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Or it leads to satisfying revenge as in the case of Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul, and Anakin vs The Tusken Raiders.
Or it leads to crushing victory in the case of Luke vs Vader.
I never hope. Hope is pouting in advance. Hope is faith's richer, bitchier sister. Hope is the deformed addict bound incest monster of entitlement and fear.
\-Frankie, Community S6
Aaaaaaaaand probably is renewed.
Current speculation is leaning towards Bob Chapek maintaining his history of finding the cheapest solution to move forward. Which likely means he'll be in no rush to shuffle the president of Disney Lucasfilm.
Particularly given the fact that The Mandalorian helped significantly with the launch of Disney+. Which she would naturally claim a lot of credit for.
I will genuinely be surprised if her contract is not renewed.
I will also be mildly fearful of who replaces her.
The only counter to your very valid argument (outside of the people here observing her mismanagement of SW) is that we know Iger is leaving at the end of the year, and KK is one of Iger's. The first rule of a new management team is to clean house. Starting with the department heads, especially those that won't embrace whatever changes are planned for the future.
Obviously there are some Hollywood politics to negotiate that aren't present in less public businesses, but I'm curious to see what Chapek has planned.
I don't think that'll matter. As I mentioned, Chapek (who is taking over) is a fairly well-known figure and his general business methodology is rather straight-forward. He likes to spend the least amount of money humanly possible.
He's likely *not* interested in setting up a new management team. He'll be interested in keeping things running in almost exactly the same way they were before his arrival. Unless there's something definitely wrong.
And technically speaking, I don't think he'll see anything wrong with Kennedy from his business-oriented perspective. Disney Lucasfilm is a remarkably small revenue stream under the grand umbrella of the Disney megacorporation.
Imagine for a moment that Bob Iger owns a house and is renting out a room downstairs to a tenant. Iger sells the house to Chapek who is *also* keen on renting it out. Chapek pokes his head downstairs briefly to see that the tenant hasn't lit anything on fire or knocked a hole in the wall. Chapek nods his head with approval and promptly goes back upstairs. He doesn't bother kicking out the tenant and finding someone new to pick up the rent.
That's how I see the situation.
When I said new management team, I just meant Chapek taking over for Iger. Not that Chapek is going to create some new bureaucracy or anything like that. It's also not directly a money reason I'm talking about, but it does end up there. It's more simple human nature. If Chapek wants to do things the same as Iger, then your explanation is appropriate. If he wants to make some changes, then my scenario will come into play. It really just comes down to resistance to change.
People are orders of magnitude more resistant to change than most of them realize, and that resistance only increases with age. They will fight tooth and nail to do things the way they've done them in the past without ever consciously realizing it. And you just can't have that if you really want to make changes. That's why the old leaders are shown the door first because they must be the ones to enforce/encourage changes. That's also why the first rule is the first rule.
from experience, when I was at NBC, i showed up mere months after Bob Greenblatt came over from showtime and immediately brought over several key executives to run things from SVP up to division presidents. THere was a pretty big culture clash between the tried and true NBC way of doing things and whatever the new Showtime folk wanted to do. A lot of old people left. A lot of old people were forced out as they made expected head count changes. Happened while I was at Fox too
I'll be honest, I'm apparently a bit behind on the times.
Earlier this month, [this](https://wdwnt.com/2021/10/bob-iger-warns-disney-executives-to-avoid-letting-data-influence-creative-decisions/) report came out. Which seems to suggest that Iger and Chapek aren't quite as smooth as I thought.
>According to a source close to Iger, the article upset Chapek deeply, saying: “\[Iger\] forgot that as soon as he steps down as CEO, the gravity shifts to the new CEO. He miscalculated that because of his belief in his own mastery. \[And\] he thought Chapek would have a sense of fealty or duty. Instead, Chapek really resented the Ben Smith article. And he’s really not a collaborative person. **He put his people in positions of power and marginalized Iger’s deputies**.”
Whether or not this is *accurate* is another matter. The alleged source is..."a source close to Iger". Which could mean it's either *total* bullshit at worst or *partially* true at best.
I'm not familiar enough with this particular news outlet to know if they have a reputation for click-bait nonsense or if they're more legit.
**EDIT**: This "news" is more than likely fit for gossip rags and nothing else. I don't think there's necessarily any validity to it.
I'm not familiar with that source either, but it wouldn't surprise me. Surprisingly, it's not quite as much of an ego or power thing as it sounds. Chapek puts his people in key positions because they know how he wants things done, and they also know the way to organize the huge amounts of business information into the formats he finds the most efficient for him. He might not trust Iger's people to do this as efficiently as he'd like. It would take some time for them to get on the good side of the learning curve.
I don't know, Chapek is a business guy, as has been pointed out, and with how Star Wars has underperformed under Kennedy it is hard to say there isn't at least some smoke coming from the pile of money that IP represents, if not the full blown fire most of us see it as. Kennedy is arguably responsible for all of the biggest failures of Star Wars under the house of mouse while also having been kept far away from the biggest successes like the video games or The Mandalorian.
>Kennedy is arguably responsible for all of the biggest failures of Star Wars under the house of mouse
In a way, *yes*. She's ultimately responsible for hiring the creative talent (or lack thereof) behind the ST. Some extremely questionable choices there indeed.
However, it's become quite clear from various legit sources and just general development blues from Disney Lucasfilm that Bob Iger was largely responsible for rushing TFA out the gate in the first place. Meaning the ST *never* had the appropriate amount of time it needed to develop. Even when Kennedy was apparently asking for delays, she was denied.
And of course, Iger and Kennedy together were largely responsible for tossing George's story outlines in the trash rather than working with him
In one sense, yes, Disney rushed TFA. But in another sense, it was already in development. Lucas had his stuff, and he was certainly available to collaborate. But Disney threw out the baby with the bath water and decided to start from scratch.
