Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Non-Spoilers! (1 Viewer)

[AcesHighStudios]

Why? Because George Lucas wrote it that way? You're missing my point. Rian Johnson shifted it away from what it has always been so that it could be something else that's new, and that is what I liked about it.

And we see how Rian Johnson shifting other things (we don't know at all that he shifted THAT) worked out for the franchise. It killed "Solo"'s box office, other movies were scrapped, and Rian Johnson has been fired from the next trilogy he was supposed to direct.

And YES, because George Lucas wrote it that way. The guy who determined the rules to this universe said so. Apparently it has always been for thousands of years, hence the word "ALWAYS." Rian Johnson killing off Snoke doesn't change that. A master dies, and another takes his place. An apprentice dies and another one takes his place.

And instead of getting something else that's new, we get something that was old and dead.

 

[Jake Lipson]

And we see how Rian Johnson shifting other things (we don't know at all that he shifted THAT) worked out for the franchise.

Yeah, it worked out with a $1.3 billion gross for The Last Jedi.

It killed "Solo"'s box office

It is hyperbolic to lay the blame for Solo's box office entirely on The Last Jedi. It is possible that some people decided to walk away from the franchise, but Solo had a wide variety of other factors involved which may also have impacted its results including the well-documented behind-the-scenes drama; Disney's refusal to move the release date and relatively brief marketing campaign compared to usual; and the fact that some audience members might just not have wanted to see a Han Solo movie that didn't star Harrison Ford. I think the reason for Solo's underperformance is probably a combination of all of these factors.

The box office for The Rise of Skywalker will indicate whether the Star Wars brand has been permanently damaged, or whether Solo was just an isolated case of a single movie not working. I personally suspect that the latter is the case. If The Rise of Skywalker also bombs, then it would be more clear that The Last Jedi backlash was harmful in a long-term way. We'll see.

and Rian Johnson has been fired from the next trilogy he was supposed to direct.

This is absolutely false. Rian Johnson is currently finishing Knives Out and then will turn his attention back to Star Wars. We know that Benioff and Weiss are getting the next slot, but there has been no statement from Disney about cancelling Rian Johnson's trilogy.

And YES, because George Lucas wrote it that way.

George Lucas created a great universe and personally wrote one great film in it. He also wrote a lot of nonsensical garbage throughout the prequels, which had some interesting ideas in them but were far from perfect. I don't have a problem with the new movies progressing beyond what he wrote.

I'm saying I appreciated Snoke being killed and Kylo Ren's ascension to the top because it sets the table for something different. If they just replace Snoke with Palpatine and make Kylo Ren subservient to him, that's going backward to a dynamic we've already seen, not forward, which is why I am apprehensive about Palpatine's return. I don't see why you are so keen on arguing this point. We obviously disagree, and that's fine, but I'm just saying what appealed to me about what Rian Johnson did.

I don't really need to see Palpatine again. Of course I will see the movie, and I hope they have done something cool with him which justifies his return, but if they had come to me and asked me to make a list of things that needed to be resolved in Episode IX, Palpatine would not have been anywhere on that list, because he was resolved in Return of the Jedi when Darth Vader killed him.

 

[Wayne_j]

There is definitely nothing official about Rian being fired from doing his trilogy although it wouldn't shock me if he was.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

There is definitely nothing official about Rian being fired from doing his trilogy although it wouldn't shock me if he was.

I doubt Rian Johnson gets fired unless Rise of Skywalker tanks at the box office. He's one of two filmmakers (Abrams being the other) who has shepherded a Star Wars film from beginning to end on time, on budget, and as agreed. He's also the only filmmaker besides Benioff and Weiss moving new Star Wars product forward in the theatrical space.

 

[Patrick Sun]

If the titles are literal, then "The Rise of Skywalker" may refer to a new being(s) supplanting the Jedi to bring balance once more. But, it still begs the question, who fathered Anakin???

