Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm (after 2021)?

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Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

If you read the behind the scenes on American Graffiti/THX 1138/A New Hope, he's always been better at ideas than implementation. He didn't even want to direct the prequels originally.

Hopefully whoever takes the lead will take more risks, and wait a solid decade before starting up on Episode X (you know it's coming don't even try and pretend they'll stop at nine).

I also think a SW film every other year, at a minimum, would help. Every year (or twice as year as the rumors suggested was planned) is way too much SW.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

Side note on this:

How are toy sales generally these days? Like, are kids still...buying toys in general? Like, action figures and such? Lego toys? I'm not even sure what all the toy lines are for Star Wars.

How do the Star Wars toys compare to, say, Marvel toys, on an apples-to-apples basis?

Hasbro doesn't break out the individual licensee revenue by franchise. It's all reported as "Partner Brands" and includes SW, Marvel, Frozen, ect.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

Hasbro doesn't break out the individual licensee revenue by franchise. It's all reported as "Partner Brands" and includes SW, Marvel, Frozen, ect.
So, other than anecdotal observation of store shelves (or scientific observation, if that exists), how is the success of a line determined?

And I'm still curious if action figures are still really a "thing" for kids.

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Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

So, other than anecdotal observation of store shelves (or scientific observation, if that exists), how is the success of a line determined?

And I'm still curious if action figures are still really a "thing" for kids.

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I kind of thought online gaming/social media/movie streaming/etc was killing the toy market. I go places and I rarely see kids asking their parents to play with a toy. It always seems like they are asking for the phone so they can play their games.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

So, other than anecdotal observation of store shelves (or scientific observation, if that exists), how is the success of a line determined?

And I'm still curious if action figures are still really a "thing" for kids.

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Oh, Hasbro knows what is selling and what isn't, they just don't report it. :) Im sure it can be teased out of the financials somehow.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

This. So. Hard.

Gotta give credit where credit is due to the man, but even he didn't know what to do with Star Wars after the original movies.

Yeah he'll always be the guy who made the original trilogy to me... but I don't think he could do anything better than what's been done.

In fact I'm positive on that. Prequels proved that.

They need to bring someone in with a vision that is WAY outside of Skywalkers and existing characters... you need a Feige who you can say "look... let's pretend this is Marvel in the early days... you don't have the Skywalkers to play with, or the main beloved characters... but here's a HUGE UNIVERSE... come up with exciting crap that doesn't have Skywalker Jedi in the mix and build from there"
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

IF true.........

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Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

So, other than anecdotal observation of store shelves (or scientific observation, if that exists), how is the success of a line determined?

And I'm still curious if action figures are still really a "thing" for kids.

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Or the commentary. Here is the bit about Partner brands from the most recent Q1 release. Sounds like Marvel was up, probably due to Black Panther, and the "rest" were soft, which includes STAR WARS.

Partner Brand revenues declined 6% to $200.6 million. Revenue growth in MARVEL and BEYBLADE was more than offset by declines in other Partner Brands. Partner Brand revenues increased slightly in the U.S. and Canada segment, but declined in the International segment.
 
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Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

“[There] has to be more than some thought that it’s time for new blood at the helm”. Seriously? That sounds like pure conjecture, not even rising to the level of “rumor”.

Third-hand, unsubstantiated guess-work/wish projection from an off-brand nerd entertainment news site? *Yawn*
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

“[There] has to be more than some thought that it’s time for new blood at the helm”. Seriously? That sounds like pure conjecture, not even rising to the level of “rumor”.

Third-hand, unsubstantiated guess-work/wish projection from an off-brand nerd entertainment news site? *Yawn*

What gives the whole thing weight is that the original source has been correct in the past with shifts in the executive field and that outlets and individuals that are and have been in the service of the Disney empire are discussing it openly. I posted months ago that Kennedy and Johnson would be long gone before Ep Nein and that was just based on TLJ let alone all the other issues and way before the Solo box office disaster.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

What gives the whole thing weight is that the original source has been correct in the past with shifts in the executive field and that outlets and individuals that are and have been in the service of the Disney empire are discussing it openly. I posted months ago that Kennedy and Johnson would be long gone before Ep Nein and that was just based on TLJ let alone all the other issues and way before the Solo box office disaster.

The phrasing is telling. No “insiders,” no “well-placed sources”, no “employees who choose to remain anonymous”.

“There must be some thought...” means you got nothing. Wake me up when there’s some “there” there.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

My two cents on the franchise's future:

Lucas-era SW fans have been developing a bad case of "make it the same, but different" since Disney took over.



SW cannot survive and live on if ANH & ESB are perpetually the only worthy movies and the rest are crap.

