Disney/Lucasfilm
- Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy hinted that there won’t be any more "Star Wars" character spin-offs like "Solo."
- "You can’t turn this into some kind of factory approach," she told Vanity Fair. "You can’t even do what Marvel does, necessarily, where you pick characters and build new franchises around those characters."
- Disney CEO Bob Iger promised a "slowdown" on "Star Wars" movies after "Solo" disappointed at the box office last year, failing to even crack $400 million worldwide.
- After December’s "The Rise of Skywalker," the next "Star Wars" movie will kick off a new trilogy from "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss in 2022.
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There will be more "Star Wars" movies after December’s "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," but fans shouldn’t expect more character spin-offs like "Solo: A Star Wars Story."
In a new Vanity Fair preview of "The Rise of Skywalker," published on Wednesday, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy hinted that the franchise will focus on event-sized entries, rather than the movie-a-year approach Disney has had since 2015.
READ MORE: 5 confirmed ‘Star Wars’ projects are coming after ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ — here are all the details
"I think there is a larger expectation that Disney has," Kennedy said. "On the other hand, though, I think that Disney is very respectful of what this is, and right from the beginning we talked about the fragility of this form of storytelling. Because it’s something that means so much to fans that you can’t turn this into some kind of factory approach."
She added, "You can’t even do what Marvel does, necessarily, where you pick characters and build new franchises around those characters. This needs to evolve differently."
The Disney "Star Wars" era ran into a speed bump last year when "Solo" underperformed at the box office. It failed to hit even $400 million worldwide, whereas the previous movies — "The Force Awakens" in 2015, "Rogue One" in 2016, and "The Last Jedi" in 2017 — each grossed over $1 billion.
Disney CEO Bob Iger promised a "slowdown" on "Star Wars" movies following "Solo," but audiences won’t have to wait too long. The next movie in 2022 will kick off a new trilogy from "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss which will be separate from the Skywalker Saga that concludes with "The Rise of Skywalker." The second and third parts will arrive in theaters in 2024 and 2026.
In the meantime, Disney is developing multiple live-action "Star Wars" TV shows for its upcoming streaming platform, Disney Plus. The first, "The Mandalorian," debuts when the service launches on November 12.
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Source: Business Insider – tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark)