Lucasfilm had attempted to make one Star Wars film a year when they started with The Force Awakens back in 2015, but the method didn’t prove sustainable with setbacks in multiple projects including Rogue One, Solo, and The Rise of Skywalker.
Now Lucasfilm is looking to hold back on its film releases, and president Kathleen Kennedy says they could be embracing James Bond’s model of releasing a film every 2-3 years. Talking to Empire, Kennedy explains:
“I’ve often brought up 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.”
Kennedy also adds, “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.”
Though Star Wars fans are now far from the time when they got one film a year, the existence of Disney+ as an avenue for releases allows Lucasfilm to work on other smaller, more experimental projects. Since The Rise of Skywalker, we’ve gotten series The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor. Personally, I’m hoping they continue the plot thread they started with Solo, but I’d love for that to be a full-on theatrically released film.
When it comes to Star Wars, I guess releasing a movie is just the tip of the iceberg. The merchandising and advertising also go hand-in-hand with these releases, and I can only imagine the nightmare these manufacturers and publishers go through when the movie suddenly changes something. Just think about all the Rise of Skywalker supplementary materials like books and action figures that had to be scrapped because they had to change the script.
For now, I’m just happy we’re coming back to the Sequel Era, and I’m hoping Lucasfilm has learned a lot since The Force Awakens.