 

[Sam Favate]

About the “two Sith” rule: it’s dumb. How can the Sith ever hope to compete with the Jedi when there are thousands of Jedi running around and only two Sith? Also, there were often more than two. Clone Wars showed that Dooku (Sidious’ apprentice) had taken Assaj Ventress as an apprentice, and Sidious was using Maul again while Dooku was alive. Wasn’t there an in-canon video game about Vader having an apprentice? And what about the a Inquisitors from Rebels? They appear to use the dark side of the Force. All of this is necessary if the apprentice is going to overthrow the master. The prequels are full of “rules “ that make no sense.

 

[TonyD]

If the titles are literal, then "The Rise of Skywalker" may refer to a new being(s) supplanting the Jedi to bring balance once more. But, it still begs the question, who fathered Anakin???

Are you saying that Skywalker will become a, oh crap I forget my English teaching, Noun, adjective.
So Skywalker replaces Jedi as the nomenclature?

I can buy that.

 

[AcesHighStudios]

Whether it's hyperbolic or not, Lucasfilm acknowledges the blowback from "The Last Jedi" affected "Solo"'s box office performance, which also caused them to cancel other movies that were being planned. You don't have to agree with it. Lucasfilm does. So "The Last Jedi"'s box office, while great, also cost them billions more.

 

[AcesHighStudios]

I doubt Rian Johnson gets fired unless Rise of Skywalker tanks at the box office. He's one of two filmmakers (Abrams being the other) who has shepherded a Star Wars film from beginning to end on time, on budget, and as agreed. He's also the only filmmaker besides Benioff and Weiss moving new Star Wars product forward in the theatrical space.

He has already been fired.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

He has already been fired.

Well, nobody told Rian Johnson.

 

[AcesHighStudios]

Your article is from August 15th, and it happened only a few days ago, so I'm guessing someone did tell Rian Johnson.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Your article is from August 15th, and it happened only a few days ago, so I'm guessing someone did tell Rian Johnson.

Source?

 

[AcesHighStudios]

I don't really need to see Palpatine again. Of course I will see the movie, and I hope they have done something cool with him which justifies his return, but if they had come to me and asked me to make a list of things that needed to be resolved in Episode IX, Palpatine would not have been anywhere on that list, because he was resolved in Return of the Jedi when Darth Vader killed him.

I'm not excited at all about seeing Palpatine again. I felt like that story was told and finding some goofy sci-fi reason to bring him back just seems really unnecessary. I did not like what Rian Johnson did with Star Wars, and I felt "The Last Jedi" just seemed off; but at least he had some unexpected things in there. J. J. seems hellbent on rehashing things and people we've seen before. While I enjoyed "The Force Awakens," and it FELT like Star Wars again, it was obviously just a rehash of "A New Hope." Even if Palpatine survived being thrown down whatever he was thrown down, surviving the explosion of the Death Star just seems ludicrous. And I don't think the "force ghost" applies to Sith. Anakin became a force ghost, because he was redeemed. They better have a really good reason and way of bringing Palpatine back to make it work. I'm skeptical.

 

[AcesHighStudios]

Source?

I went to look up where I read it, and it turns out it IS rumor mill from Twitter by someone called IFixTrailers. They say this:

"BREAKING NEWS

Rian Johnson will NO longer direct any Star Wars film.

The decision has been discussed for some time since February 2018. Johnson hasn’t been notified yet due to Lucasfilm restructuring.

My sources at Disney inform me the planned trilogy was supossed to enter pre-production last year but the TLJ aftershock, fans backlash & the strong connection w/ Solo flop put too many doubts in Lucasfilm and Bob Iger from a creative and PR standpoint."
________________________
I guess we will know soon whether it's true or not.

 

[TravisR]

Whether it's hyperbolic or not, Lucasfilm acknowledges the blowback from "The Last Jedi" affected "Solo"'s box office performance, which also caused them to cancel other movies that were being planned. You don't have to agree with it. Lucasfilm does. So "The Last Jedi"'s box office, while great, also cost them billions more.

