STAR WARS: The Boba Fett Movie Has Been Tossed Back Into The Sarlacc Pit

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While we as fans often decry Hollywood for beating dead horses, and for force-feeding us the same stuff over and over again on a regular basis, it looks like Lucasfilm wants you to know that you’ve been heard. While they had a ton of cinematic plans in the wake of their sale to Disney, it looks like the Star Wars studio has heard us loudly and clearly, and they’re scaling down their ambitions a tad. The first casualty of that scale-down? James Mangold’s Boba Fett movie.

There’s been a growing concern within the Star Wars fandom that Lucasfilm’s intention to release a new film set in that galaxy far, far away every single year would cheapen the legendary franchise. That fear wasn’t altogether unfounded, either.

While the series came roaring back in triumphant fashion with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which made a staggering $2 Billion worldwide at the box office, the next episodic entry in the saga (The Last Jedi) topped out at $1.3 Billion only two years later. But that drop-off isn’t so bad in the grand scheme of things. Where the drop was far more dramatic was within its sub-franchise: the Star Wars Story movies.

While the first Star Wars Story, known as Rogue One, earned $1 Billion worldwide, the next one was given a complete cold shoulder by audiences. I’m referring to Solo: A Star Wars Story, which petered out at $392 Million worldwide.

These diminishing returns, especially when it comes to their Star Wars Story sub-franchise, sent a fair warning to Lucasfilm. Thankfully, the studio received that warning and are now heeding it.

Earlier this year, in the lead-up to Solo, they announced that Logan director James Mangold was working on a Boba Fett movie– based on the iconic bounty hunter from the Original Trilogy. Beyond that, there had also been whispers of a film about Obi-Wan Kenobi. But when Solo arrived in May and promptly fell flat on its face, things went silent.

Now, according to Erick Weber of Critics Choice, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy has declared that the Boba Fett movie has been scrapped.

Kathleen Kennedy just confirmed to me Boba Fett movie is 100% dead, 100% focusing on THE MANDALORIAN #StarWars

— 𝗘𝗪𝗲𝗯 (@ErickWeber) October 26, 2018

One can only imagine that the Obi-Wan Kenobi film has met a similar fate.

And it looks like, rather than focus on more Star Wars Story movies to round out the galaxy, they’re shifting all of that energy towards Jon Favreau’s upcoming TV series The Mandalorian. That actually sounds like a really smart approach. Let the big screen be where the major stories are told, and leave the smaller stories for the small screen.

What do you think? While I’m disappointed that Mangold- who’s one of my favorite filmmakers working today- is out of the picture, this move does make a ton of sense to me.

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo / Critics Choice