Star Wars rumor control

[red5angel]

Ok a few weeks ago a friend showed me a link to a jobs listing post on lucasfilms website implying a star wars TV show.
Yesterday my wife swears up and down that she saw a blurb on the news about a new star wars show. Anyone else heard anything about this?

[red5angel]

http://www.stupidscifi.com/mambo/n21...s_TV_SHOW.html


http://www.themovieblog.com/archives...ries_a_go.html

[red5angel]

http://www.hollywoodnorthreport.com/...hp?Article=535

most important on this link is to the right the picture of the womens' chest - Work Safe - and the line under it.

[MasterKiller]

They officially announced it last week. It won't start production for like a year, though. They don't even have a network deal lined up.

[Shaolinlueb]

man, how do i get a part? lol

[red5angel]

I'm crossing my fingers it will be on a non-cable channel.

[Chief Fox]

This sounds great, only I hope it's not about Boba Fett. I mean I like Boba Fett and all but can one character carry the whole show? It would be nice to do a "knights of the old republic" series and just make it about Jedi adventures.

[MasterKiller]

It's mainly going to be about the Jedi purge, when Vader hunts down and kills the remaning Jedi alive after the Clone Wars.

[red5angel]

It sounds like Boba Fett will feature prmoinantly but not be the main star.

My only fear is that it turns into something like the OC or Smallvile in space. I don't want to see a bunch of teenagers in space.

[Shaolinlueb]

It sounds like Boba Fett will feature prmoinantly but not be the main star.

My only fear is that it turns into something like the OC or Smallvile in space. I don't want to see a bunch of teenagers in space.

:werd: i dont need to see that crap. if it was more like the new battlestar galactica that would be nice. mature story line and such.

the purging huh?
i am with chief fox, i would like to see a series about the old republic when there were a lot of sith lords and such. i think that would be cool. or have it take place after luke and such died. stories about restoring the jedi order and fighting the new dark jedi and such.

[PHILBERT]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php...05-04-27&res=l

Read that and laugh.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php...05-04-27&res=l

[GeneChing]

It's not Boba Fett.

Lucasfilm canceling its Boba Fett film could be good news for Star Wars’ future
To stay relevant, the franchise needs to move forward, not keep filling in old backstories
By Andrew Liptak@AndrewLiptak Oct 26, 2018, 4:10pm EDT



Lucasfilm’s standalone Boba Fett movie has apparently been Sarlacced. Rumors of the film’s development broke right as Solo: A Star Wars Story was hitting theaters, but last night, a reporter for Sirius XM radio said Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy told him the film was “100% dead,” and that they’re “100% focusing on The Mandalorian,” a new show destined for Disney’s streaming service. The film’s halt can be seen as the end of the studio’s standalone film experiment, but can a film that was never officially announced actually be considered dead?

When word of the film first spread, a new standalone Star Wars film looked like a no-brainer. Solo was projected for a big box office haul prior to its premiere, and the film seemed primed as the start to a sub-franchise, akin to one of the many parts of Disney’s larger Marvel Cinematic Universe umbrella, which treats its individual characters as separate properties. Solo certainly set up potential sequels, and a Boba Fett film could potentially follow the same mold, with a standalone flick that could play out multiple installments following the fan-favorite character. The prior three Star Wars films pretty much printed money for Disney, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming in first at the box office in 2015, Rogue One taking the number two slot in 2016, and 2017 putting Star Wars: The Last Jedi back on top.

LUCASFILM SPENT THE SUMMER RETHINKING HOW IT WOULD MOVE FORWARD WITH THE FRANCHISE
Solo’s box office earnings came in well under those initial projections; it hasn’t even hit the top 10 worldwide earners list for 2018, outdone by the likes of Venom and The Meg. The result was a dramatic turnaround for Disney’s Star Wars plans. In 2017, Disney CEO Bob Iger indicated that the company was planning another 15 years of Star Wars films. Following Solo’s performance, Lucasfilm began to pull back on those plans, with Iger saying that fans should expect a “slowdown” in the franchise.

This summer, it seemed that Lucasfilm hadn’t halted work on its wide slate of projects in development, but the company was reconsidering or retooling them. The Boba Fett film, which reportedly would have been helmed by Logan director James Mangold, seems to be one of those projects that’s being rethought. As Weber reports, Lucasfilm’s focus is on its new streaming TV show, The Mandalorian, and it seems logical that some parts of the film could end up there.

THE SHIFT IS EMBLEMATIC OF LUCASFILM’S INABILITY TO FORMULATE A LONG-TERM STRATEGY FOR ‘STAR WARS’
This shift is emblematic of Lucasfilm’s larger problem in determining the future of the Star Wars franchise. Marvel has enjoyed incredible success with its cinematic universe by projecting toward an end goal while setting up its sub-franchises to align toward the massive culminating act of Avengers: Infinity War and its final, final act Avengers: The Untitled Sequel.

