Disney CEO Bob Iger has clarified his comments about how the company released too many Star Wars movies too quickly following its acquisition of the franchise in 2012.
He doubled down on this in an interview with BBC Radio 1, but clarified that he wasn’t disappointed by any of the releases critically or commercially.
“I have said publicly that I think we made and released too many Star Wars films over a short period of time,” he said (via Gizmodo). “I have not said that they were disappointing in any way. I’ve not said that I’m disappointed in their performance. I just think that there’s something so special about a Star Wars film, and less is more.”
After acquiring the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas in 2012, Disney released its first new Star Wars movie in 2015 with The Force Awakens. Since then, Disney has released one new film, including mainline entries and spinoffs, ever year, and this continues in 2019 with The Rise of Skywalker in December.
In September 2018, Iger first spoke about how Disney released too many Star Wars movies too fast. He owned up to the decision–“I take the blame,” he said. Looking to the future, Iger said Star Wars fans can “expect some slowdown” as it comes to releasing Star Wars movies.
Not all of the Star Wars movies have been successes commercially. The Force Awakens made $2 billion and The Last Jedi pulled in $1.33 billion, but Han Solo-focused spinoff, Solo: A Star Wars Story, made $392 million globally. That was the lowest-ever box office for a non-animated Star Wars movie, and the film ended up losing money, according to reports. The other recent spinoff, Rogue One, made $1.056 billion.
The Rise of Skywalker wraps up the Skywalker Saga that began in 1977, and it’s unknown at this stage how the series will move forward after it. The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is making an all-new Star Wars trilogy to come at some point in the future. Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were set to produce their own trilogy of Star Wars films, but they exited the trilogy due to commitments related to their other Netflix projects.
No other Star Wars movies have been announced. The Obi-Wan TV series for Disney+ was originally set to be a movie before it was changed to be a TV show. Another upcoming Star Wars TV show is The Mandalorian, which stars Game of Thrones actor Pedro Pascal; it premieres when Disney+ launches on November 12. Yet another Star Wars TV show, a prequel to Rogue One focusing on Cassion Andor (Diego Luna), is also in development.
As for the Star Wars video game franchise, Apex Legends developer Respawn is launching Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order on November 15 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A new Lego Star Wars game, Lego: The Skywalker Saga, is also in the works.
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