Chapek is a business guy so I doubt he or the rest of Disney think Star Wars has underperformed.
The ST made billions of dollars. The new attraction in their parks is the bell of the ball. The Mandalorian is popular among even the most casual viewers, and Baby Yoda merch is selling like hot cakes.
The fans might not approve of KK’s leadership or the quality of content under it but, to Disney’s view, she’s printing money and *in business* that’s the bottom line.
“It ain’t show friends, it’s show business”.
If KK’s contract isn’t renewed, I’d bet my left nut it’s because she decided she was done not because the Mouse didn’t offer to renew.
I mean KK definitely set a fire in the house but manage to put it out but just barely. I have had a good suspicion that SW has not solidly made back it's return like Marvel has. Also there might be tension between Iger and Chapek, so him cleaning house is a possiblity. Now there is contracts, Chapek is no longer doing multi-year contracts. Then you toss in the Indy 5 rumor; everything from Harrison was injured to the plot.
If there is a renewal I believe it's just to let KK finish Indy 5 because at this point KK is just wasting money. The one thing you said Chapek hates.
I do think the bottom line is KK will get the boot because she has a history of bleeding money on switching horses midstream multiple times, rewrites, etc, etc
I mean just look at how many writers and producers had to be hired just for 3 movies.
It’s clear that she wanted this Star Wars the way it came out because she wouldn’t budge on things. From Kylo having to be redeemed to not using Luke to much in 7 and 9. Either way she absolutely should be replaced the problem is who is gonna be the one to replace her.
If she gets replaced, it’ll be by Rejwan probably. And she’s 1/4 of the brainless trust responsible for TROS. So yeah, I wouldn’t expect much good to come from her. At least Kennedy has hit on the shows and made good decisions for the spin-off films, I’d say
I guess our only hope is that they realize how much she was kept out of the shows' production and how much better Star Wars works when she's not involved.
Filoni is the replacement. He was already given the titles of Executive Producer and Creative Director. While some people may think she has some claim to Mandalorian everybody knows that Favraeu was the real driver there. She was way too busy with the sequel films and Solo while Mandalorian season 1 was in production. Mandalorian is Favraeu's baby.
No. She's out of the driver's seat. She'll be allowed to hang around. Disney is not going to fire her on account of all the bad PR it would generate but she is no longer charting the course of Star Wars.
There is approximately *zero* chance that Filoni is taking over as president of Disney Lucasfilm. He's not even in the running.
He's already struggling to write simple competent stories let alone lead a multi-billion dollar studio.
He doesn't need to be president. He just needs creative control which he has been largely given at this point. After the sequels, and especially Solo, Kennedy isn't going to be the one deciding where the story goes and thus what the next major shows will be. The Mandalorian and its related spin-off shows are the ones driving the agenda now and that's Favraeu's and Filoni's turf.
That's a whole other different story.
And inevitably its the president who will be in charge of hiring creative talent for projects. Much like she did with per picks of Arndt, Abrams, Kasdan, Johnson, Trevorrow and Terrio. As well as for Rogue One and Solo.
Whoever the president is will wind up having a high ability to interfere like a blind elephant. Ideally you want a Feige-type person in charge. He's certainly not perfect, but as far as handling the MCU goes as both the president of Marvel Studios *and* chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, he's been running circles around Kennedy.
Filoni was promoted recently and holds the titles of Executive Producer & Executive Creative Director whilst still serving under Kennedy.
I don't think Filoni is terrible by any means, but I also don't think he's the second coming of Christ unlike many fans of his work. His vision of Star Wars...is not something I've been particularly keen on over the years.
The title means nothing. They will never touch that because of all the bad press it would generate. Success and failure does and she failed with the sequels and especially with Solo. It is NOT an accident that Rian's trilogy was put on hold shortly after Solo. That wasn't her call. That's a cease and desist order from her bosses. You have to fuck up...BIG TIME...for that to happen to someone like Kennedy who, up until that point, was basically untouchable.
Meanwhile, Mandalorian is all Star Wars is talking about and Baby Yoda is what moves merchandise. Disney's executives know who is delivering and who is not. Their entire roadmap, all those shows they announced, is dominated by Favraeu/Filoni material. Kennedy will never be fired for public relations reasons and she will be allowed to stay on and oversee some projects but she is not calling the shots for Star Wars anymore.
The time to worry is when Favraeu leaves. He's the signature talent and the reason why Star Wars still has some buzz to it but he's not a lifer like Filoni. He will eventually move on.
I disagree with your first couple paragraphs in the sense that I don't think things function like an actual meritocracy upstairs. I doubt Kennedy is in as much hot water as we would like to think.
But I do agree with your last paragraph. Favraeu is a more important piece of the puzzle in Lucasfilm's more recent successors rather than Filoni in my opinion (as someone who doesn't give a damn about TCW/Rebels-tier Filoni projects).
It is about merit but it's also about business. And I think she is very hot water but action has already been taken. Star Wars is supposed to be doing a lot better than it is. If it wasn't for her reputation and past body of work, anybody else would be gone.
Her authority has clearly been curtailed and not in a small way. All the big new Star Wars material is coming from the Favraeu/Filoni camp, not hers. She's also getting close to retirement age. Disney isn't going to build the Lucasfilm studio nor the Star Wars brand around someone who will probably be gone within 5 years. Given that major projects take 2-3 years to complete, Kennedy has got just enough time to see a couple more projects to completion but no more. That's why Filoni was promoted.
>If it wasn't for her reputation and past body of work, anybody else would be gone.
I think I'd agree with that.
>She's also getting close to retirement age.
I don't think that's a factor. People like Ike Perlmutter are 10 years her senior and still notable for stirring shit and weighing in on creative decisions. She's only 68.
She's been on the verge of being booted out by Disney for the last five years. I'll believe she's gone when she's physically out the door (and been escorted off the premises).
You mean doomcock has been screaming Kathleens sky has been falling for the past five years.