Where did you see a person at Lucasfilm say this? Not a guy on You Tube who says his sources told him that but an actual person who works at LFL publicly and on the record say that the negative reaction from a vocal minority who didn't like The Last Jedi had an effect on Solo and caused them to cancel more movies?

 

[AcesHighStudios]

Where did you see a person at Lucasfilm say this? Not a guy on You Tube who says his sources told him that but an actual person who works at LFL publicly and on the record say that the negative reaction from a vocal minority who didn't like The Last Jedi had an effect on Solo and caused them to cancel more movies?

I believe I already acknowledged that, but hey, don't let that stop you. And we shall see. I'm sure if it does turn out to be true, there will be *crickets* in here though.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I doubt Rian Johnson gets fired unless Rise of Skywalker tanks at the box office. He's one of two filmmakers (Abrams being the other) who has shepherded a Star Wars film from beginning to end on time, on budget, and as agreed.

As you alluded to in your above statement, Kathleen Kennedy has now built up quite a list of filmmakers she's hired who didn't work out. Whether or not this is intentional, whether or not it is her fault, it is now a pattern. Josh Trank, Gareth Edwards, Lord and Miller, and Colin Treverrow, for sure. Plus, also, an argument could be made for including James Mangold and Stephen Daldry, who the trades linked to Boba Fett and Obi-Wan standalone movies that got cancelled after Solo, not necessarily because of anything they did, but their projects are not going forward. (We'll see if Daldry is still attached to Obi-Wan in its current form as a Disney+ series; I doubt it.)

We know that Kathleen Kennedy loves The Last Jedi and loved working with Rian Johnson. If she fires him because of public reaction to an extremely successful billion-dollar-grossing film which she is very proud of, that sends a message to the creative community at large that creativity is not welcome at Lucasfilm. Everybody already knows about the production troubles most of the new films have had. I just feel like firing Johnson on top of all that would be a death blow for getting interesting creative voices interested in working for Lucasfilm in thee future.

However, I also suspect (and I am speculating here; I want to be 100% clear that I have no source for this) that the original plan was to alternate years between the Johnson trilogy and the Benioff and Weiss trilogy, as they alternated between the sequel trilogy and Rogue One and Solo. When Iger and Kennedy decided to pause the franchise after Rise of Skywalker instead of having a movie every year, their needs changed. We know from Disney's announced release slate that Star Wars will now be alternating years with the Avatar sequels Disney inherited from Fox, so even after the break, as of right now we have one Star Wars theatrical release dated every other year from 2022-2026.

If Disney does not need additional Star Wars product in theaters until after the end of the Benioff and Weiss trilogy, I could imagine a scenario in which Johnson walks away voluntarily rather than wait around until their trilogy ends in 2026 to start his own. He delivered a billion-dollar grosser which was also well-reviewed and sailed through Lucasfilm's production process with apparent ease. If it turns out that Lucasfilm doesn't need him right away, he will have no problem finding high-profile work elsewhere. But I think if he does walk, it would be his choice to make, not Kathleen Kennedy, Alan Horn or Bob Iger firing him.

 

[AshJW]

Apparently it has always been for thousands of years, hence the word "ALWAYS.

There was a time before that rule was established, so not always. But for a very long time that if feels like always.

 

[TravisR]

I believe I already acknowledged that, but hey, don't let that stop you. And we shall see. I'm sure if it does turn out to be true, there will be *crickets* in here though.

If Johnson does get fired, there will be crickets because it will only be coincidence that Johnson got fired and that You Tubers have been saying that same thing over and over for the last year and a half. The idea that any of these guys have anything more than their own hopes that he's getting canned is laughable. How many times can there be a scoop about a guy be getting fired but it never happens?

 

[AcesHighStudios]

No, it actually won't be a coincidence at all. It will mean they were right. And there will be crickets here because FANS of his can't accept those people were right, and even more, they can't accept that they, themselves, were wrong.