Disney CEO Bob Iger says there will be a 'slowdown' in 'Star Wars' movies
By Anthony Breznican
Han Solo’s immortal line “She’s fast enough for you, old man,” has now become: “Okay, maybe a little too fast.”
After the underperformance of Solo: A Star Wars Story last spring, which hit theaters just a few months after The Last Jedi, the CEO and chairman of The Walt Disney Co. says the media giant may have rushed Lucasfilm too much to create new films.
In a new interview with Matthew Belloni of The Hollywood Reporter, Bob Iger acknowledged they may have burned out fans with too much Star Wars.
Belloni brought up the issue of whether Disney and Lucasfilm should “pump the brakes and not put out a Star Wars movie each year.”
Iger responded by taking responsibility for pushing for so many new films after Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. ” I think the mistake that I made — I take the blame — was a little too much, too fast,” Iger said. “You can expect some slowdown.”
He added “that doesn’t mean we’re not going to make films … But I think we’re going to be a little bit more careful about volume and timing.”
The next Star Wars movie in the works is The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams’ is busy making Episode IX, which is currently shooting in the U.K. with plans to be in theaters in December 2019.
Iger said he and the Lucasfilm leadership are “just at the point where we’re going to start making decisions about what comes next after J.J.’s.”
Among the projects being developed were an Obi-Wan Kenobi film, a Boba Fett and the galactic bounty hunters movie, and sagas overseen by The Last Jediwriter-director Rian Johnson and another by the Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Timing and details of those projects hasn’t been confirmed, and its still possible some may not actually happen, especially after the struggles of Solo led to a reevaluation of standalone films.
There’s also a Star Wars live-action series being shot for Disney’s upcoming streaming service, which is a definite go, overseen by The Jungle Book and Iron Man filmmaker Jon Favreau. And Lucasfilm animation guru Dave Filoni is releasing the anime-inspired Star Wars: Resistance series on The Disney Channel on Oct. 7.