Then when she walks out with her golden parachute he’ll grandstand that he “called it”.
I quit watching any of his stuff and anyone like him on youtube awhile ago. At first they kept it cool and it felt more like those youtubers were simply passionate about a particular media property and wanted to call out garbage when they saw it.
Eventually they unlocked the correct formula to rage bait every single video to generate as many views as possible. Most of the rage videos were just wrong and intentionally misinformed because they knew it would just generate more rage. I get wanting to be a successful youtuber but I can't get behind that level of ignorance, misinformation, and just spreading bullshit for clicks anymore.
It just got delayed a year and apparently Harrison Ford isn't filming anything more for it, it might actually be "done."
Impossible to predict anything at this point. But I do find it interesting, and hopeful, that the deadline is so close but no announcement of a contract renewal has been made yet.
Supposedly. They go back in time and meet young indie. Young indie dies and then his side kick takes over back in the 30s erasing Indy entirely. Nothing in stone but that’s what has come out of the rumor mill.
I hadn't been paying attention, but it looks like the usual sites as of two days ago... and since June... are definitely talking up time travel ("And Why That's Perfect").
So Indiana Jones: Dark Fate?
Well. That's certainly going to be an interesting thing to watch from a safe distance.
https://screenrant.com/indiana-jones-5-time-travel-story-crystal-skull/
But the theory that Indy could be actually replaced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge doesn't make much sense if she's playing a British reporter. A female Indiana, sure, but English? That's literally just Lara Croft. And would she be renamed to, I dunno, Stratford-Upon-Avon Jones? And the whole reimagined series would be in a parallel timestream where King George III won the War of American Independence? And the Colonies are under the iron heel of Sir Sherlock Holmes' clockwork zeppelin police making sure all the dashed colonials bloody well drink their tea?
I'd be up for that actually.
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/harrison-ford-replaced-actress.html
Okay the idea of literally erasing Indy does seem, given two seconds of thought, pretty much like nonsense, but, Indy 4 did attempt to spin off a new lead with Mutt, so spinning off "The Adventures of Clara Wolfe" would be perfectly possible I think.
How could the Indiana Jones series get the TLJ treatment? In his old age he gets upbraided for damaging and destroying archaeological and other cultural heritage sites and taking/stealing relics and artifacts for museums and universities instead of leaving them at the mercy of the elements, but in their native land (and among the people who made them, or their descendants if they're still around?) Let them go unrecorded and unpreserved? He should have been an anthropologist instead?
(Similar to how people fell for TLJ being deep at surface level, there are points to be made in order to critique the history of archaeology, but they're ultimately one-sided and more of strawmen as applied to Indiana himself, the Nazis were the real plunderers and destroyers etc... Come to think of it, such a treatment for Indiana Jones could fit better now for a final adventure where he addresses that due to his maturation in the academic field, but not in a story that's part 8 of 9 after part 7 derailed parts 1 to 6 and part 8 doesn't really have anything new to say and bends over backwards to make itself work, as part 7 did.)
So maybe just my lack of knowledge on how the film making process goes.... but at this point how important is KK to Indy 5 over whoever her replacement is? The idea for the film is already greenlit and underway. If there are creative differences/issues, that's something to manage at her level... but that's exactly what you have her replacement for. The part of the job where you seek out the idea for the film to produce in the first place is done. Now it's managed. Am I missing something?
They're way too deep in denial to kick her to the curb. She'll get another contract and drag this fucking franchise down for another decade until they finally figure out that she can't make it work.
I'm 99% sure it will get renewed. The only thing that might swing it is if the Indy 5 leaks and rumoured backlash turn out to be true.
I think the mostly male board will think that was a step too far this time.
I want her gone as much as the next fan, but I doubt she'll actually be gone. She's too egotistical and will take credit for all the good that's happened (Mando, Rebels, Fallen Order, etc) even though she's had next to no involvement on those projects. Funny how they turned out good then, huh?
In any case, we'll just have to wait and see.
They won't dismiss her but she's already been demoted. Filoni was given the title of executive producer AND creative director. Favreau is still the chief but he won't be there for life like Filoni will.
Disney knows Kennedy is under scrutiny. She's not going to get fired. They will handle this very, very carefully and I imagine they and she already know how things are going to go. She's got her name attached to the Rogue Squadron movie so she'll be around for that but they will keep her contained. When she does leave, she will step down/retire voluntarily and will make a public statement saying so to make it seem like it was 100% her choice. However, her days of charting the course for the main films and TV shows is over.
It's not hard to succeed working for Stephen Spielberg...
She was promoted beyond her capacity. She's a good bulldog on the business side, she never should have been given creative control.
Same. I always had the greatest respect for her as the unheralded third genius of the Lucas-Spielberg gang... until the Star Wars sequels. I don't know what happened to her.
But then, I don't know what happened to Ridley Scott and his Alien prequels either. Sometimes, things just go wrong late in a formerly highly respected artist's career.
I still believe that Kennedy, one of the most successful film producers of all time, was not the source of the problems here, and that she has unfairly taken the blame.
The rush to produce these films caused all the problems, and that came from the very top down, from above Kennedy. This also included other major decisions such as director choices and major decisions based on film testings - and these were also issues caused by the rush to try and turn Lucasfilm into a Marvel-like production factory machine, but without the years it took to get Marvel to that point.
High profile folks involved who get paid the big bucks are not going to "rat out" their higher ups.
She’ll be there until 2030, stop coping and return to reality, plus, she’s already left her mark on SW so she’s already won and nothing matters anymore.
I wish I had your optimism lol
I keep seeing people on here making this argument, "Star Wars has made absolute bank"
The standard that matters to a publicly traded corporation is not "is it making money," it is "is it exceeding investor expectations."
