New Star Wars films from Game of Thrones writers (2 Viewers)

[Jake Lipson]

I think that the failure has put a fear in Disney of a brand they thought bulletproof.

I don't think Disney is afraid. They know Star Wars will continue to make a lot of money for them if it's well-managed, and they are using it as the cornerstone launch product for Disney+ in The Mandelorian.

As @Josh Steinberg has noted on multiple occasions, I think Disney has decided that they don't want to make a Star Wars movie that would gross less than a billion dollars.

There are ways to make a big movie movie that's profitable that doesn't make a billion -- see: Marvel with the Ant-Man films -- but Disney isn't interested in Star Wars movies that are budgeted in various ranges and make varying amounts of money. The clearly want every Star Wars movie they put out to be a billion-dollar cultural event. Solo demonstrated that you can't get that every time and every year just because of the Star Wars branding. So they're slowing down and making sure that every Star Wars movie they do put out in theaters will feel like an unmissable event. That's a reasonable, sensible strategy

 

[Bryan^H]

I don't think Disney is afraid. They know Star Wars will continue to make a lot of money for them if it's well-managed, and they are using it as the cornerstone launch product for Disney+ in The Mandelorian.

Disney buying Star Wars was a smart move and an overall profitable venture for them. However, I Disagree that the failure of "Solo" did not frighten them a bit. They shifted their entire strategy and releases schedule around because of that one misfire. That would not have happened if Solo performed exceptionally. That was fear of "Star Wars burnout" realized, and confirmed.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think some shifting may have happened anyway because of Disney+.

I mean, look at Marvel - everything firing on all cylinders and some of their most anticipated projects are coming to D+ rather than theaters.

Solo probably helped push a couple things in that direction that could have gone either way but I think some of that was bound to happen anyway. Disney as a corporate strategy is putting a lot of resources into D+ for the next couple years that would have otherwise gone to theatrical.

 

[TravisR]

If they're goofy enough to let Johnson movies slip away then they should have him repurpose his ideas for a few seasons of a TV show. Even if he didn't run the show on a day to day basis, he could oversee things (which I believe was the plan for the movie trilogy) after getting it up and running.

 

[Tommy R]

I may be in the minority, but would would anyone prefer feature length films on Disney+? Like “A Disney+ Original Movie” as opposed to doing a whole bunch of series that will be 10 episodes every year or so? I just REALLY like the medium of the feature film more than the tv series.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Disney+ is going to be offering some original films too, and it seems like some (many?) of the shows will run less than ten episodes.

I like movies. I like TV. I’m even learning to like short season TV shows which seem to function more like long movies with pause breaks. Honestly, more than number of episodes, what I’m really hoping for is high quality. I want to watch a Star Wars or a Marvel show and not feel that I’m watching TV. I want it to feel as big as a movie. I think they’ll accomplish that but that’s my big hope, that it doesn’t feel like stepping down a notch.

 

[Bryan^H]

I’m even learning to like short season TV shows which seem to function more like long movies with pause breaks. Honestly, more than number of episodes, what I’m really hoping for is high quality..

I hate to admit it but I am too. Time is something that seems to go faster, and faster as I get older, and ten or twelve episode/hour long TV series are more in my ballpark these days.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The "Disney"-branded live-action division will be supplying Disney+ with original film. On launch day they'll have the live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp (sigh) and an Anna Kendrick Christmas movie. I don't see Disney wanting to do a Star Wars feature film for Disney+ though; those, they will still make as theatrical events.

Ewan McGroger recently said that the Obi-Wan series is six episodes, and Kathleen Kennedy said they're all written already. I'm great with that choice because it means we get to spend more time with his character than we would have if it were a one-off theatrical movie. They'll really be able to delve into his character and how his failure with Anakin and exile on Tattooine affected him mentally, which is great, because that has got to do a real number on anybody. There wouldn't be as much story real estate to explore that in a movie that's supposed to run a little over two hours. Would it have been cool to see Ewan in the role on the big screen again? Sure -- but more of him on the small scree, in a high-quality production, seems better than less of him on the big screen.

 

[Tommy R]

Six episodes is fine with me, I suppose. But I really hope they don’t drag it on with every “series” they do (at lea set With SW) As Bryan said, time just goes so fast. I just don’t really have time as it is for all of my I interests.

 

[Sam Favate]

Disney buying Star Wars was a smart move and an overall profitable venture for them. However, I Disagree that the failure of "Solo" did not frighten them a bit. They shifted their entire strategy and releases schedule around because of that one misfire. That would not have happened if Solo performed exceptionally. That was fear of "Star Wars burnout" realized, and confirmed.

This week I saw Star Wars Land at Hollywood Studios in Disney World, so, yeah, Disney is concentrating on much more than movies to make money off the property. The sheer numbers of people crowded into the whole Star Wars Land should make them confident that people are not losing interest in Star Wars.

BTW I drove the Millennium Falcon three times and it was great. The waiting room just before you take the cockpit is the main room on the Falcon with the dejarik table. It’s incredible to be walking in this recreation of the iconic movie set.

