Star Wars has been a hot-button topic the last year for many hardcore fans who are starting to doubt their faith in the sci-fi enterprise. Of course, enemy numero uno for these pissed off Star Wars fans seems to be Kathleen Kennedy. Pressure has been building up on the Lucasfilm head to steer the ship back to safe waters and regain the trust of many of these, now, gone rogue, fans she might have lost.
Well, according to Collider, "Star Wars" spinoffs have been put on hold over at Disney and Lucasfilm. It looks like the plan might be to slow down the process of rolling out these films and maybe build back some of the hype that used to be associated with the release of a Star Wars movie. I'm sure, instead of releasing a film every year, Disney will start to roll them out about every 2-3 years, in other words, they think they might have saturated the market for "Star Wars."
The news comes amidst the disappointment of "Solo: A Star Wars Story" and, who knows what the plan is with this freeze, could even mean the end of Kathleen Kennedy's reign as head of the company.
Collider:
"It may be a while before we see any more movies like "Solo: A Star Wars Story" out of Lucasfilm. Sources with knowledge of the situation tell Collider that Lucasfilm has decided to put plans for more A Star Wars Story spinoff movies on hold, instead opting to focus their attention on "Star Wars: Episode IX" and what the next trilogy of Star Wars films will be after that film. Sources tell us that the previously rumored Obi-Wan movie was in active development, but those who were working on the film are no longer involved. It was recently reported that Logan filmmaker James Mangold was in early talks to write and direct the Boba Fett film, but that was before Solo’s release."
"Regardless, we’re hearing that plans to revisit this A Star Wars Story format have been put on hold for the moment. Initially announced as “anthology” movies, the spinoffs got off to a rocky start and haven’t exactly been smooth sailing. Josh Trank (Chronicle) was developing a Boba Fett movie around the same time Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) was prepping Rogue One, but Trank was subsequently removedfrom the project and Lucasfilm lost a film off its planned slate. Then story issues led to extensive reshoots on Rogue One that reworked the third act, with Tony Gilroy(The Bourne Legacy) overseeing the new scenes. And then of course Solo saw directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller fired during production, with Ron Howardcoming in to replace them and reshoot a number of scenes."
"In addition to Episode IX, Lucasfilm has officially announced development on a new Star Wars trilogyfocused on new characters from The Last Jediwriter/director Rian Johnson, as well as a new series of films written by Game of Thronesshowrunners David Benioffand D.B. Weiss. These projects continue to be in development and are not part of the paused spinoffs we’re hearing about. But Lucasfilm’s main focus at the moment is planning the next trilogy after the Abrams-directed Star Wars 9, which is expected to conclude the story of Rey (Daisy Ridley) that began with The Force Awakens."