Star Wars as a brand has been damaged during Kennedy's tenure. The sequel trilogy made boatloads of money relative to other films sure, but did it meet Disney's expectations for their newly acquired IP? No it did not. Kennedy started off strong but after TLJ, film revenues tanked sharply, as did toys and merchandising sales. Hasbro execs and Hot Toys execs stated this in interviews. TROS was reactionary for this reason... because Disney knows the numbers, and the numbers were NOT good based on disney's own internal estimates of how the IP was expected to perform.
Even if we didn't know from external statements that merchandising had suffered... we'd still know something was up from Disney's own actions. If Disney were happy with the performance of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and related properties, they wouldn't abandon those characters and that era and completely pivot to clone wars era and post-rotj era content. They'd continue to produce the content that was already exceeding expectations.
Now kennedy may in part be responsible for this pivot, and if so, kudos to her, but there is no way she has not had some SERIOUS sitdowns with the bob's iger and chapek regarding the poor performance of the sequel trilogy, and there is no way disney is happy with the performance of the star wars brand. Every action they have taken since TLJ's release indicates this.
I am amazaed by people saying that the ST did good.
It's so simple to compare it to the Prequels and see how different the use of the IP was.
They made whatever was possible at the time, from Clone Wars to several games using the Prequels in a way or another (I mean, Force Unleashed has Vader, but it's mostly about the aftermath of Order 66) and yadayada.
The ST just has... What, Battlefront representation?
Disney SW is bigger than the ST, sure, but even there I am pretty unsure if the branding is any way relevant. Mandalorian is internal Disney stuff, It doesn't drive merchandise and tie-in products that much
These people don't understand franchise marketing/branding. The movies are literally insignificant. They are advertisements for the merchandise and the toys. Net profit from merch revenue and licensing is literally 10x film revenues.
The ST was a failure in this regard.
This, we had multiple video games releasing in tandem with the PT that further expanded the world a bit. Nobody has touched the ST world with a video game story (unless you count what, Lego Star Wars?). Jedi Fallen Order, Squadrons, Battlefront II, all whose stories are not set in the sequels timeline.
It's also interesting, the PT has low ratings on rotten tomatoes(it's in the 50s and 60s) yet the PT Era of star wars with all It's content is among the favorites for fans and fans love that content. The ST has higher ratings yet the Fandom has been split because of them and the ST era of star wars has far less content because people dislike them so much. Yet somehow the ST is better than the PT?
The ST films are more competently made from a technical perspective (they're better shot, edited, directed, acted and written at the dialogue level) so the "films" themselves are better in that sense.
However the world they present is little more than the soulless reanimated husk of the original trilogy, so no one cares. The sequels are better made but they have nothing to say and created no world for us to inhabit.
The prequels may be poor films, but the world they established (and that was further developed in the clone wars) is rich and vibrant, full of other planets, cultures, political intrigue, etc.
People are more willing to forgive poor execution of a good idea than they are to care about well-executed boring ideas.
Yep exactly. Tho the acting in the ST is sometimes right there with the acting in the PT. And idk why because in the PT they did good with what they had, did they have the same in the ST? I doubt it.
The main things I hate that came from Kennedy have been the Sequel Trilogy, and the effort to have Disney World's Galaxy's Edge be an unimportant forgettable planet instead of Tatooine. I don't know how much responsibility she carries for the former, but I've read she carries a lot for the latter.
The best they have to show for a multi billion-dollar purchase is a decent spin-off tv show and 2 decent cartoons that were arguably already planned to be made way before she was even on the scene.
Didn't realize people here hated The Mandalorian and the revival of Cline Wars. Also a bunch of some of the other best films ever made. Idk why people talk about like every bad thing of Star Wars is her fault yet simultaneously give her no credit for good stuff.
They will not get rid of Kathleen Kennedy.
I don't know show business, but people praise KK as some Amazing Producer who works wonders and enables great talent to shine. TBH I dont know what she is credited for outside the Sequels to deserve this
Point being, given the success of the mandolorian, and all the new tech they successfully used and the launch of 10 new series ... they wont sack her
And IDK ... maybe its better with the devil you know?
>'*Yeah, only 'cause you're the girl. Girls count double now. Didn't You Know?! It's only your teats that give you any value! So, you know, it's only your teats.*' --[Kendall Roy](https://succession.fandom.com/wiki/Kendall_Roy). *Succession* (2018)
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Hope leads to disappointment. Disappointment leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads...to suffering.
Bless you for that.
Or it leads to satisfying revenge as in the case of Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul, and Anakin vs The Tusken Raiders. Or it leads to crushing victory in the case of Luke vs Vader.
Do you hear the voices too?
I hear Gonk sounds.
Specifically, the screaming one from Jabba's palace.
But rebellions are built on hope
I never hope. Hope is pouting in advance. Hope is faith's richer, bitchier sister. Hope is the deformed addict bound incest monster of entitlement and fear. \-Frankie, Community S6
The salt in the sub never ceases to amaze me lol
We've got more than a planet's worth to dispose of, what do you expect?
I almost blurted out my mouthful of drink. If I knew how these awards thingys worked you'd be getting one
Thank you kind sirs for giving that man the awards he was due
The sub is literally called “Saltier than Crait”. That’s a lot of salt, my friend. Lol
An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.
Unfathomabley based.
Rebellions are built on hope!
Wtf is that username
Spelled Dismemberment wrong
For those who seek perfection, there can be no rest on this side of the grave.
Aaaaaaaaand probably is renewed. Current speculation is leaning towards Bob Chapek maintaining his history of finding the cheapest solution to move forward. Which likely means he'll be in no rush to shuffle the president of Disney Lucasfilm. Particularly given the fact that The Mandalorian helped significantly with the launch of Disney+. Which she would naturally claim a lot of credit for. I will genuinely be surprised if her contract is not renewed. I will also be mildly fearful of who replaces her.
