New Disney CEO should not fire Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy
The entertainment world was shocked when it was revealed that Bob Iger, after a 15-year stint as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, would be stepping down from his position and appointed Bob Chapek, who had previously been the Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, as his successor.
Iger had a long list of achievements throughout his career with Disney, most notably the acquisition of Lucasfilm Limited for a sum of over $4 billion in 2012. Even though it was now a product of Disney, George Lucas was able to appoint longtime partner and friend Kathleen Kennedy as the new head of Lucasfilm. At the time of the purchase, Iger had announced that starting in 2015, three new Star Wars films would be made, and Kennedy would be tasked with producing them. In December 2015, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was released to both critical and fan acclaim. Finally, after the prequel trilogy, which many considered a disappointment, fans felt that Star Wars was restored to its former glory. When the next film in the sequel trilogy, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” was released, things started to take a turn. The film garnered great review from critics, but divided the fanbase. Things didn’t get any better this past December when “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” hit theaters, disappointing both audiences and critics alike. Because of these failures, some have called for Kennedy to be removed from her position. Should Chapek remove her? Absolutely not.
Even though what has become of Lucasfilm and Star Wars is certainly not something that everyone approves of, Kennedy has done nothing wrong. With “The Last Jedi,” Kennedy allowed a filmmaker relatively unfamiliar with big budget movies to come in and have complete creative control over the film. Whether the results were successful or not, one must respect that Kennedy allowed a writer and director to bring his complete vision to life on screen, which is rare when working for such a large company. With “The Rise of Skywalker,” nobody really knows what happened behind the scenes.
Even if the speculation is true and there were certain demands and changes made by the higher ups, the more problematic elements in the film were still likely to be caused by poor writing rather than by the producer. It’s possible changes made by Kennedy even improved the final product. So, should she be fired? No. Although the way she has handled the “Star Wars” series has been far from perfect, she has only ever tried to keep fans happy and deliver quality films.
There’s no reason she should be kicked out for that. But should she retire? Yes. Much in the way that George Lucas and the original Star Wars film helped breathe new life into Hollywood, it’s time for new blood to be brought into Lucasfilm. With “The Mandalorian” becoming the massive success it has been, in part thanks to Baby Yoda, it’s been shown that the true future of the franchise lies in creative new stories being told, not needless continuations of old ones. Even though she probably won’t be fired and retirement isn’t something that happens too often in the film industry, it’s still likely that it won’t be long before Kennedy takes a bow and a new head of Lucasfilm is named.
Image from Geeks + Gamers via YouTube
8 COMMENTS
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Kathleen Kennedy should be removed. She has very little knowledge of Star Wars lore. She doesn’t understand Star Wars and the sequel trilogy proved that. The Force Awakens was a remake of a episode 4. And the other two movies were bad. And that last scene where rey called herself a skywalker was so bad.
The author is completely ignorant. This is an overpaid executive that has shown complete incompetence time and time again. Arrogance as well. She picks directors to do films only to fire them later on. She mandates reshoots over and over again. She doesn’t listen to her audience wants over the direction that is wanted in the franchise. She has taken the most valuable franchise in cinema history and destroyed it in less than 5 yrs. No one is buying any merchandise. She’s at the top in her ” force is female” shirt. How is it she isn’t sent packing by now.
I disagree with the sentiment that she’s done “nothing wrong” but I’ll try and check my personal opinions in at the door; even if she’s done nothing wrong, she hasn’t particularly done anything right either. And with a franchise as bankable as Star Wars, you can’t afford to keep people in a job when there are others much better suited to the role.
Kathleen Kennedy miscast Han Solo.
Alden Ehrenreich does not even resemble Han Solo and is too short.
She needs to be fired.
Finn is also a lousy character. Most of the characters in the new sequel are sub par.
Who ever wrote this is paid by disney
“she has only ever tried to keep fans happy and deliver quality films.” if one tries and fails at doing their job then they should be fired. “It’s possible changes made by Kennedy even improved the final product.” And it’s possible that she made it worse. “one must respect that Kennedy allowed a writer and director to bring his complete vision to life on screen.” Not when it’s a complete ************, and there’s an example of what she did wrong. You basically say she is responsible for nothing, yet, the buck ends with her.
This is a poorly researched and written article, even for an opinion piece. At this point, it’s still TBD whether the $4B acquisition of LucasFilms is an accomplishment or a detriment. Based upon the fruits of Ms Kennedy’s work, it appears to be the former. Whether you personally like the recent movies, the Force Awakens was good for business. It was essentially a remake of a New Hope, but the fan service reinvigorated interest. Rogue One has become a favorite for many. Then TLJ happened and it’s fallout is all on KK. Ruin Johnson has even admitted he had no regard for canon and lore and the rest of the universe or its franchise. Their interests were more about contemporary political pandering and subversion. Some people like that sort of thing, and that’s ok, but most don’t and it shows. Ultimately it came at the cost of the franchise. That’s bad for business. The Solo movie tanked amid the backlash. TRoS was a dumpster fire as Ruin had stunted all of the plot lines and destroyed beloved characters. Never mind the behind the scenes carousel of creatives that KK has spurned throughout the Disney Star Wars era. The fans are more than split. It was an assault on the most fervent fans. The ones that buy expensive merchandise and dress up to go to the theme parks and theatres, and that go to second, third and fourth theatre viewings. That’s bad for business. And how they handled it, publicly ridiculing those fans, dismissing them and calling them racists or bigots and trying to tie it all to politics and even Russia. She should have been fired for that alone. She’s an embarrassment, and she’s demonstrably bad for business. Even if you like the stuff, it’s undeniable she’s bad for business, and that’s what she’s there for. That’s it.
Lol the prequels were a disappointment? I was 15 when I watched clone wars and loved it, all 3 prequels I loved because I believed it, none of Disney’s movies were a success, force awakens did damage but not enough to deter fans, the TLJ came out, which completely destroyed the character of Luke, that my friend is when starwars fans turned, don’t believe me? How well did Solo and TROS do in the Box office? Kennedy will be removed it’s only a matter of when, good try on twisting the actual truth