Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy Wants To Release A Star Wars Movie 'Every Three Or Four Years'
Happy May the Fourth, everyone! Today is our annual day of celebration for the "Star Wars" franchise and your gift on this very special occasion is ... less "Star Wars"?
That might sound a little counterintuitive, but those are the refreshing words promised by Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy in a new interview. A whole lot of internet ink has been spilled throughout the last decade in an attempt to sum up the studio's largely profitable yet creatively mixed results in revitalizing the "Star Wars" brand since Disney took over ownership from George Lucas. As we all know, their grand plan initially involved alternating between one saga entry and one spin-off every single year. That strategy paid off with a string of $1 billion hits, to be sure, but it also directly led to the notorious flop of "Solo: A Star Wars Story," the brutally received "The Rise of Skywalker," and a seemingly never-ending revolving door of big-name talent joining and subsequently parting ways with various high-profile productions — most recently Patty Jenkins, Kevin Feige, and Damon Lindelof.
So is less actually more? That's what Kennedy told the aptly-named outlet Empire during this year's Star Wars Celebration event, comparing their ambitions to another long-running IP:
"I've often brought up [James Bond]. That's every three or four years and there wasn't this pressure to feel like you had to have a movie every year. I feel that was very important to 'Star Wars.' We have to eventize this."
That's certainly an about-face from previous directives handed down by Disney, which arguably resulted in watering down a property that truly used to feel like a genuine event. Will this be enough to turn the tide of public opinion around on this new era of "Star Wars," however? That remains to be seen.
A new hope?
Maybe Yoda put it best when he said, "Difficult to see. Always in motion, is the future." Lucasfilm learned this the hard way with their winding, zigzag path to putting out a bevy of new "Star Wars" movies years after Lucas wrapped up his original and prequel movies. Perhaps similarly to how Marvel's seen their creative and box office output take a bit of a hit in recent years after all but owning the multiplexes for well over a decade, Lucasfilm may have suffered from an even more extreme case of oversaturating the market. Kathleen Kennedy seems to be well aware of this based on her newest comments. She went on to say:
"It's much better to tell the truth that we're going to make these movies when they're ready to be made, and release them when they're ready to be released."
At the very least, this lines up with Iger's previous mea culpa as he admitted the need to be "...a little bit more careful about volume and timing" when it comes to releasing future "Star Wars" movies. Despite the recent announcement of a trio of new "Star Wars" movies in the pipeline, we've yet to receive a single new installment on the big screen (not counting the successful re-release of "Return of the Jedi," of course) since J.J. Abrams' widely-derided "The Rise of Skywalker." Maybe this is one case where taking a long hiatus is simply for the best, especially given the increasing volume of shows currently keeping fans occupied on Disney+ streaming.
In any case, fans can still expect plenty of new "Star Wars" stories to come to a theater near you ... but, like Anakin trying to become a part of the Jedi Council, you'll just have to wait a little longer.