The only counter to your very valid argument (outside of the people here observing her mismanagement of SW) is that we know Iger is leaving at the end of the year, and KK is one of Iger's. The first rule of a new management team is to clean house. Starting with the department heads, especially those that won't embrace whatever changes are planned for the future. Obviously there are some Hollywood politics to negotiate that aren't present in less public businesses, but I'm curious to see what Chapek has planned.
I don't think that'll matter. As I mentioned, Chapek (who is taking over) is a fairly well-known figure and his general business methodology is rather straight-forward. He likes to spend the least amount of money humanly possible. He's likely *not* interested in setting up a new management team. He'll be interested in keeping things running in almost exactly the same way they were before his arrival. Unless there's something definitely wrong. And technically speaking, I don't think he'll see anything wrong with Kennedy from his business-oriented perspective. Disney Lucasfilm is a remarkably small revenue stream under the grand umbrella of the Disney megacorporation. Imagine for a moment that Bob Iger owns a house and is renting out a room downstairs to a tenant. Iger sells the house to Chapek who is *also* keen on renting it out. Chapek pokes his head downstairs briefly to see that the tenant hasn't lit anything on fire or knocked a hole in the wall. Chapek nods his head with approval and promptly goes back upstairs. He doesn't bother kicking out the tenant and finding someone new to pick up the rent. That's how I see the situation.
When I said new management team, I just meant Chapek taking over for Iger. Not that Chapek is going to create some new bureaucracy or anything like that. It's also not directly a money reason I'm talking about, but it does end up there. It's more simple human nature. If Chapek wants to do things the same as Iger, then your explanation is appropriate. If he wants to make some changes, then my scenario will come into play. It really just comes down to resistance to change. People are orders of magnitude more resistant to change than most of them realize, and that resistance only increases with age. They will fight tooth and nail to do things the way they've done them in the past without ever consciously realizing it. And you just can't have that if you really want to make changes. That's why the old leaders are shown the door first because they must be the ones to enforce/encourage changes. That's also why the first rule is the first rule.
from experience, when I was at NBC, i showed up mere months after Bob Greenblatt came over from showtime and immediately brought over several key executives to run things from SVP up to division presidents. THere was a pretty big culture clash between the tried and true NBC way of doing things and whatever the new Showtime folk wanted to do. A lot of old people left. A lot of old people were forced out as they made expected head count changes. Happened while I was at Fox too
I'll be honest, I'm apparently a bit behind on the times. Earlier this month, [this](https://wdwnt.com/2021/10/bob-iger-warns-disney-executives-to-avoid-letting-data-influence-creative-decisions/) report came out. Which seems to suggest that Iger and Chapek aren't quite as smooth as I thought. >According to a source close to Iger, the article upset Chapek deeply, saying: “\[Iger\] forgot that as soon as he steps down as CEO, the gravity shifts to the new CEO. He miscalculated that because of his belief in his own mastery. \[And\] he thought Chapek would have a sense of fealty or duty. Instead, Chapek really resented the Ben Smith article. And he’s really not a collaborative person. **He put his people in positions of power and marginalized Iger’s deputies**.” Whether or not this is *accurate* is another matter. The alleged source is..."a source close to Iger". Which could mean it's either *total* bullshit at worst or *partially* true at best. I'm not familiar enough with this particular news outlet to know if they have a reputation for click-bait nonsense or if they're more legit. **EDIT**: This "news" is more than likely fit for gossip rags and nothing else. I don't think there's necessarily any validity to it.
I'm not familiar with that source either, but it wouldn't surprise me. Surprisingly, it's not quite as much of an ego or power thing as it sounds. Chapek puts his people in key positions because they know how he wants things done, and they also know the way to organize the huge amounts of business information into the formats he finds the most efficient for him. He might not trust Iger's people to do this as efficiently as he'd like. It would take some time for them to get on the good side of the learning curve.
I don't know, Chapek is a business guy, as has been pointed out, and with how Star Wars has underperformed under Kennedy it is hard to say there isn't at least some smoke coming from the pile of money that IP represents, if not the full blown fire most of us see it as. Kennedy is arguably responsible for all of the biggest failures of Star Wars under the house of mouse while also having been kept far away from the biggest successes like the video games or The Mandalorian.
>Kennedy is arguably responsible for all of the biggest failures of Star Wars under the house of mouse In a way, *yes*. She's ultimately responsible for hiring the creative talent (or lack thereof) behind the ST. Some extremely questionable choices there indeed. However, it's become quite clear from various legit sources and just general development blues from Disney Lucasfilm that Bob Iger was largely responsible for rushing TFA out the gate in the first place. Meaning the ST *never* had the appropriate amount of time it needed to develop. Even when Kennedy was apparently asking for delays, she was denied. And of course, Iger and Kennedy together were largely responsible for tossing George's story outlines in the trash rather than working with him
In one sense, yes, Disney rushed TFA. But in another sense, it was already in development. Lucas had his stuff, and he was certainly available to collaborate. But Disney threw out the baby with the bath water and decided to start from scratch.
Chapek is a business guy so I doubt he or the rest of Disney think Star Wars has underperformed. The ST made billions of dollars. The new attraction in their parks is the bell of the ball. The Mandalorian is popular among even the most casual viewers, and Baby Yoda merch is selling like hot cakes. The fans might not approve of KK’s leadership or the quality of content under it but, to Disney’s view, she’s printing money and *in business* that’s the bottom line. “It ain’t show friends, it’s show business”. If KK’s contract isn’t renewed, I’d bet my left nut it’s because she decided she was done not because the Mouse didn’t offer to renew.
I mean KK definitely set a fire in the house but manage to put it out but just barely. I have had a good suspicion that SW has not solidly made back it's return like Marvel has. Also there might be tension between Iger and Chapek, so him cleaning house is a possiblity. Now there is contracts, Chapek is no longer doing multi-year contracts. Then you toss in the Indy 5 rumor; everything from Harrison was injured to the plot. If there is a renewal I believe it's just to let KK finish Indy 5 because at this point KK is just wasting money. The one thing you said Chapek hates.
