After nearly fourteen years as the pinnacle of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down from her position as President of the corporate and passing on her obligations to each Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan, who will every be co-presidents of the movie studio. The information comes a couple of weeks after Star Wars Starfighterstarring Ryan Gosling, wrapped manufacturing. Kennedy will stay the producer of that movie and this yr’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, however for all intents and functions, a brand new period begins.
Her replacements are hardly inexperienced, although. Filoni, lengthy seen as George Lucas’ protégé, has been serving because the Chief Artistic Officer for the previous few years (a title he additionally retains with this transition), whereas Brennan has been the president of Lucasfilm Enterprise. Very similar to the association over at DC Studios, with James Gunn and Peter Safran splitting obligations, one of many presidents will oversee extra of the inventive facet of the studio, whereas the opposite will likely be extra entrenched within the financials. General, it’s a very good transfer.
I do have some reservations about Filoni as the pinnacle of Lucasfilm, that stated. He very a lot likes to remain in his personal wheelhouse and “Filoniverse”, very a lot to a fault, it appears. Whereas I’ve appreciated all the things he does, it will be good to see him step away from his personal creations and characters. One of many larger issues that finally slowed down The Mandalorian was that it felt like a sequel to The Clone Wars the longer it went on. The opposite main tasks that concerned him as a inventive, Star Wars Rebels and Ahsokaeach really feel like sequels or companions to TCW as properly. In an interview with Vainness Honest, Andor creator Tony Gilroy spoke candidly about how Kathleen Kennedy needed to shield each him and the present, and it was her who was pushing for the darker tone and acknowledged, “for all of the shit that she takes on-line, it’s simply insane. This present exists as a result of she pressured it to occur. What a troublesome job she has, man.” I do not know who they have been defending the Andor present from, however it suggests some type of inventive riff on the studio. However she was completely proper to champion Andor.
Kennedy positively has a spotty observe document together with her time at Lucasfilm, and saying she was nice or horrible is ignoring each her faults and successes. As talked about, Andor was a powerhouse success and arguably the most effective factor produced below her watch. She’s additionally been concerned with some actually enjoyable and/or in style tasks, whether or not they be The Mandalorian, which turned a gargantuan hit, or Skeleton Crew, which I do know didn’t have the identical stage of attain, however I’d nonetheless suggest as a very enjoyable watch. However there’s no denying that not having a top level view for the Star Wars sequel trilogy was a fumble of epic proportions and resulted in diminishing field workplace returns. Say what you’ll concerning the movies themselves, whether or not you like or hate them, however not being ready for them because the president of a studio is baffling. Then there’s the non-Star Wars tasks, like Indiana Jones and the Willow TV present, which both bombed on the field workplace or have been scrubbed from existence altogether, respectively (I, for one, didn’t thoughts the fifth Indiana Jones movie; it wasn’t nice, however nor was it unhealthy. It was completely common).
There’s additionally the irritating behavior of saying tasks far too early, manner earlier than they’ve scripts in hand, and very often these tasks would get cancelled or deserted years down the road as a consequence of inactivity. Taika Waititi’s movie was introduced in 2020, and we’ve got no updates on what that movie is about, for instance, or something about it actually aside from it’s nonetheless being written. Hopefully, the brand new presidents will likely be extra frugal with their bulletins, solely revealing one thing when it’s received a script, director and is about to enter pre-production. The studio did this with Starfightersaying it in 2025 for a 2027 launch, so possibly they lastly received the memo in any case these years?
Kathleen Kennedy is among the all-time nice producers, although there’s little question about that. Simply have a look at her credit. She’s been concerned with lots of Spielberg movies, and produced all the things from E.T. to Jurassic Park to Tornado to Battle Horse. That’s not together with her wildly spectacular listing of credit as an government producer, which incorporates the likes of the Again to the Future trilogy, Cape Concern, and Schindler’s Record. She’s received one helluva batting common. However being good at one factor doesn’t make you good for one more, and it does look like she struggled as a studio head. However she additionally took dangers, and I feel that ought to be recommended. So let’s see how the subsequent period of Star Wars seems and see if the studio continues to take dangers.