Lucasfilm has that larger arc, begun with The Force Awakens, continued in The Last Jedi, and set to conclude in 2019 with Episode IX: The Real identities of Snoke and Rey. But while Star Wars is a massive sandbox were innumerable stories can be told (the real value for Disney), Lucasfilm hasn’t really learned the secret to Marvel’s success: a long-term plan that builds a story and assembles characters from a variety of parts. Rogue One and Solo, are each good stories, but they don’t meaningfully add to the backbone Skywalker saga. Rogue One propped up a throwaway reference from the opening seconds of A New Hope while Solo played out a line uttered by Han Solo in the same film (which my colleague Chaim Gartenberg called back in 2016). But we already knew the end of both stories: the Death Star plans were not in the main computer, and Han Solo ended up joining the rebellion after all.

We also know what happens with the other characters in the other rumored projects: Boba Fett gets eaten by a Sarlacc in Return of the Jedi, and Obi-Wan Kenobi bites it after helping a terrorism suspect escape from a secure facility in A New Hope. These backstory movies flesh out the larger world of Star Wars, but they’re not advancing the larger story or advancing toward the kind of ending that builds anticipation and story loyalty.

FUTURE ‘STAR WARS’ PROPERTIES NEED TO LOOK FORWARD AND BUILD ON THE LARGER STORY, NOT BACKWARD
This isn’t to say that prequel stories can’t be useful or interesting. Lucasfilm’s animated TV shows have done solid work in looking at older time periods in the franchise and telling intriguing, engaging, successful stories. While The Clone Wars got off to a rocky start in 2008, it quickly became a fan favorite that forged its own identity alongside the bigger films. Rebels did the same thing. In the meantime, the latest animated show, Resistance, feels as though it’s playing the role of an Iron Man or Guardians of the Galaxy-type project. It’s another sub-franchise, but it’s helping lead up to the final installment of the Star Wars saga, and everyone will likely be watching The Mandalorian to see if it plays a similar role.

It’s also telling that the projects that have been announced look as though they’ll be more consequential than those standalone films. The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson is developing a trilogy of films that will focus on “new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored,” while Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will write a series of their own. Granted, those announcements came out prior to Solo’s box office performance, but Disney prioritizing its focus on properties that stretch out for multiple installments and further expand the world feels like a stronger footing than a string of standalone films that look at its past.

[GeneChing]

Hasbro Thinks "Peppa Pig" Is Worth as Much as "Star Wars"
And it might be right.
Rich Duprey
(TMFCop)
Aug 29, 2019 at 2:23PM

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) is bringing home the bacon, announcing it is acquiring Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One (OTC:ENTMF) for $4 billion in cash. It may seem as if the toy company is using Monopoly money, because that's the same price Disney (NYSE: DIS) paid for Stars Wars' Lucasfilm Studios.

While the porcine stars of the animated series are indeed a global phenomena, are they actually worth as much as arguably the most lucrative franchise in history? Lucasfilm was purchased almost seven years ago, and the inflation-adjusted domestic box office receipts of all the Star Wars movies is $7.5 billion. That figure doesn't include foreign box office receipts, DVD sales and rentals, the animated TV series, books, and perhaps the biggest revenue generator -- toys and other merchandise.

Data compiled by Statista shows nearly a quarter of all U.S. consumers own at least some Star Wars memorabilia and more than a fifth own Stars Wars action figures. Peppa Pig might be ascendant on the global popularity stage, but does it approach the depth and breadth of the Star Wars empire?

Maybe not just yet, but Hasbro also hasn't trained the Death Star on its finances by making the purchase. Peppa Pig is turning into a cash cow of its own, and the price paid could turn out to be a bargain.


IMAGE SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT ONE.

Not a pig in a poke

Peppa Pig may be Entertainment One's (eOne's) biggest property, but the company is also home to some other popular family brands, like PJ Masks, a series about three kids who become superheroes at night. Along with Peppa Pig, PJ Masks helped generate some $2.5 billion in revenue for the U.K.based eOne last year. It also has an embarrassment of other riches in its repertory.

eOne is a growing entertainment powerhouse with fingers in television, movies, music, and even technology. Among its properties is Ricky Zoom, a CGI-animated series about a red motorcycle; it was recently picked up by Nickelodeon. It's produced dozens of movies including Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and the just-released Official Secrets with Keira Knightley, while distributing hits such as the The Hunger Games.

It has also produced dozens of TV shows including Hell on Wheels and The Rookie, while it owns the international distribution rights to monster TV hits like The Walking Dead and more. Among its musical artists are innumerable acts that it has helped produce, including Snoop Dogg, Wu Tang Clan, and Purity Ring.

There's even a technology hub called Secret Location that has developed VUSR, a visual reality platform that lets creators distribute and monetize 360-degree video to any head-mounted display.