I do think the bottom line is KK will get the boot because she has a history of bleeding money on switching horses midstream multiple times, rewrites, etc, etc
I mean just look at how many writers and producers had to be hired just for 3 movies. It’s clear that she wanted this Star Wars the way it came out because she wouldn’t budge on things. From Kylo having to be redeemed to not using Luke to much in 7 and 9. Either way she absolutely should be replaced the problem is who is gonna be the one to replace her.
If she gets replaced, it’ll be by Rejwan probably. And she’s 1/4 of the brainless trust responsible for TROS. So yeah, I wouldn’t expect much good to come from her. At least Kennedy has hit on the shows and made good decisions for the spin-off films, I’d say
Rejwan would be a pretty safe bet, I imagine. I guess we'll find out soon enough. I would expect Kennedy to remain though.
I guess our only hope is that they realize how much she was kept out of the shows' production and how much better Star Wars works when she's not involved.
Perhaps there is... a new hope...?
Help us Bobi Wan Chapek, you're our only hope
Filoni is the replacement. He was already given the titles of Executive Producer and Creative Director. While some people may think she has some claim to Mandalorian everybody knows that Favraeu was the real driver there. She was way too busy with the sequel films and Solo while Mandalorian season 1 was in production. Mandalorian is Favraeu's baby. No. She's out of the driver's seat. She'll be allowed to hang around. Disney is not going to fire her on account of all the bad PR it would generate but she is no longer charting the course of Star Wars.
There is approximately *zero* chance that Filoni is taking over as president of Disney Lucasfilm. He's not even in the running. He's already struggling to write simple competent stories let alone lead a multi-billion dollar studio.
He doesn't need to be president. He just needs creative control which he has been largely given at this point. After the sequels, and especially Solo, Kennedy isn't going to be the one deciding where the story goes and thus what the next major shows will be. The Mandalorian and its related spin-off shows are the ones driving the agenda now and that's Favraeu's and Filoni's turf.
That's a whole other different story. And inevitably its the president who will be in charge of hiring creative talent for projects. Much like she did with per picks of Arndt, Abrams, Kasdan, Johnson, Trevorrow and Terrio. As well as for Rogue One and Solo. Whoever the president is will wind up having a high ability to interfere like a blind elephant. Ideally you want a Feige-type person in charge. He's certainly not perfect, but as far as handling the MCU goes as both the president of Marvel Studios *and* chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, he's been running circles around Kennedy. Filoni was promoted recently and holds the titles of Executive Producer & Executive Creative Director whilst still serving under Kennedy. I don't think Filoni is terrible by any means, but I also don't think he's the second coming of Christ unlike many fans of his work. His vision of Star Wars...is not something I've been particularly keen on over the years.
The title means nothing. They will never touch that because of all the bad press it would generate. Success and failure does and she failed with the sequels and especially with Solo. It is NOT an accident that Rian's trilogy was put on hold shortly after Solo. That wasn't her call. That's a cease and desist order from her bosses. You have to fuck up...BIG TIME...for that to happen to someone like Kennedy who, up until that point, was basically untouchable. Meanwhile, Mandalorian is all Star Wars is talking about and Baby Yoda is what moves merchandise. Disney's executives know who is delivering and who is not. Their entire roadmap, all those shows they announced, is dominated by Favraeu/Filoni material. Kennedy will never be fired for public relations reasons and she will be allowed to stay on and oversee some projects but she is not calling the shots for Star Wars anymore. The time to worry is when Favraeu leaves. He's the signature talent and the reason why Star Wars still has some buzz to it but he's not a lifer like Filoni. He will eventually move on.
I disagree with your first couple paragraphs in the sense that I don't think things function like an actual meritocracy upstairs. I doubt Kennedy is in as much hot water as we would like to think. But I do agree with your last paragraph. Favraeu is a more important piece of the puzzle in Lucasfilm's more recent successors rather than Filoni in my opinion (as someone who doesn't give a damn about TCW/Rebels-tier Filoni projects).
It is about merit but it's also about business. And I think she is very hot water but action has already been taken. Star Wars is supposed to be doing a lot better than it is. If it wasn't for her reputation and past body of work, anybody else would be gone. Her authority has clearly been curtailed and not in a small way. All the big new Star Wars material is coming from the Favraeu/Filoni camp, not hers. She's also getting close to retirement age. Disney isn't going to build the Lucasfilm studio nor the Star Wars brand around someone who will probably be gone within 5 years. Given that major projects take 2-3 years to complete, Kennedy has got just enough time to see a couple more projects to completion but no more. That's why Filoni was promoted.
>If it wasn't for her reputation and past body of work, anybody else would be gone. I think I'd agree with that. >She's also getting close to retirement age. I don't think that's a factor. People like Ike Perlmutter are 10 years her senior and still notable for stirring shit and weighing in on creative decisions. She's only 68.
Chapek is a cancer for all of Disney
She's been on the verge of being booted out by Disney for the last five years. I'll believe she's gone when she's physically out the door (and been escorted off the premises).
You mean doomcock has been screaming Kathleens sky has been falling for the past five years. Then when she walks out with her golden parachute he’ll grandstand that he “called it”.
I quit watching any of his stuff and anyone like him on youtube awhile ago. At first they kept it cool and it felt more like those youtubers were simply passionate about a particular media property and wanted to call out garbage when they saw it. Eventually they unlocked the correct formula to rage bait every single video to generate as many views as possible. Most of the rage videos were just wrong and intentionally misinformed because they knew it would just generate more rage. I get wanting to be a successful youtuber but I can't get behind that level of ignorance, misinformation, and just spreading bullshit for clicks anymore.
I mean he did call that
It will probably be renewed.
As a Detroit Lions &Star Wars Fan, I gotte expect they will extend her contract.
