Despite the absurdity in the world, the pandemic nevertheless makes adjustments to the work of Hollywood. And this is due to the fact that large film studios are in dire need of sources of income, because of which the higher authorities begin to carefully look at the activities of their immediate subordinates. Roughly speaking, they began to count every cent. And this is the main thing that happened in the case of Disney and Lucasfilm.
Kennedy lost to the numbers
Another piece of information shared by a blogger Doomcockwho has insiders associated with Lucasfilm. Although such rumors should be treated with caution, we recall that many of the information provided to them earlier was confirmed. In addition, partial confirmations come from other sources.
According to the source of the blogger, about a month ago, another Disney senior management meeting was held to discuss the future of Lucasfilm Studios. It was attended by the chairman of the board of directors of the company Bob eigeras well as the president Bob cap. However, the meeting was not the head of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedythat immediately caught my eye.
The fact is that Kennedy never misses such events. Moreover, given the topic of the meeting, its absence can be considered unforgivable. Initially, no one knew what happened, but a week after the incident, new information surfaced.
An insider notified Doomcock that a couple of days before the main meeting, another Disney management meeting took place, which lasted about an hour. And Kennedy was present at her. After the meeting, the top manager suddenly went into silent mode, stopping communication with his subordinates in Lucasfilm. Instead, teams are now being distributed by a person whom people describe as the “right hand” of the head of the studio.
A couple of weeks ago, employees (most of whom are women) received an email from the “right hand” in which the following was said on behalf of Kathleen Kennedy:
“Miss Katie decided that she would not seek an extension of her contract. If any of you want to stay in her team, then you should think about it. There is still time for this, and you should not make hasty decisions. However, Miss Katie plans to open a company that will focus on producing films focused on female characters.“
So what could have happened at this meeting that made Kennedy hide with his tail in place? Everything is very commonplace: numbers.
Earlier Gamemag reported that due to the pandemic, Disney’s revenues literally collapsed, forcing the company to borrow $ 11 billion from lenders. In addition, Bob Iger was forced to once again take control of the studio, announcing that he was ready to take tough measures to overcome the crisis. And he proved this by sending about 100 thousand people on unpaid leave.
Iger in his address also pointed out the need for a complete review of the approach to creating content. And here we go back to Lucasfilm. In the current environment, Disney’s top management clearly intends to review the entire production chain, identifying weak links. There are quite a lot of them, but one of the largest is Lucasfilm.
According to insiders, Disney management showed Kennedy statistics on all areas of activity before and after the purchase of the studio. Everything related to “Star wars“, showed the result with a minus sign. Therefore, her contract will not be extended after 2023.
Star Wars Commercial Crash
Disney acquired assets George Lucas for astronomical 4.05 billion dollars. This is insanely big money for a company that was in a state of hibernation. At that moment in the production there were only animated series “The Clone Wars“and Star Wars: Detours, the series was also canceled Star Wars: Underworld. The main income came from activities Industrial light & magic, which carried out orders from other film companies, and the sale of licensed products. Overpriced due to the fact that Lucas did not want his offspring recognized less valuable than Marvel studios. But the latter had a streamlined production chain and a long-term strategy, which the director could not boast of.
In such circumstances, Disney sought to start earning as quickly as possible. In fact, Iger manually controlled the production of the film “The awakening of power“which raised more than two billion dollars. Merchandise sales, however, were below forecasts, but this could be explained by repeating the story from”Phantom menace“when licenses for thematic products were sold to everyone.
But then the problems began. Kathleen Kennedy was appointed head of Lucasfilm at the initiative of Lucas himself, but she betrayed him, having crossed over under the wing to Iger. This Kennedy earned the trust of Disney, which untied her hands. But the top manager was more interested not in profit, but in the promotion of political convictions through movies. This was realized through the destruction of the foundations of the Star Wars franchise. This idea runs red thread through the entire new Disney trilogy.
“Rubicon” turned out to be a film Ryan Johnson “The last Jedi“, which became a savory spit in the audience. Although it was praised by Western” progressive journalists “, it split the audience. And this affected the fees. If the seventh episode gathered more than two billion dollars, the fees of the eighth episode after a solid debut sank sharply.
In the end, Johnson’s picture raised $ 700 million less than the seventh episode. In addition, collapsed sales of theme toys and other goods. Then followed the complete collapse of the film “Solo“and the ninth episode gathered a little more than a billion, managing to yield in fees”The joker” Todd Phillips.
The franchise has lost the Chinese market. The fact is that the Chinese negatively perceive the values of American SJW activists, who are contemptuously called “bayzo” (white left) in the country. In addition, in the region, in principle, there is no hype about Star Wars (films Marvel they know and love a lot more people), and the studio could not adapt to local specifics.
Kennedy also failed to create an amusement theme park. Galaxy’s Edge. They spent more than a billion dollars on the project, but a critical mistake was made at the planning stage. The original concept was very “tasty”, but the head of Lucasfilm chopped it. In her opinion, the original trilogy of George Lucas films was supposedly interesting only to people aged 50 years and older, and she wanted to focus not on “old-timers”, but on youth. As a result, a miracle of judo was born that was in no way connected with the work of Lucas: the old characters were absent in principle, and the park itself was stylized as a planet invented from scratch with incomprehensible new characters.
