In terms of nothing else but box office takings, Solo is the only Star Wars movie that can be called an unmitigated disaster after becoming the first live-action project to bomb in theaters. However, you can guarantee that the executives at Disney and Lucasfilm were more than a little concerned about the declining commercial performance of the Sequel Trilogy.
Episodes VII, VIII and IX all comfortably sailed past a billion dollars globally and turned a huge amount of profit for the studio in the process, but it was nonetheless alarming that takings fell by $964 million between The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker, and any major franchise posting an almost 50% drop in earnings in the space of four years is a worrying statistic.
There are currently three Star Wars movies set for release, beginning with Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron in December 2023. From there, the 2025 and 2027 projects haven’t been officially announced, but the smart money is on one of them being Taika Waititi’s, with the other hailing from producer Kevin Feige and writer Michael Waldron.
However, there are no less than ten small screen exclusives currently in the works for Disney Plus, covering almost every aspect of the timeline from the High Republic era’s The Acolyte to Lando, which is expected to be set in the franchise’s present day due to the widely rumored involvement of Billy Dee Williams.
Indeed, the studio is investing heavily in the TV side of the franchise and insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that Lucasfilm sees the future of Star Wars as streaming and will be placing less of a focus on movies going forward. It certainly looks as though that’s the case, too, with over three times as many shows in the works as there are feature films. Marvel Studios are split 12/13 when it comes to their 25 upcoming movie and television efforts, but the immediate focus for a galaxy far, far away is clearly going to be Disney Plus.
Published: Jan 21, 2021 08:19 am