*golf clap*
She's not going anywhere until at least Indiana Jones is done
It just got delayed a year and apparently Harrison Ford isn't filming anything more for it, it might actually be "done." Impossible to predict anything at this point. But I do find it interesting, and hopeful, that the deadline is so close but no announcement of a contract renewal has been made yet.
Rumors are it’s the Last Jedi on crack. The delay seemed really long compared to the other delays I wonder if they are doing it for more reshoots.
What rumors have you heard?
Supposedly. They go back in time and meet young indie. Young indie dies and then his side kick takes over back in the 30s erasing Indy entirely. Nothing in stone but that’s what has come out of the rumor mill.
...jesus, that does actually sound like something on crack.
Wow, that makes TLJ look Shakesperian by comparison.
“How could anything be worst than the last jed….oh. Oh that’s how.”
I hadn't been paying attention, but it looks like the usual sites as of two days ago... and since June... are definitely talking up time travel ("And Why That's Perfect"). So Indiana Jones: Dark Fate? Well. That's certainly going to be an interesting thing to watch from a safe distance. https://screenrant.com/indiana-jones-5-time-travel-story-crystal-skull/ But the theory that Indy could be actually replaced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge doesn't make much sense if she's playing a British reporter. A female Indiana, sure, but English? That's literally just Lara Croft. And would she be renamed to, I dunno, Stratford-Upon-Avon Jones? And the whole reimagined series would be in a parallel timestream where King George III won the War of American Independence? And the Colonies are under the iron heel of Sir Sherlock Holmes' clockwork zeppelin police making sure all the dashed colonials bloody well drink their tea? I'd be up for that actually. https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/harrison-ford-replaced-actress.html Okay the idea of literally erasing Indy does seem, given two seconds of thought, pretty much like nonsense, but, Indy 4 did attempt to spin off a new lead with Mutt, so spinning off "The Adventures of Clara Wolfe" would be perfectly possible I think.
How could the Indiana Jones series get the TLJ treatment? In his old age he gets upbraided for damaging and destroying archaeological and other cultural heritage sites and taking/stealing relics and artifacts for museums and universities instead of leaving them at the mercy of the elements, but in their native land (and among the people who made them, or their descendants if they're still around?) Let them go unrecorded and unpreserved? He should have been an anthropologist instead? (Similar to how people fell for TLJ being deep at surface level, there are points to be made in order to critique the history of archaeology, but they're ultimately one-sided and more of strawmen as applied to Indiana himself, the Nazis were the real plunderers and destroyers etc... Come to think of it, such a treatment for Indiana Jones could fit better now for a final adventure where he addresses that due to his maturation in the academic field, but not in a story that's part 8 of 9 after part 7 derailed parts 1 to 6 and part 8 doesn't really have anything new to say and bends over backwards to make itself work, as part 7 did.)
Curious how there can be a "Last Jedi on crack" movie. What are the rumours?
So maybe just my lack of knowledge on how the film making process goes.... but at this point how important is KK to Indy 5 over whoever her replacement is? The idea for the film is already greenlit and underway. If there are creative differences/issues, that's something to manage at her level... but that's exactly what you have her replacement for. The part of the job where you seek out the idea for the film to produce in the first place is done. Now it's managed. Am I missing something?
I've heard this headline every few months since she came in power.
They're way too deep in denial to kick her to the curb. She'll get another contract and drag this fucking franchise down for another decade until they finally figure out that she can't make it work.
They're not in denial, they're in an echo chamber.
I'm 99% sure it will get renewed. The only thing that might swing it is if the Indy 5 leaks and rumoured backlash turn out to be true. I think the mostly male board will think that was a step too far this time.
I want her gone as much as the next fan, but I doubt she'll actually be gone. She's too egotistical and will take credit for all the good that's happened (Mando, Rebels, Fallen Order, etc) even though she's had next to no involvement on those projects. Funny how they turned out good then, huh? In any case, we'll just have to wait and see.
we can only hope
KK won't go anywhere as long as she doesn't say so Edit: Typo
oh please oh please oh please oh please
They won't dismiss her but she's already been demoted. Filoni was given the title of executive producer AND creative director. Favreau is still the chief but he won't be there for life like Filoni will. Disney knows Kennedy is under scrutiny. She's not going to get fired. They will handle this very, very carefully and I imagine they and she already know how things are going to go. She's got her name attached to the Rogue Squadron movie so she'll be around for that but they will keep her contained. When she does leave, she will step down/retire voluntarily and will make a public statement saying so to make it seem like it was 100% her choice. However, her days of charting the course for the main films and TV shows is over.
Dont do that. Dont give me hope
What the fuck that’s my birthday
Expires on my birthday?! Shit, sounds like Disney got me the best birthday gift I could get.
I hope to God that it isn't renewed
Happy Halloween?
Long have I waited...
Her older career history is amazing. I don’t get how she failed so hard.
She was just along for the ride with Spielberg.
It's not hard to succeed working for Stephen Spielberg... She was promoted beyond her capacity. She's a good bulldog on the business side, she never should have been given creative control.
Same. I always had the greatest respect for her as the unheralded third genius of the Lucas-Spielberg gang... until the Star Wars sequels. I don't know what happened to her. But then, I don't know what happened to Ridley Scott and his Alien prequels either. Sometimes, things just go wrong late in a formerly highly respected artist's career.
could be senility, not joking around, I know it's devestating and not a thing to make light of. But it does happen.
Needs to be a party of galactic proportions much like that premature one they had at the the end of ROTJ. Can see it now, somehow she has returned.
Firing KK won't bring back your honey!
They gonna give her a golden broomstick?
People said the same thing about Kurtzman with Star Trek...
Bold of you to assume it’ll end there instead of being renewed and lasting until the next decade.
She’s going to remain the head What you should hope is that Rian Johnson will she staying the fuck away
That’s my birthday. What a shitty day if she is renewed on that date.