Something else has to be good enough.
Something different has to belong in the franchise too.
Imitations/remakes can't always be off-limits when the original version is old enough to have gray hair.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

My two cents on the franchise's future:

Lucas-era SW fans have been developing a bad case of "make it the same, but different" since Disney took over.



SW cannot survive and live on if ANH & ESB are perpetually the only worthy movies and the rest are crap.

Something else has to be good enough.
Something different has to belong in the franchise too.
Imitations/remakes can't always be off-limits when the original version is old enough to have gray hair.

This is entirely on Disney and not the Lucas era SW fans. If you want to push the line of let the past die then stop using it to make a profit. If you continually use that era of selling your movies than its only to be expected that the particular era they are using will be used to hold them accountable. Nobody that i have seen post has said make it the same but different, just make great movies that appeal to everyone the best way you can.

Addition.

Personally, I cant wait for the films the GoT team are putting together as they are established writers that are proven on large scale productions
and the subject matter is in the SW universe that I have absolutely no knowledge about so it will be a fresh experience for me without any baggage to have to deal with.
 
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Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

I think the thing that hurt these movies most is the breakneck pace they're making them at. That aside, there does seem to be no winning with many OG fans. Too different! Too similar! They redid the plot of ANH! This is too weird and off kilter to be Star Wars!
Rey is a Mary Sue! (despite basically being in the same shoes as Luke who could instinctively use the force to hit a two meter target while flying through space in what amounts to an acme rocket with wings and lasers, but I digress)
Clearly I'm exaggerating for brevity, but this is pretty much what I'm seeing.
People want these new flicks to feel like Star Wars and represent the old characters as they remember them. The problem is Star Wars didn't give everyone the same feels and good characters are not static. They have an arc of change and development. You're allowed to not like the direction the arc goes, but expecting it to be the arc you always imagined in your head canon is not realistic and a bit selfish imo.
:darnkids
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

I think the thing that hurt these movies most is the breakneck pace they're making them at. That aside, there does seem to be no winning with many OG fans. Too different! Too similar! They redid the plot of ANH! This is too weird and off kilter to be Star Wars!
Rey is a Mary Sue! (despite basically being in the same shoes as Luke who could instinctively use the force to hit a two meter target while flying through space in what amounts to an acme rocket with wings and lasers, but I digress)
Clearly I'm exaggerating for brevity, but this is pretty much what I'm seeing.
People want these new flicks to feel like Star Wars and represent the old characters as they remember them. The problem is Star Wars didn't give everyone the same feels and good characters are not static. They have an arc of change and development. You're allowed to not like the direction the arc goes, but expecting it to be the arc you always imagined in your head canon is not realistic and a bit selfish imo.
:darnkids

The thing is that many dont see any arc of development or change at all.;)
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

I’ve always seen her potentially leaving in 2020 once the sequel trilogy is complete and future projects set up and announced. Sort of like a Phase II era for new Lucasfilm projects like what Marvel does. That also provides time to groom a potential successor.

Agreed, I always figured that was the deal when George brought her in to run the company.

Get the new trilogy and a few spinoffs in some stage of development and set it up for Disney to buy it. Having her in charge gave Disney the satisfaction that Lucasfilm could deliver the product that they were buying since George did not want to be involved anymore. After that, Disney can renew contracts or make changes to management as they see fit.

If any of this is true, I bet an announcement would come in September that she would leave after Episode IX.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

The thing is that many dont see any arc of development or change at all.;)

Luke's arc was a big point of contention. But I feel like you're referencing Solo here, so I'll say that while it's not a big shift, the kid at the beginning of that movie takes a fair amount of experience to get to the guy we get in EpVII, or even EpIV.

That being said, I don't expect Kennedy to be out over this one movie underperforming. We'll hear more as the next films are announced I'm sure.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

Luke's arc was a big point of contention. But I feel like you're referencing Solo here, so I'll say that while it's not a big shift, the kid at the beginning of that movie takes a fair amount of experience to get to the guy we get in EpVII, or even EpIV.

That being said, I don't expect Kennedy to be out over this one movie underperforming. We'll hear more as the next films are announced I'm sure.

No, Im referencing the ST only as I assumed from your post, you were doing. Turning Luke Skywalker into Jake Skywalker doesnt cut it as a character arc to me and it seems to be the same with a huge amount of people as well. Just a cheap, selfish trick from a person who wanted to be the one who undermined and killed off a cherished character.
 
Re: Kathleen Kennedy to step down from Lucasfilm?

Cut it with you or not, it's a valid change brought by age and experience and therefore an arc. You're allowed to not like it, but whether it is or isn't a character arc isn't really a debate.
I might not enjoy the flavor of anchovies on my pizza, but having them on it doesn't make it not a pizza.
 
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