In a weird twist that no one really saw coming, Disney Plus Star Wars properties are kicking butt while the tentpole movies are basically in resuscitation mode. The Mandalorian and Andor are global phenomena while the last big Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker, came out in 2019 to mixed reviews and made less than half of the previous movie’s gross.
Interestingly, this doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon — per Deadline — which revealed some major changes over directors at Disney. The company seemed to be all about feature-length movies when it announced that Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) would direct a standalone called Rogue Squadron.
Unfortunately, that project is DOA and no longer on Disney’s release schedule. There was also supposed to be a different movie produced by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. That rumor started in 2019 and as recently as last year a screenwriter named Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) was attached to write it.
But a few months after that Waldron was officially hired to write Avengers: Secret Wars, effectively knocking the Star Wars film back into development hell. With his deep involvement in the MCU, it seems unlikely that Feige would even have time to handle Star Wars anyway.
Even Rian Johnson — who’s openly campaigned about wanting to make Star Wars movies — seems busy with things like Peacock’s excellent Poker Face and his Benoit Blanc movies for Netflix with Daniel Craig. One bright spot in the dearth of bad news is Taika Waititi, who is reportedly working on a feature that he would potentially appear in.
Lucasfilm is reportedly also courting director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy — an Oscar winner — to direct a movie. Obaid-Chinoy recently directed two episodes of Ms. Marvel for Disney. This one seems promising because Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost) and Justin Britt-Gibson (Counterpart) were attached as recently as October.
In the meantime, we’ll have a new season of Andor to look forward to, as well as Ahsoka and the rest of the new season of The Mandalorian. We’ll keep you posted.