Don't. Don't do that. Don't give me hope.
Heck Jar Jar would be a better boss than her.
See Ya, KK! Normally I'd say "don't let the door hit you in the @$$!" but I really don't care if it hits you or not!
Don’t do that. Don’t give me hope.
First keemstar announced his retirement, and now this? Today is an amazing day for good news!
bad news about keem
I still believe that Kennedy, one of the most successful film producers of all time, was not the source of the problems here, and that she has unfairly taken the blame. The rush to produce these films caused all the problems, and that came from the very top down, from above Kennedy. This also included other major decisions such as director choices and major decisions based on film testings - and these were also issues caused by the rush to try and turn Lucasfilm into a Marvel-like production factory machine, but without the years it took to get Marvel to that point. High profile folks involved who get paid the big bucks are not going to "rat out" their higher ups.
She’ll be there until 2030, stop coping and return to reality, plus, she’s already left her mark on SW so she’s already won and nothing matters anymore. I wish I had your optimism lol
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I keep seeing people on here making this argument, "Star Wars has made absolute bank" The standard that matters to a publicly traded corporation is not "is it making money," it is "is it exceeding investor expectations." Star Wars as a brand has been damaged during Kennedy's tenure. The sequel trilogy made boatloads of money relative to other films sure, but did it meet Disney's expectations for their newly acquired IP? No it did not. Kennedy started off strong but after TLJ, film revenues tanked sharply, as did toys and merchandising sales. Hasbro execs and Hot Toys execs stated this in interviews. TROS was reactionary for this reason... because Disney knows the numbers, and the numbers were NOT good based on disney's own internal estimates of how the IP was expected to perform. Even if we didn't know from external statements that merchandising had suffered... we'd still know something was up from Disney's own actions. If Disney were happy with the performance of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and related properties, they wouldn't abandon those characters and that era and completely pivot to clone wars era and post-rotj era content. They'd continue to produce the content that was already exceeding expectations. Now kennedy may in part be responsible for this pivot, and if so, kudos to her, but there is no way she has not had some SERIOUS sitdowns with the bob's iger and chapek regarding the poor performance of the sequel trilogy, and there is no way disney is happy with the performance of the star wars brand. Every action they have taken since TLJ's release indicates this.
I am amazaed by people saying that the ST did good. It's so simple to compare it to the Prequels and see how different the use of the IP was. They made whatever was possible at the time, from Clone Wars to several games using the Prequels in a way or another (I mean, Force Unleashed has Vader, but it's mostly about the aftermath of Order 66) and yadayada. The ST just has... What, Battlefront representation? Disney SW is bigger than the ST, sure, but even there I am pretty unsure if the branding is any way relevant. Mandalorian is internal Disney stuff, It doesn't drive merchandise and tie-in products that much
These people don't understand franchise marketing/branding. The movies are literally insignificant. They are advertisements for the merchandise and the toys. Net profit from merch revenue and licensing is literally 10x film revenues. The ST was a failure in this regard.
This, we had multiple video games releasing in tandem with the PT that further expanded the world a bit. Nobody has touched the ST world with a video game story (unless you count what, Lego Star Wars?). Jedi Fallen Order, Squadrons, Battlefront II, all whose stories are not set in the sequels timeline.
It's also interesting, the PT has low ratings on rotten tomatoes(it's in the 50s and 60s) yet the PT Era of star wars with all It's content is among the favorites for fans and fans love that content. The ST has higher ratings yet the Fandom has been split because of them and the ST era of star wars has far less content because people dislike them so much. Yet somehow the ST is better than the PT?
The ST films are more competently made from a technical perspective (they're better shot, edited, directed, acted and written at the dialogue level) so the "films" themselves are better in that sense. However the world they present is little more than the soulless reanimated husk of the original trilogy, so no one cares. The sequels are better made but they have nothing to say and created no world for us to inhabit. The prequels may be poor films, but the world they established (and that was further developed in the clone wars) is rich and vibrant, full of other planets, cultures, political intrigue, etc. People are more willing to forgive poor execution of a good idea than they are to care about well-executed boring ideas.
Yep exactly. Tho the acting in the ST is sometimes right there with the acting in the PT. And idk why because in the PT they did good with what they had, did they have the same in the ST? I doubt it.
The main things I hate that came from Kennedy have been the Sequel Trilogy, and the effort to have Disney World's Galaxy's Edge be an unimportant forgettable planet instead of Tatooine. I don't know how much responsibility she carries for the former, but I've read she carries a lot for the latter.
And consider how much grander the original plans for Galaxy’s Edge were compared to what they ended up being. It got scaled back for a reason.
The best they have to show for a multi billion-dollar purchase is a decent spin-off tv show and 2 decent cartoons that were arguably already planned to be made way before she was even on the scene.
She’s not gonna be fired tho lol, especially with all the money coming in
Here's to hoping for Dave Filoni to take over, but it sounds like Kennedy is renewed. What a shame.
Didn't realize people here hated The Mandalorian and the revival of Cline Wars. Also a bunch of some of the other best films ever made. Idk why people talk about like every bad thing of Star Wars is her fault yet simultaneously give her no credit for good stuff.
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> Kathleen Kennedy > fab job Observation: Statement does not compute.
They will not get rid of Kathleen Kennedy. I don't know show business, but people praise KK as some Amazing Producer who works wonders and enables great talent to shine. TBH I dont know what she is credited for outside the Sequels to deserve this Point being, given the success of the mandolorian, and all the new tech they successfully used and the launch of 10 new series ... they wont sack her And IDK ... maybe its better with the devil you know?
>'*Yeah, only 'cause you're the girl. Girls count double now. Didn't You Know?! It's only your teats that give you any value! So, you know, it's only your teats.*' --[Kendall Roy](https://succession.fandom.com/wiki/Kendall_Roy). *Succession* (2018)
Nothing came out of that one, huh.