Kevin Feige says he doesn’t believe that there’s so-called Star Wars fatigue. After building the 23-film Infinity Saga, the architect behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe is ready to try his hand on a brand new franchise exclusively set in a galaxy, far far away. With his impending project with Lucasfilm for the famed space opera, the producer extraordinaire has been asked about his thoughts on the current status of the long-running film series, including whether or not he thinks that it has achieved the point of saturation.
Since its renaissance in 2015 via Star Wars: The Force Awakens following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, the franchise has gone on to release three more films - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. It’s tipped to roll out J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - the final installment in the sequel trilogy and the Skywalker saga as well. This new crop of Star Wars films has done good at the box office thus far - three of its four releases have crossed $1 billion, with Episode VII making more than $2 billion. And yet, the idea that there’s fatigue surrounding the franchise is is a favorite topic of conversation among fans and industry people.
If Feige is to be asked about this, however, the producer disproves it by citing their box office performance. “Well they’ve made about five movies in about five years and it’s made over five billion dollars, so I think they’re doing just fine with Star Wars. And Rise of Skywalker looks incredible to me,” he said when asked in the latest THR podcast (via Comicbook). The new films’ overall haul is a bit shy of $5 billion - and that’s without The Rise of Skywalker, which is expected to perform very well at the box office when it rolls out next month. That said, it doesn’t seem like the possibility of Star Wars saturation is deterring Feige from being excited about his upcoming project set in the universe saying: “I love that world and I love the notion of exploring new people and new places in that universe. But that’s sort of all that can be said for now.”
The overall box office performance of recent Star Wars movies is good, but some can’t help but feel like considering the massive clout of the lore, the films should’ve had a much higher earnings number. Of course, there’s also the financial disappointment that was Solo, but frankly, its lackluster worldwide haul may had been affected by a number of things that are totally unrelated to the prequel’s quality. In any case, there seems to be the need to address this brewing issue as it’s been officially confirmed that the Star Wars franchise is going on a hiatus after The Rise of Skywalker.
If the so-called Star Wars saturation actually becomes explicit, Feige would be the perfect creative to help navigate Lucasfilm out of the situation. Despite criticisms about the MCU films being formulaic, especially in its early days, Marvel Studios has managed to keep people interested for 11 years across almost two dozens of offerings. More recently, they’re trying to be more the creative with their approach, veering away from their tired format. Perhaps, Feige’s new project set in the galaxy far, far away - whenever it comes - can help address this alleged issue. And depending of the scope of his creative clout in the space opera, he might be able to
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Source: THR (via Comicbook)
- Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Release Date: 2019-12-20
