Screenwriter Damon Lindelof has bolted the most active Star Wars film in development, which is not a good sign.
There was much fanfare around Lindelof’s name attached to a film franchise that imploded with The Last Jedi six years ago. This was followed by the disastrous Rise of Skywalker in 2019, which no one enjoyed. Worse still, it made about half the box office of The Force Awakens.
In the years since the Rise of Skywalker, one Star Wars film project after another has been canceled. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins lost her heavily promoted Rogue Squadron. Marvel overseer Kevin Feige abandoned his Star Wars movie (with Marvel imploding, he probably shouldn’t be dividing his time anyway). Rian Johnson’s trilogy has been put “on hold.” Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff exited whatever they had working.
And now Lindelof is gone, although this report says the movie itself is going forward with a new writer:
[S]creenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have exited the Star Wars project that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy remains slated to direct, Above the Line has exclusively learned.
Lindelof and Britt-Gibson turned in a draft of the script in mid-February and parted ways with the project just days later, according to sources. Lucasfilm already has a new writer on board, though ATL was unable to ascertain their identity. Production is slated to start in February 2024 ahead of the film’s planned release date on Dec. 19, 2025.
The director, Obaid-Chinoy, has no mainstream credentials other than two episodes of the Disney+ show Ms. Marvel, which no one liked.
She is an Oscar winner, but for a short documentary film.
Here’s how Wikipedia describes her: “a Canadian journalist, filmmaker and activist known for her work in films that highlight the [sic] inequality for women.”
And Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy handed her a Star Wars movie.
Man alive.
Last week, Lindelof said this about his Star Wars experience:
I will just say, that for reasons that I can’t get into on this Sunday morning, on this day, the degree of difficulty is extremely, extremely, extremely high. If it can’t be great, it shouldn’t exist. That’s all I’ll say, because I have the same association with it as you do, which is, it’s the first movie I saw sitting in my dad’s lap, four years old, May of ’77. I think it’s possible that sometimes when you hold something in such high reverence and esteem, you start to get in the kitchen and you just go, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t be cooking. Maybe I should just be eating.’ We’ll just leave it at that.
Can Disney afford another Star Wars catastrophe?
Next month, Disney is supposed to announce the future of Star Wars movies at the annual Star Wars Celebration event.
Unless Disney announces the firing of Kathleen Kennedy, there is no hope for the resurgence of the film franchise or even the growing pile of Star Wars streaming shows, which are also faltering.
Disney went woke and killed what even the stillborn Lucas prequels couldn’t kill: the magic of Star Wars.
A sane studio would lock the idiots who made Lando Calrissian a pansexual out of the building.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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