Star Wars movies in dramatic shake-up

The Star Wars movies slate has been plagued by many problems. Photo / Supplied

The Star Wars universe is looking emptier today after it emerged two projects in development have been dropped.

Movies being developed by Marvel supremo Kevin Feige and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins are no longer going ahead, according to Variety. The shake-up leaves the upcoming Star Wars cinema slate pretty anaemic.

Jenkins was to direct a Star Wars movie called Rogue Squadron and had said as recently as December that while it was still in development, she didn’t know if it will happen or not.

Separately, Feige was in charge of another Star Wars movie project. Last year, Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness screenwriter Michael Waldron said he was working on a Star Wars movie for Feige. Waldron had flagged at the time that the now aborted project wasn’t a sequel or tied to another existing title.

Variety reported Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie is still forging ahead and the Kiwi filmmaker is also expected to have a prominent onscreen role in his title. The publication added that documentarian and Ms Marvel director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has a commitment from the studio for another movie.

The axing of Jenkins and Feige’s projects highlights the overall problems on the Star Wars film side.

While the streaming shows have been surging ahead with recent premieres Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor and the third season of The Mandalorian, Star Wars’ cinema slate seems to be in stasis.

Rogue Squadron had been pencilled for a December 2023 release but now no Star Wars movie is expected on the schedule until late 2025, six years after the most recent movie, The Rise of Skywalker.

Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

In contrast, Marvel Studios, which Feige oversees, has released nine movies since The Rise of Skywalker and has plans for seven more before December 2025.

The Star Wars movies side of the business has been plagued by many problems even before the current state.

Lucasfilm has announced several projects with high-profile filmmakers that would go nowhere. One of the scuttled attempts was a trilogy to be helmed by Game of Thrones writers David Benioff and DB Weiss.

Benioff and Weiss had inked a deal with Lucasfilm in 2018, a year before their roundly criticised final season of Game of Thrones. They abandoned the deal 18 months later, partly off the back of a lucrative deal the pair signed with Netflix.

There was also the trilogy announced in 2017 with Rian Johnson. Johnson directed The Last Jedi, which was commercially and critically successful, but was controversial in some vociferous parts of the fandom.

Johnson said last year he and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy were still in talks. For now, Johnson’s priority is on the Knives Out films with Daniel Craig.

He signed a US$450 million deal with Netflix for two sequels, the first of which, Glass Onion, was released in December.

Johnson told Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast that it was a matter of scheduling. He also added that he was proud of The Last Jedi. “When I was up at bat, I really swung at the ball,” he said.

There were also teething pains on Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Rise of Skywalker. The Lego Movie’s Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had started production on Solo before they were replaced with Ron Howard while Colin Trevorrow was sacked from The Rise of Skywalker.