Lucasfilm has turned Star Wars' movie future into a mess, but there is still a way for Disney to save it. It has been nearly three years since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker debuted in theaters and brought the divisive sequel trilogy to a close. Lucasfilm's attempts to develop new Star Wars movies after and continue the franchise on the big screen have largely proven to be unsuccessful, though. The official news of Rogue Squadron losing its release date marks the latest example of how the franchise is failing. And while the Star Wars franchise is not a stranger to making audiences wait decades for new movies, the difference now is that Lucasfilm is still trying to make new movies, creating the current mess.
The struggles to make new Star Wars movies and Lucasfilm's general approach to being in no hurry to bring the franchise back to theaters are quite surprising. For all the controversies that came with the Disney era films, Lucasfilm has seen the franchise mostly flourish between 2015 and 2019. Star Wars: The Force Awakens shattered box office records on its way to making over $2 billion worldwide, while the J.J. Abrams directed movie earned a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. The first anthology movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story overcame a troubled production to make over $1 billion, and it is often considered the best Disney Star Wars movie. Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker still both made over $1 billion amid divisive responses. The only film that truly underwhelmed financially was Solo: A Star Wars Story, but even it has developed a considerable following online. It would stand to reason that Lucasfilm and Disney would want to continue making Star Wars movies if 80 percent of them were going to make over $1 billion.
Lucasfilm might be interested in continuing the franchise on the big screen, but the future is a complete mess. Multiple delayed Star Wars movies might never see the light of day, while even some actors thought to be key to the future have made it clear they do not want to come back. The current state of Star Wars' movie future is quite messy as a result, and Lucasfilm completely ignoring the multiple projects in development at major events like Star Wars Celebration and D23 has only amplified feelings of frustration. For as grim as the future might look right now, though, Disney still holds the necessary cards to save the future of Star Wars movies.
Disney+ & Mandalorian Hurt Star Wars’ Movie Future
The arrival of Disney+ in 2019 and the launch of The Mandalorian was always going to be a moment that would change the Star Wars franchise. Most did not expect the show's incredible success to impact the movies negatively. Indeed, the future of Star Wars films was already a bit uncertain due to the divisive nature of The Last Jedi and Solo. But, Lucasfilm saw The Mandalorian's success and decided to go all-in on streaming. The Mandalorian is now preparing to release its third season, and multiple spinoffs are in the works. Lucasfilm has even made significant progress on exciting new projects like The Acolyte and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew for Disney+, while major movie projects hit roadblocks.
The true effect of Disney+ and The Mandalorian's success can be seen in how Lucasfilm changed its plans and redeveloped some movie projects as TV shows instead. Subscribers have already seen The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi as multi-episode shows on Disney+, but the original plan was for each to be a theatrically released blockbuster. The Boba Fett movie had Logan director James Mangold circling, while the canceled Obi-Wan Kenobi movie had Billy Elliot's Stephen Daldry attached to direct. Both of these projects looked a lot more unlikely to happen after Solo: A Star Wars Story's reception, but Lucasfilm truly began making progress on the shows after The Mandalorian. Whether movies starring Boba Fett and Obi-Wan would have been box office and critical hits is unknown, but they are still examples of how audiences lost out on new Star Wars movies in favor of Disney+ shows.
Lucasfilm’s Star Wars Movie Problems Show A Lack Of Vision
The various problems with Lucasfilm's Star Wars movie plan over the years can mostly be tied back to the studio's lack of a clear vision. The original plan after Disney bought Lucasfilm was to have one new film in theaters every year for the foreseeable future. However, Disney's original Star Wars plan only lasted five years as the studio struggled to figure out a unified vision for the franchise's future. Lucasfilm was plagued with a growing divide in the fandom over the direction of the sequel trilogy, which can partially be attributed to there being no endgame in mind for many of the mysteries Abrams set up in The Force Awakens. While the studio attempted to change this narrative after the fact, decisions like bringing Palpatine back and making Rey his granddaughter indicate otherwise.
The problem with Star Wars' movie plan (or lack thereof) then spilled over into how Lucasfilm was handling the development of future projects. They announced a new Rian Johnson trilogy before The Last Jedi's release, only for it to be put on the back burner after the controversial response. There was even a plan for Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B Weiss to make a new film after finishing the series, but season 8's divisiveness killed the project. Audiences have now been left waiting for updates on films from Taika Waititi, Kevin Feige, Patty Jenkins, and others. Still, it seems that many of them were announced prematurely and are struggling actually to be made. There are also issues like John Boyega not wanting to return as Finn, which hurts Star Wars 10's development, and several directors being turned off from joining the franchise after seeing what happened to Gareth Edwards, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and Colin Trevorrow. Some issues Lucasfilm had with these directors are again tied to a lack of a vision for Star Wars' future.
When Is The Next Star Wars Movie Releasing? (What Is It?)
The next Star Wars movie will not be released until 2025 at the earliest as of right now. The official delay for Patty Jenkins' movie Rogue Squadron removed a December 2023 release date from Disney's calendar. The decision not to put a new film in that slot is hardly a surprise considering a project would need to start filming before the end of 2022 even to have a chance of hitting that release date. Instead, December 19, 2025, is the release date for the next Star Wars movie. Lucasfilm also has an untitled Star Wars film on the calendar for 2027. As long as more problems do not arise, 2025 should be when the drought ends.
As for what Star Wars movie will come out in 2025, that is another difficult question. It would seem that Taika Waititi's film will happen first. Kathleen Kennedy said before that it was happening before Rogue Squadron. Even though Waititi only recently finished and released Thor: Love and Thunder, the 2025 release date gives him several years to regroup and figure out what story he wants to tell in the galaxy far, far away before filming would need to begin. If his film is not ready in three years, the next most likely option could be the often rumored movie from Watchmen writer Damon Lindelof. With Star Wars films from Kevin Feige, Rian Johnson, J.D. Dillard, and others still not making any real progress, Lindelof could be well positioned to fill the 2025 release date.
How Lucasfilm Can Save Star Wars’ Movie Future
There is still hope for Star Wars and a possible path for Lucasfilm to save the franchise's movie future. The first step is figuring out exactly what the hope and goal for a Star Wars movie are and what is required for one to be made. This should include charting a brand-new course that extends the franchise beyond the confines of the Skywalker Saga. There will surely be a Star Wars: Episode X at some point, but developing that should not be much of a concern right now. Going beyond where Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's ending left the franchise is still doable. It gives Lucasfilm a chance to finally go beyond George Lucas' plan and characters, introducing audiences to new characters and stories that have no bearing or connections to the original trilogy or prequels. Doing this would instantly mean freeing future Star Wars movies from debates about retcons or canon changes.
It would also be smart for Lucasfilm to look at how Disney+ can help build up Star Wars movies and vice versa. They are seemingly treated as separate parts of the franchise right now, but the success of The Mandalorian or other shows does not need to come at the expense of the films. It should instead be seen as a way to help the films regain popularity. Imagine how big a The Mandalorian movie would be as a way to culminate Din Djarin's story and connect the various spinoffs. Furthermore, Lucasfilm could advance Grogu's story several years into the future after The Mandalorian ends and pair him up with Rey for the next Star Wars trilogy. They could even put Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano or Ahsoka's live-action Ezra Bridger in future films to bolster the connectivity. Star Wars does not need to become quite as connected as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as some might even argue Star Wars' stories are too connected), but bringing beloved characters together naturally on the big screen would be one way to help kickstart Star Wars' movie future.