As a result, Disney’s predictions for brand paybacks did not materialize. Moreover, there was an outflow of solvent audience. Yes, “reputable” social activists and journalists extol the decisions of the Kennedy team, but they don’t buy toys and don’t go to the cinema.
Monkeys are dancing
The atmosphere at Lucasfilm is also far from ideal. Kennedy was able to break the mechanism, with the help of ill-conceived staffing decisions. This has already become a bad joke, but yes: women were given priority, and men had to work hard to save jobs.
A great example is the head of animation projects. Dave Filoni recently caught in a barrage of criticism from bloggers for speaking in National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) dated to the year 2016. In his speech, the producer allowed himself to make a series of caustic remarks criticizing the fans.
We initially pointed out that the speech took place at a time when the authority of Kennedy was not in doubt. I agree with this Hollywood producer Kamran Pasha, as well as one of Doomcock’s insiders. The source explained that going against the head of Lucasfilm at that moment was insane, and for the slightest disobedience, the person was threatened with dismissal.
“She ordered the monkeys to dance. And they danced,” said the insider.
Bright and uncertain future
So what will happen next? According to preliminary data, a press release will be published in the near future announcing Kathleen Kennedy’s decision not to renew the contract, but to open her own company, and Disney will wish her luck.
But even after her departure, the problem remains: Lucasfilm is split into two factions: loyalists and resistance. The former support Kennedy’s policies, the latter stand behind George Lucas’s wall. It is because of this that such a huge number of insider leaks appears on the Web. And Disney will have to do something.
The preliminary plan, apparently, is this: the new head of the studio will be the show runner of the Mandalorets series John Favreauand Filoni will control the production of TV shows. However, another source also reports on an alternative option: Disney allegedly intends to introduce a kind of “neutral faction” into the studio’s management, which will allow to settle internal conflicts.
In favor of the preparation of the transfer of power is also the fact that recently the announcement of the transfer of the annual exhibition has been announced. Star wars celebration already in 2023. The official reason is the difficult sanitary and epidemiological situation in the United States, although this looks strange, because by that time the disease could decline. But you also need to understand that the event will be held after Kennedy’s departure.
However, all this is pointless if you fail to regain the confidence of the fans. And there are also advances in this direction.
How Star Wars Will Restart
We previously reported that Lucasfilm Studio is allegedly developing a secret reboot plan for the entire franchise. Over the past time, more details and confirmations from other insiders have appeared, but it must be emphasized again that the information should be taken with a share of skepticism.
The foundation has remained unchanged. In the fourth season of the animated series “Rebels“, for which Filoni was responsible, the so-called Interworld – a place that exists outside of time and space. Force-sensitive creatures could gain access to it.
Once in the World (“Well of power“), the main character of the animated series Ezra Bridger through the portal to the past saved from death in the past Ahsoku Tano, which in the second season on Malacor was left face to face with Darth Vader. It was emphasized that with a change in the course of events, you can screw up so that a new timeline will be formed.
The emperor also strove to penetrate the world Shiv Palpatinehowever, Ezra and Ahsok prevented this. And from that moment on, the scriptwriters will be repelled. It’s not yet possible to say in which format the canon will be rewritten (animated series, series, film, book, comic book?), However, the plan sounds very funny and ingenious, because scenario nonsense is taken J.J. Abrams from the movie “Skywalker. Sunrise“
In the ninth episode, Ray Palpatine visits the wreckage of the second Death Star and finds his grandfather’s throne room. Noticing the movement, she enters a certain room and encounters a vision “Dark ray“This is the turning point from which the scriptwriters will build on.
This secret room is now called “Room Mirrors “, and it is connected with the World. When in “The Return of the Jedi“Darth Vader throws the emperor into the mine, he uses his forces to move to the” Well of Strength “, creating an alternative time line in which the events of the new trilogy take place.” Secret plan “is to prevent Palpatine from leaving the World, in as a result, the Disney trilogy will be excluded from the canon and included in the universe Legends (combines the works created on the basis of the canon of George Lucas). Thus, the Star Wars Multiverse will be formed.
The idea does not look ideal, because there is a serious risk that ordinary viewers will become completely confused. But blog sources Midnight’s edge indicate that Disney is not rebuilding for the sake of fans, but to satisfy shareholders. And here you need to remember again about the meeting, which was devoted to the financial evaluation of the brand.
Obviously, for the remainder of the year, Kennedy will do his utmost to fight the “secret plan”, because he must annul its “legacy”. Activists and the media are on her side, so it all depends on the actions of Disney’s senior management and the effectiveness of the “opposition.”
Another hit on the team head Lucasfilm may be inflicted by Galaxy’s Edge. Disney is seriously considering the possibility of restarting and rebranding the park, which will make it more attractive and understandable for fans (apparently, we are talking about the appearance of famous characters and locations).
The development of events is gaining a very interesting turn. It is not yet clear whether this is good or not, but the situation will become clear in the near future. It remains for us to stock up on popcorn.
Read also: The squabble behind Lucasfilm: Lucas and Favreau hate Johnson’s film, Star Wars is preparing to restart?
“Mandalorets” pumped: Pandemic could not disrupt the premiere of the second season, but the series was strengthened by a new director
Multiverse of Opportunities: Three Batman, One Flashpoint and Warner Bros. Plans
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