4) Disney Isn’t Happy With The Tone
As I mentioned in the previous entry, it seems like one of the biggest problems behind the scenes of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been Disney dissatisfaction with the movie’s tone. Studio executives felt like it was simply too different to previous instalments of the franchise and that it lacked the feel of what is perceived to be a “classic” Star Wars movie. However, that was supposed to be the point of these anthology releases, as Kathleen Kennedy has said on numerous occasions that they want to use them as a way for filmmakers to bring something new to this world.
Alas, it seems like a full on war movie was just too much for Disney, hence why those reshoots were ordered to address the serious tone and, “restore a sense of fun to the adventure.” When you think back to the way a movie like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was criticized for not being “fun” enough, you can understand where they’re coming from, but does Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – a tale about a desperate group of Rebels trying to find a way to destroy a weapon of mass destruction – need levity? Apparently so, but who knows how these tones will now mesh.