Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down
- Thread starter joberg
- Start date
asalaw
Master Member
Hookay, moving on from the "Star Wars is dead to me" and "Disney sucks" whining and back to the topic:
Update! Kathleen Kennedy Not Stepping Down in August - Star Wars News Net
Kathleen Kennedy will be stepping down as Lucasfilm President this August, a new report suggests. She will still be producing Star Wars filmswww.starwarsnewsnet.com
Jeff Sneider, cited in the article, is known to be a Kennedy shill and has been part of her propaganda arm for years. If he says she's stepping down, then this suggests that she and her team are trying to get control of the narrative and "rally the troops" in what small fanbase she has left.
Don't bet on it. As of now, none of those have scripts. Fake movies, all but M&G.
joberg
Legendary Member
I may be in the minority, but I would love to see a sequel to the Last Starfighter, even if it was an Amazon Prime or Netflix film (or mini-series).
Well, spinning IS a good trick, you know...
That's one franchise where I think a sequel this far removed could still work. However, like so many other franchises, the corporate bean counting, analytics driven mindset of today would stifle any potential it has sadly.
Cephus
Master Member
They'd just screw it up.
asalaw
Master Member
Or even worse, make it for "modern audiences," whatever they are.
Cephus
Master Member
That's usually how they screw it up. The problem is that "modern audiences" don't want to see it. They drive away existing fans and make movies that nobody in their right mind would pay for.
Then they wonder why they fail.
Not my idea, but have a look at this...
FACT: Kennedy is selling off at least part of her art collection:
https://schoelkopfgallery.com/viewi...ries-the-kathleen-kennedy-and-frank-marshall/
https://www.mansionglobal.com/artic...of-their-20th-century-art-collection-11350671
FACT: She sold her Malibu home last year, too.
https://robbreport.com/shelter/celebrity-homes/kathleen-kennedy-house-malibu-1235575798/
So why the sudden need for cash?
SPECULATION: Is it possible that Disney never officially greenlighted The Acolyte, and Kennedy is personally on the hook financially for a highly expensive show that bombed, and now the debts are come due? It might help explain why Iger hasn't bought out Kennedy's contract: Disney would take over liability if they did. And it might explain why Karyn McCarthy's lawsuit (remember, she was fired after only two weeks on the project before Headland came on board) has added a charge of FRAUD following discovery.
FACT: The amended fraud charge claims that McCarthy was told the show had budget from Disney when it did not.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...ar-wars-acolyte-lawsuit-lucasfilm-1235346307/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF9LcL4-9nY
SPECULATION: This might also explain why Disney is not settling with McCarthy: they can say "It's not us" during the trial.
The pieces fit. Too well.
FACT: Kennedy is selling off at least part of her art collection:
https://schoelkopfgallery.com/viewi...ries-the-kathleen-kennedy-and-frank-marshall/
https://www.mansionglobal.com/artic...of-their-20th-century-art-collection-11350671
FACT: She sold her Malibu home last year, too.
https://robbreport.com/shelter/celebrity-homes/kathleen-kennedy-house-malibu-1235575798/
So why the sudden need for cash?
SPECULATION: Is it possible that Disney never officially greenlighted The Acolyte, and Kennedy is personally on the hook financially for a highly expensive show that bombed, and now the debts are come due? It might help explain why Iger hasn't bought out Kennedy's contract: Disney would take over liability if they did. And it might explain why Karyn McCarthy's lawsuit (remember, she was fired after only two weeks on the project before Headland came on board) has added a charge of FRAUD following discovery.
FACT: The amended fraud charge claims that McCarthy was told the show had budget from Disney when it did not.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...ar-wars-acolyte-lawsuit-lucasfilm-1235346307/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF9LcL4-9nY
SPECULATION: This might also explain why Disney is not settling with McCarthy: they can say "It's not us" during the trial.
The pieces fit. Too well.
asalaw
Master Member
Or she is getting older, retiring, and no longer wants to hold on to so much material stuff and so much property. I know I’ve been downsizing my collections and crap and I’m only in my early 50’s, as I don’t want to deal with it later in life and don’t need to leave the burden of unloading it on anyone else.
Totally possible, except:
1. KK has never missed an opportunity to humblebrag, or brag at all, for that matter. I'm not aware of any statements to suggest she is happily downsizing.
2. Regarding retirement, she recently said the opposite: "I'm not retired. I'm not going anywhere."
To me, it looks like Occam's Razor is swinging the other way.
That scenario is not a thing that would or could ever happen.
That was my thought too.
But it is interesting that she is liquidating assets. The Malibu home sale could be explained as her leaving SoCal. But when combined with the art collection, it suggests a more concerted asset-dump.
I don't see her paying off 'The Acolyte' with those two sales. That show was like $200m. Google says the home sold for $12m. The art collection is harder to guess but I'm picturing a number more like $40-50m than $200m. Even if she's also liquidating other paper assets that aren't making the news, $200m seems implausible.
I could totally believe there might be something fishy going on with the finances of 'The Acolyte' but it's hard to know what. A big TV show offers so many different possibilities for fraud and gray-area stuff.
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Not sure how that isn't possible. People co-op produce in Hollywood all the time. Disney would not be solely exclusive when it comes to financing and partnerships. This is the historical nature of movie production. It is the reason more than one producer is listed in the credits of most productions. If Kennedy signed on the dotted line for rentals or subcontracting, it is her dime. This may not be the case here but never-ever is the opposite of the history of Hollywood financing being multi-source and fractured responsibility. I think we get mesmerized by the name Disney and assume they operate differently and they own or are responsible for all facets of anything they touch. Sharing financial liability is normal.
That's my thinking. I cannot picture Kennedy literally making the show without Disney's approval. But it could be a situation where she raised a fair amount of outside money to finance part of it.
She probably just ended up on the hook when the show bombed. I mean, it's possible to get pretty leveraged with debts if you are overconfident with a high-profile project. She could have made multi-season deals with lenders or subcontractors. They were starting work on 'The Acolyte' back when Star Wars was still considered a slam-dunk investment, at least in business circles. Even Kennedy's first couple of SW movies made a lot of money.
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AnubisGuard
Master Member
I'm far from an expert but I was under the impression corporations like Disney were LLCs precisely so managers/employees/ownders/etc can't be saddled with company debts.
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