 

[TravisR]

I'm great with that choice because it means we get to spend more time with his character than we would have if it were a one-off theatrical movie.

Length of time is where TV can really beat movies. Not to mention that the audience is already invested in the Obi-Wan character and already know his backstory so the creators can jump in and spend 6 hours with the character and the story. As much as I love movies, I'm happy to spend more time in a galaxy far, far away than I'd get to in a movie theater.

 

[Alex...]

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss talk about their shelved Star Wars film:

Next was their Star Wars movie. Fans were excited by the idea of the Thrones guys bringing their grounded-fantasy dramatics to a galaxy far, far away. Yet the movie was shelved along with Star Wars projects from other top creatives (like Kevin Feige, Patty Jenkins and Damon Lindelof).

“We wanted to do The First Jedi,” Benioff says. “Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber …”

“And we were annoyed as hell when [Rian Johnson, the duo’s longtime friend and 3BP producer] called his movie The Last Jedi,” Weiss says dryly. “He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on.”

Asked what went wrong, Benioff says, “[Lucasfilm] ended up not wanting to do a First Jedi story. We had a very specific story idea in mind, and ultimately they decided they didn’t want to do that. And we totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.” (Their overall concept still might happen — last year, Lucasfilm announced a movie titled Dawn of the Jedi from director James Mangold.)

‘Game of Thrones’ Creators’ Wild Road to Their Biggest Gamble Yet: Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’

Showrunners David Benioff, Dan Weiss and Alexander Woo on their five-year journey — including a shelved Star Wars movie and a bizarre murder — to make their risky alien invasion epic. Can the hitmakers do it again?

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Being from the Game of Thrones writers, I would have expected it to really delve deep into the Luke / Leia relationship...

 

[BobO'Link]

Being from the Game of Thrones "writers" I'd expect a half baked, somewhat amateurish effort. That's based on the seasons of GoT they actually wrote from scratch vs. the ones where they adapted Martin's work, from which they took 99% of the dialog for those seasons. Once left on their own with only an outline to go by they proved themselves to be not up to the challenge of writing good dialog and just average plotting. I'd have been expecting wonderment like "I don't like sand..." from them.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

I may be in the minority, but would would anyone prefer feature length films on Disney+? Like “A Disney+ Original Movie” as opposed to doing a whole bunch of series that will be 10 episodes every year or so? I just REALLY like the medium of the feature film more than the tv series.

It depends on the story. TV Series with their longer (total) runtime allow for development and depth. It does no service to every good story to make everything as a 1.5-2 hour movie.

In many ways movies are for people with short attention spans. They get everything presented and wrapped up in one time block.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Disney buying Star Wars was a smart move and an overall profitable venture for them. However, I Disagree that the failure of "Solo" did not frighten them a bit. They shifted their entire strategy and releases schedule around because of that one misfire. That would not have happened if Solo performed exceptionally. That was fear of "Star Wars burnout" realized, and confirmed.

I think the change was the sum of many things:

1) Haphazard management by Kathleen Kennedy, not having the road mapped out and the inanity of letting director's in a series of movies tell divergent stories instead of an integrated arc. Also outright rebellion of directors from studio desires (Solo).

2) Earlier streaming era where the more content the merrier. This also includes the revenue position Disney was in then vs. now.

3) Initial saturation of market in an attempt to squeeze every last egg out of the golden goose.

 

[jayembee]

Being from the Game of Thrones "writers" I'd expect a half baked, somewhat amateurish effort. That's based on the seasons of GoT they actually wrote from scratch vs. the ones where they adapted Martin's work, from which they took 99% of the dialog for those seasons. Once left on their own with only an outline to go by they proved themselves to be not up to the challenge of writing good dialog and just average plotting. I'd have been expecting wonderment like "I don't like sand..." from them.

They didn't even write the best episodes, though they did some really good ones. The best episodes were largely the ones written by Brian Cogman and by GRRM himself.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It’s an easy joke to make but I’ll do it anyway: I am utterly shocked they didn’t want to make a prequel from the writer of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

 

[Worth]

It depends on the story. TV Series with their longer (total) runtime allow for development and depth. It does no service to every good story to make everything as a 1.5-2 hour movie.

In many ways movies are for people with short attention spans. They get everything presented and wrapped up in one time block.

If it's a limited series with a clearly defined beginning, middle and end, then sure. But the majority of shows end up spinning their wheels for years sometimes.

 

[Tommy R]

It depends on the story. TV Series with their longer (total) runtime allow for development and depth. It does no service to every good story to make everything as a 1.5-2 hour movie.

In many ways movies are for people with short attention spans. They get everything presented and wrapped up in one time block.

While it certainly depends on a case-by-case basis, I cannot disagree more that movies are for people with short attention spans. A single movie is literally longer than a single episode of a show.

As far as the SW shows so far, I think Obi-wan 100% would have been a better 2+hour movie than what we got. It was clunky in the same way that Solo would have been had THAT been a 6-episode show.