It’s been a few years since Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker failed to meet expectations at the box office, earning only half the grosses of 2015’s The Force Awakens with an admirable but relatively lacking $1 billion worldwide, but Lucasfilm still seems to be stuck on how to reintroduce what was once a sure-fire franchise to theatrical audiences. According to Variety’s sources, Lucasfilm has canceled the development of two high-profile Star Wars film projects, including the one involving Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige that would have presumably demonstrated what a Star Wars film would look like if done in the style of a superhero blockbuster. The other is Patty Jenkin’s Rogue Squadron movie, which sources say is no longer in active development at the studio. Jenkins, who’s best known for directing Wonder Woman, admitted in December that she wasn’t sure if the starfighter film would ultimately happen or not.
From a Variety report:
In December 2020, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy announced that “Wonder Woman” helmer Patty Jenkins would direct the next “Star Wars” movie, the one-off adventure “Rogue Squadron.” But in September 2022, Disney pulled the title from its scheduled December 2023 release, and sources with knowledge of the production say it is no longer in active development at the studio. (A rep for Lucasfilm did not respond to a request for comment. In December, Jenkins said in a statement that she was still developing “Rogue Squadron,” but “I don’t know if it will happen or not.”)
Meanwhile, Variety has learned that a possible “Star Wars” feature produced by Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige is also no longer in active development at Lucasfilm.
When news of Feige’s involvement with a “Star Wars” film broke in September 2019, it churned up fan speculation, since widely debunked, that he was in line to replace Kennedy as the leader of Lucasfilm. The movie remained alive as recently as May 2022, when screenwriter Michael Waldron (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”) told Variety that he’d started working on a “Star Wars” screenplay for Feige. “I’m enjoying having the freedom on that to do something that’s not necessarily a sequel or anything,” Waldron said.
Five months later, Feige hired Waldron to write the script for 2026’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” the “Endgame”-style culmination of Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga. Between that project and the 19 other titles (and counting) that Marvel’s announced for theaters and streaming in the next four years, Feige’s responsibilities to the MCU are keeping him far, far away from “Star Wars” for much of the decade.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) December 14, 2022