A profitable play out of the gate

eOne is not a one-trick pony, and Hasbro's purchase could pay big dividends for years to come. It gives the toy maker access to a number of popular, growing brands that it will be able to work its own magic on in terms of merchandising and expanding into new markets, as well as a massive content library of 80,000 hours of movies and TV shows and about 40,000 music tracks, last valued at $2 billion.

It also gives Hasbro's own properties entrance into verticals it didn't necessarily have available beforehand, at least not on its own. Now Hasbro can be a completely self-contained multimedia behemoth.

The company expects to achieve "synergies" worth $130 million by 2022, but also anticipates the deal to be immediately accretive to earnings and begin growing in year two as it dramatically expands the toy maker's reach in the infant and pre-school category and expands its TV and film capabilities.

Peppa Pig might not be on the same scale as Star Wars, but it's only been around for 15 years and is still growing. The character has been viewed tens of billions of times across various platforms in China since launching there in 2015, and there are plans for a Peppa Pig theme park in Shanghai (take that, Galaxy's Edge).

Although it may seem shocking that Hasbro valued this property as much as Disney thought Star Wars was worth -- and Marvel Entertainment, too, for that matter -- the breadth of possibilities the acquisition unlocks makes it worth every penny.

Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Hasbro and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool is short shares of Hasbro and has the following options: long January 2021 $60 calls on Walt Disney and short October 2019 $125 calls on Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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[GeneChing]

New 'Star Wars' Movie in the Works With 'Sleight' Filmmaker (Exclusive)
FEBRUARY 21, 2020 2:40PM by Borys Kit


Inset: J.D. Dillard | Lucasfilm/Photofest; Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Director J.D. Dillard and 'Luke Cage' writer Matt Owens have been tapped to develop a project, but it is unclear whether it is a theatrical or Disney+ release.
As Lucasfilm maps out the next phase of Star Wars movies, executives are grappling with this question as development moves ahead: Which characters and stories justify theatrical releases and which should arrive exclusively on the streaming platform Disney+?

The Hollywood Reporter learned Friday that a new Star Wars project is in the works: J.D. Dillard, best known for writing and directing the sci-fi thriller Sleight, and Matt Owens, a writer on the Marvel shows Luke Cage and Agents of SHIELD, have been tapped to develop it. But insiders say it is undecided whether the project will be for the big screen or for Disney's highly prioritized streaming platform.

Plot, character and setting details are unknown and are being kept in the murky underworld of Exegol. It also is unclear whether Dillard would direct, should the project move forward. The Dillard project is understood to be unrelated to a Star Wars film pitch by Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige and potential work from Last Jedi director Rian Johnson.

Disney and Lucasfilm appear to be shifting gears on the franchise to help boost Disney+, with Disney chairman Bob Iger saying earlier this month that Star Wars’ foreseeable future was in television, with theatrical movies going on a hiatus. The next theatrical film remains on the release calendar for Dec. 16, 2022, with other entries planned in December 2024 and December 2026.

While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has grossed $1.07 billion globally since its December launch and will likely end its run as the sixth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 2019, the trend line for Star Wars films at the box office has declined during the Disney era since 2015's Force Awakens' $2.07 billion haul. The 2018 spinoff film Solo, in particular, grossed $392.9 million and led Iger to concede last September in a New York Times profile that "we might've put a little bit too much in the marketplace too fast."

Meanwhile, since its Nov. 12 launch, The Mandalorian, the series created by Jon Favreau, has been credited with helping to drive Disney+ to 28.6 million subscribers. (A second season of The Mandalorian is set to arrive in October.) On a Feb. 4 call with investors, Iger described the show as "a bona fide hit and a cultural phenomenon" and said the studio has "a few Star Wars series in varying stages of production and development."

Iger added that "the priority for Star Wars in the short term is going to be, I'll call it television for Disney+, and then we will have more to say about development of theatrical soon after that."

Disney+ Star Wars spinoffs are now being targeted even as several other shows are in the works, including one centering on Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and another on Rogue One character Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna). And, on Friday, the first episode of the seventh season of the revived animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars landed on the streaming platform.

Owens is currently co-writing One Piece, an ambitious live-action adaptation of the manga, for Netflix. He is repped by CAA and Circle of Confusion.

Dillard made waves with 2016's Sleight, a genre thriller that was well-received when it debuted at Sundance and subsequently picked up by Focus. His last movie was Sweetheart, a horror thriller that starred Kiersey Clemons, and he recently helmed an episode of Utopia, the Gillian Flynn-created series set up at Amazon. Dillard already has some Star Wars experience, as he worked in a production capacity on 2015's The Force Awakens and played a stormtrooper in Rise of Skywalker. Dillard is repped by CAA, Circle of Confusion and law firm Ginsburg Daniels.



The Hollywood Reporter
BORYS KIT
@borys_kit

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