Yesterday, Collider posted a report claiming that not only the Kenobi anthology film was looking to be in trouble [alluding unconfirmed director Stephen Daldry had exited] but the future of all Star Wars anthologies were in question including James Mangold’s Boba Fett movie which was only recently revealed to be in the works by THR.
However, Lucasfilm has reached out to ABC News and called Collider’s report “inaccurate”. Word has been that Disney/Lucasfilm has denied Collider’s story across the board which is why many trades aren’t even commenting on their reporting.
Reports of the death of future standalone films from that galaxy far, far away (like “Solo,” “Rogue One” and a rumored — but never-announced — Obi-Wan Kenobi project) appear to be premature, and speculative at best.
Lucasfilm sources on Thursday characterized as “inaccurate” a report that future “Star Wars” movies falling outside of the regular trilogy storyline (Episodes I to IX) have been put on hold in the wake of the box office under-performance of “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
Instead, Lucasfilm told ABC News there are still “multiple” Star Wars films currently in development that have not been officially announced. Those projects are moving forward separate from an already-announced “Star Wars” trilogy being overseen by “The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson and another series of movies from “Game of Thrones” producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Lucasfilm is not yet talking publicly about the subject of any unannounced “Star Wars” films or their expected release dates. Fans will just have to wait and see.
ABC News and Lucasfilm are both part of parent company Disney.
While Collider counters that the ABC News story is simply PR spin from the studio and stands by their reporting. ABC News is indeed owned by Disney which they point out at the end of their article, but it’s also a well-established/legitimate news outlet that shouldn’t be ignored entirely because of Disney ownership.
Entertainment Weekly‘s Anthony Breznican posted this meme on Twitter seemingly commenting on the rumor. Breznican covers a lot of the stuff going on behind the scenes with Star Wars and Lucasfilm, including the the anthologies. First revealing Josh Trank’s anthology was going to be the Boba Fett film which is referenced in the Collider report.
“So you believed the story that said Lucasfilm was canceling the Star Wars stand-alone films…” pic.twitter.com/kMdAfSk4Nn
— Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) June 22, 2018
Again, there does seem to be some speculation in that Collider report as Stephen Daldry was rumored to be out of Kenobi two weeks before Solo was even released [Solo box office then would have nothing to do with the exit] and could have more to do with scheduling conflicts with Universal’s Wicked which he is attached to direct.
It remains to be seen if Lucasfilm ever actually had Daldry signed on or got past talks to direct Kenobi, as the studio never officially announced either the project or a director for it.
SOURCE: ABC NEWS