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It was reported by THR that Kevin Feige now reports to Disney head Alan Horn instead of Marvel head Ike Perlmutter. What's really interesting is this tidbit from Devin Faraci's article on BMD concerning the news:

I've always heard whispers that Feige truly craves the Lucasfilm throne, and this move could help get him closer to being the guy chosen to take over Star Wars after Kathleen Kennedy steps down - which could be in a few years or in a decade or more. Nobody knows.

Assuming all of this is true, how do you feel about Feige becoming the head of Star Wars?

The problem I would have with this concept is that they would try and turn it into a comic book in which the story never ends. As good as the Marvel movies are individually, they don't really form a cohesive narrative very well. I don't want to see episode 15 in 2025.

In the case of Marvel movies their problem with cohesive storytelling is made worse by their issue with character death. From 2012 to 2014, every Marvel movie has "killed" a character only to have them return. From Coulson in The Avengers to Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, it has been generally fine within the individual films but terrible within the franchise as a whole. So much so that the automatic assumption is almost that a dead character will be brought back to life.

One massive advantage Star Wars has in this context is that the story can take place over a much larger period of time and we can explore dead characters without bringing them back to life.

IMO, the main hurdle is to get over the Skywalkers/Solos and allow the franchise to grow to encompass other (new) characters. The universe has been built, one only need a good story to build on.

Being a shameless fan of both the TIE Fighter game and more recent anime, I'd love to see a movie that portrays the events of pre-ANH to RotJ, from an Imperial perspective...

biostem wrote:IMO, the main hurdle is to get over the Skywalkers/Solos and allow the franchise to grow to encompass other (new) characters. The universe has been built, one only need a good story to build on.

Being a shameless fan of both the TIE Fighter game and more recent anime, I'd love to see a movie that portrays the events of pre-ANH to RotJ, from an Imperial perspective...

Somehow I doubt we'll see this, though Rouge One will likely not feature any main characters in any significant roles. Though I would suspect that Leia will get at least a cameo. I believe Carrie Fisher's daughter was rumored to have been cast in TFA, I wonder if it was actually for Rouge One. Or they could simply cast an entirely unrelated actress, as they will presumably do for Han Solo in the new standalone film featuring him.

If they continue to make movies beyond the current sequel trilogy, personally I would like to see them go into an era completely outside the films, like KOTOR did. Do a trilogy about the Sith in the time of Darth Bane. While that series had several issues, largely caused by earlier EU works, by having the main characters as Sith, Drew Karpyshyn's had an interesting take on Star Wars as a setting and the duality of the Force. Though I am not sure if that could really work as a SW film, even if the elements that felt too much like the EU were removed.

I don't mean to seem confrontational, but did you mean "Rogue One" instead of "Rouge One", as in "Rogue Squadron"?

biostem wrote:I don't mean to seem confrontational, but did you mean "Rogue One" instead of "Rouge One", as in "Rogue Squadron"?

Yeah, too bad I missed the edit window.

Feige seems to have handled the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies reasonably well-- letting good directors and writers have their way (for the most part, apparently the executive meddling has grown), having a fairly clear vision for the MCU's future, and so forth.

That said, I would be concerned that he starts squeezing Star Wars dry as could well happen with Marvel once their big Infinity War arc is finished. Hell, I'm slightly concerned that they're already doing that with the spin-off movies. Somehow that just doesn't feel 'right'.

What's not "right" about it?

Gandalf wrote:What's not "right" about it?

That it's a Star Wars movie outside the traditional episode arc.

Ah. I don't really see that as any different to the whole EU before it was purged, except this time it could be good.

As for Feige, I'd be happy to see him with more influence on Star Wars. The MCU shows that he can oversee a fun universe of films and keep the individual properties viable, even if Phase II was something of a mess. Hopefully with that lesson SW can be run quite well, but if they're not fun I'll just stop going.

(Warning: subjective judgment ahead)

I have minimal issue with TV shows or cartoons, nor do I particularly have an issue with extending the new version of the EU in literature and other media. But the only current parallel we have to Star Wars spin-offs in film is the Holiday Special, and we all know how *that* went. Of course it's a product of its time... but still.

To me, the Star Wars films work best standing on their own as films. The EU derives from those films. When you start making films derived from those same films, you start to dilute the universe somewhat. It works with Marvel as that's already involving many different characters with their own distinctive stories which should be told separately, not mish-mashed into ensemble films. These characters are individuals, and can stand alone in their own right-- they have stories outside of the group.

Star Wars, on the other hand, is about a fairly small group of characters adventuring together-ish against a monolithic, powerful opponent and singular dark villains. When you start trying to tell side-stories about that, the audience loses focus, which is an argument which can be made for why the EU devolved into dreck. The movie isn't about each individual in their own right-- it's about the group of individuals and what they do, how that affects each other, and long term, how it affects the galaxy by what they do. An argument can also be made that each trilogy is a depiction of an individual Heroic Journey-- Anakin Skywalker in the prequels, Luke in the original, and who knows in the sequels (though it's looking like it'll be either Rey or whatshisface, John Boyega's character). Extra films, while perhaps part of the same universe, wouldn't really change anything about that-- they would be extraneous.

As I said, it's subjective. I feel that there's not really any need for accessory films to the Star Wars trilogy-- that's a role which can be better filled by the EU in the form of literature, comics, games, and so forth. Fanfilms are one thing, but Rogue One and whatever the other films are going to be strike me as basically a naked play for franchising and cash-grabbing.