Star Wars slate for next two years

Looks like the success of the Mandalorian has Disney ramping up Star Wars production: arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/12/disney-dr...-star-wars-projects/

Leslaye Headland's The Acoylte
High Republic Era 100-300 years before Episode 4


Tony Gilroy’s Andor for 2022
Deb Chow's Obi-Wan Kenobi
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Justin Simien’s Lando
All set in the 19 year period between Episode 3 and 4.


Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic
Star Wars: Ahsoka
Set in the 30 year period between Episode 6 and 7


Star Wars: Visions
ILM's A Droid Story
Taika Waititi SW Feature
Star Wars Rogue Squadron
Unknown.

Personally I think I would be most excited for The Acolyte (interested to see what they do in a non-Tattoine setting) and Rangers of the New Republic (since it will be EP'ed by Favreau and Filoni). Bad Batch is going to fail, those characters cannot carry a show by themselves.

Gotta say I'm looking forward to it. The only non-tentpole stuff I didn't like was Resistance. Episode 9 was horrible (didn't help that I watched it sleep deprived).

My most intriguing announcements are probably Rangers and Ahsoka. Turning this season of Mandalorian into a launch pad for several of these projects has held it back, but the makeup team and Rosario Dawson made me a believer. Thrawn would probably be in too much the same vein as Gideon as an antagonist, though. My interest in Rangers is also contingent on that chubby pilot from Kim’s Convenience being the lead. He’d be a hero that actually looks like the old-school fans who saw the originals in theaters.

Rogue Squadron should be exciting and has a solid director in Patty Jenkins, but it feels weird. There are a pile of novels and comics literally with the same title, but it won’t be about Corran Horn or Tycho Celchu or Ysanne Isard. It’ll be something new leaning on excitement and nostalgia for something that doesn’t exist. Could still be a good war movie like the back half of Rogue One, maybe.

It’s too much stuff.

It's too bad that Star Wars has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. There are some excellent science-fiction books and franchises that deserve to be translated to the big screen, but it won't happen as long as everybody stays obsessed with Star Wars. Maybe this upcoming glut of Star Wars will trigger widespread burnout, but that still won't necessarily create an opening for some other science-fiction movie.

It was the fine F:ATties here that made me realize:
I adore a trilogy of films from my childhood; Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.

Everything thereafter? Meh.

I continue to watch Star Wars related stuff because I enjoy the genre and my exposure to the setting was formative. But nothing, has captured the magic of the first three. Mando has come the closest.

Speaking of which, here's my F:AT name dropping - I went to school with Filoni. He was a year ahead of me, and his roommate was a mutual friend. We'd watch cartoons and listen to Led Zeppelin together. Dave was the star of the art department, and everyone knew he was going to succeed in whatever direction he chose. Our school brought Chuck Jones to campus ever year, and it was always a highlight for Dave. Filoni's senior animation project was one of the coolest Watership Down throw backs I've ever seen. And the dude is genuinely the nicest guy on Earth. With him at the helm of Star Wars, I have (a new) hope.

~ I haven't talked to him in twenty years. And he's 100% better for it. I wish the best success.

Lastly - Disney's slate is WAAAAAAY too much. Smart growth anyone?

We are rapidly approaching a point where the average Star Wars fan will never have heard of A New Hope. Those original films will be relegated to a corner where the old folk can huddle and complain about the weather.

Shellhead wrote: It's too bad that Star Wars has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. There are some excellent science-fiction books and franchises that deserve to be translated to the big screen, but it won't happen as long as everybody stays obsessed with Star Wars. Maybe this upcoming glut of Star Wars will trigger widespread burnout, but that still won't necessarily create an opening for some other science-fiction movie.

This could actually be a positive from the recent studio pivot away from theaters and toward streaming. There’s less overhead in releasing straight to Hulu or whatever and less of a need to make a billion dollars on ticket sales to even be profitable. There could be more room for mid-range budgets and risks and new things. Netflix has already done a lot to revitalize rom-coms with moderate budgets.

I think this is fine. A few of these things will be good, a lot of them bad, but imo flooding the zone is the only way you're going to get anything fun or interesting out of star wars anyway. You can't take any genre or story risks in the current model of a few high prestige series and movies, given the fandom. Look at how they had to shamefully walk back the risks they took in the second movie of the newest trilogy in the execrable and cowardly third movie.

I hear ya. Smaller scale, modest budget, different perspectives is good and exciting. But NINE shows? I understand they'll be parsed out (see what I did there?), but jeez. Nine seems like a lot to me.

I expect half of these shows to never see the light of day. Or get past a glorified pilot stage that gets dumped to D+. Studios now are all about hype to drive subscriptions to their streaming services, so I have little faith in their announcements unless it is attached to "principal filming completed" news.

Disney NEEDS to appoint a Feige like head of Star Wars. Not Kennedy, that's for sure. Filoni I think leans a bit too hard into the fantastical elements. Favraeu is my vote. But just grabbing creatives, often of dubious Star Wars provenance, and throwing them at the wall to see what might stick is a losing strategy IMHO.

I was surprised not to see a Bo-Katan spin off with Katee Sackoff - just like Asoka, her episode seemed like a back door pilot.

As for too much content - remember, Disney payed a fucking boat load of money for the license. With ESPN fading somewhat, theaters in a dubious future and half their theme park empire shut down for what looks like at least a year if not longer, they gotta generate cash somehow. Disney + has been a very strong performer, but they gotta keep people engaged enough to keep subscribing it to it year round.

And as the previous poster mentioned, there is no guarantee everything makes it out of development.

I have to give Disney credit for seeing the writing on the wall, and shifting so much of their creative output from movies to streaming shows. That's clearly where the audience is. Movie theaters were dying long before covid, and there's no telling if / when theaters will open again in 2021. Other than The Mandalorian, Disney+ has been banking on their massive catalog of existing stuff, with very little new content. They just upended their entire business model, and decided to take the Netflix route of "throw billions of dollars at every content creator we can find, and just make a metric shit ton of new stuff."

And let's not forget the TEN Marvel shows they announced as well!!

I really wish they'd release Black Widow on Disney+.

Shellhead wrote: It's too bad that Star Wars has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. There are some excellent science-fiction books and franchises that deserve to be translated to the big screen, but it won't happen as long as everybody stays obsessed with Star Wars. Maybe this upcoming glut of Star Wars will trigger widespread burnout, but that still won't necessarily create an opening for some other science-fiction movie.

Dude, I've been saying that about Star Trek for two decades.

I'll say the same thing I said when the MCU started. With this much content the odds are some of it will be good. I'll try to just watch that stuff.

Joebot wrote: I really wish they'd release Black Widow on Disney+.

They will, with a $30 surcharge.

At least HBOmax is adding the Warner slate in for no extra charge (the subscription costs twice as much though).