All upcoming Star Wars movies will bring back one of the franchise’s oldest traditions that Disney’s spinoffs dropped. Disney’s Lucasfilm continued the Star Wars saga using Return of the Jedi as the starting point and delivered the long-awaited Star Wars: Episode VII. The studio also soon released Star Wars spinoffs, namely Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story, both of which made changes to the franchise’s visual identity.
On the Dagobah Dispatch podcast, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that all upcoming Star Wars movies will feature an opening crawl. Rogue One, Disney's second Star Wars film, did not have an opening crawl. Solo did have one, but not in the same style as the main Star Wars movies. It could have been assumed that only Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s New Jedi Order movie, which is perhaps the closest thing to a Star Wars 10, would have a classic opening crawl. However, Kennedy now confirms that James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi film and Dave Filoni’s The Mandalorian movie will have opening crawls, too.
Star Wars Is Saving The Opening Crawl For The Big Screen
By expanding the Star Wars saga beyond the main “Episode movies,” Disney’s Lucasfilm encountered a tricky challenge. Should every Star Wars movie, Skywalker saga-related or not, feature an opening crawl? Rogue One seemingly answered that question and made history as the first theatrical Star Wars film not to feature an opening crawl. Solo went for a different opening crawl, suggesting that the classic Star Wars intro would be saved for the main Skywalker saga movies.
However, after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker concluded the Skywalker saga, Star Wars had to once again decide on whether to use opening crawls. Presumably, there will not be a “Star Wars: Episode X,” meaning that the saga is in uncharted territory. In addition, Star Wars now has a different way to release live-action content – the Disney+ Star Wars shows. The Mandalorian debuted a Star Wars intro sequence highlighting some of the franchise’s most important characters, similar to what the Marvel Cinematic Universe uses for its movies and TV shows.
The Mandalorian’s Star Wars intro sequence continued to be used in other Disney+ Star Wars TV shows, offering a unique visual identity to this new form of Star Wars content. Now, Kennedy confirms that the opening crawls will continue to be saved for the big screen and will not be used in the shows. With so much Star Wars content being produced for both film and television, having a clear visual distinction between movies and TV shows is the right decision.
Source: Dagobah Dispatch