Vader’s finale in Rogue One worked is because it provided a brief glimpse of his full power. However, nobody wants to see a full 90-minutes Vader. After all, he’s got God-like powers and normal people pose no threat to him. The Jedi are all but gone too. There’s no drama, or tension, or risk.
Elsewhere, we’ve already had nine films in the Skywalker saga. It’s time to move on, but that’s not to say that some of the characters we love so much can’t make another appearance.
Case in point, it’s arguable that Darth Maul’s brief cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story was the most goosebump-inducing moment of that film. Star Wars incites a rabid level of fandom – more on that later – but fan service doesn’t need to be paid in every film.
While no plot details are known about the upcoming Obi-Wan series, we imagine that a younger version of Luke Skywalker won’t be a main character.
In terms of a TV equivalent, Better Call Saul has been adept at dropping in old favourites to boost the intrigue and nostalgia.
We have no interest in seeing another film about Anakin during The Clone Wars, but seeing him make a cameo in a standalone Mace Windu or Ahsoka Tano film would be cool.
Directors
Given the troubled nature of the production on Rogue One, we’re not entirely sure whose idea it was to include that epic scene of Vader slicing through the Rebel Alliance.
In many ways, that’s apt for the franchise in recent years.
There was production issues on Solo after the film’s original directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord were fired from the project, soon to be replaced by Ron Howard midway through the shoot. Elsewhere, Colin Trevorrow was replaced by J.J. Abrams on Episode IX, and it’s still unknown how much of the final cut of Rogue One was Gareth Edwards’ vision because Tony Gilroy was drafted in to help with extensive rewrites.
Aside from this, Josh Trank and James Mangold have both been attached to projects based on Boba Fett, while Game of Thrones showrunners Benioff and Weiss have walked away from the galaxy that’s far, far away.
The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was also attached to develop a brand new Star Wars trilogy, but his future with the franchise is in flux. “I’m still talking to Lucasfilm. But they haven’t announced anything on their slate yet,” Johnson told Variety.
All in all, it’s been fairly chaotic behind the scenes but the recent news of Taika Waititi being linked to a standalone film is an interesting development.
Hell, he even told us that he wanted to direct Star Wars a few years ago.
The perception is that The Mandalorian could be used as a training ground for directors to test their Star Wars credentials.
After all, the show was created by Disney favourite Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Lion King, The Jungle Book are all Disney features) and the acclaimed show saw the likes of Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Taika Waititi direct episodes.
For those directors, if they cut their teeth on that show and do well, the chance to direct a Star Wars film could be in the near future.
On the topic of directors, Marvel have proven to be adept at picking more “abstract” filmmakers for their massive tentpole releases. You know, directors whose C.V.s you wouldn’t immediately associate with blockbusters and this risk has been rewarded.
The names of Kenneth Brannagh, James Gunn, Ryan Coogler, the Russo Brothers, Taika Waititi, and Jon Watts all spring to mind.
If only Star Wars had somebody with a detailed knowledge of the MCU. Oh, wait…
Kevin Feige
Yes, the man that masterminded every single Marvel film has signed on to work with Lucasfilm on Star Wars.
From the moment that Tony Stark proudly told the world that he’s Iron Man, right up to the recent announcements of Phase 4, Feige has overseen every detail.
Aside from being extremely well made films – for the most part – the critical and box-office success of the MCU has proven that Feige is skilled at balancing fanfare, layered storytelling, and overseeing the creation of genuine cinematic art. Sorry, Mr Scorsese. Comic-book films are cinema.
Right now, Star Wars is in a period of stasis. Feige’s talent for long-form planning, picking the right directors, and most importantly, finding the right stories to tell is invaluable.
For example, who wouldn’t love to see the Knights of the Old Republic saga told over a series of film? It would represent the chance to introduce new characters and events that took place thousands of years before Episode I.
Elsewhere, Solo teased the Crimson Dawn (led by Darth Maul) and the involvement of the The Shadow Collective – the largest criminal conglomerate in the galaxy. Aside from this, the Jedi/Mandalorian wars could also be a fantastic story to tell, while Oscar Issac and John Boyega have remained coy about the chances of them returning to Star Wars for future adventures.
Whatever the future has in store, it’s evident that a Death Star-sized change is coming to Disney’s approach to the Star Wars films. They could do a lot worse than embracing the style and lessons from their finest moment to date.
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