Patty Jenkins’Star Wars: Rogue Squadronseems to be grounded for good following Disney’s recent schedule update.Star Warshas had an up-and-down tenure ever since Disney got ahold of it, producing a shotgun blast of movies after the acquisition that almost always had a tumultuous time moving from page to screen.
Lucasfilm won fans back to theStar Warsfranchise in a big way after the disappointment they felt over the prequels with 2015’sThe Force Awakens. After that, there was a newStar Warsmovie each year until 2019’sless-than-popularThe Rise of the Skywalker, and nothing since.
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Now it looks like anotherStar Warsmovie has hit a bad bump with Jenkins’Star Wars: Rogue Squadronhaving its wings clipped before the dogfighting epic could launch in the first place. The movie was set for a December 22nd, 2023, release date. Jenkins was announced as being attached to the epic dogfighting movie set in theStar Warsuniverse as far back as 2020, with no forward momentum on that film—or any film in the franchise—since the 2019 release ofThe Rise of the Skywalker, which saw a boatload of cash pour in but was panned by critics and fans alike as a dismal end to a rocky sequel trilogy. It even left certain fans clamoring for George Lucas—a man they hated for the prequels—to return to try to right the ship. Since then, Jenkins hasbusied herself withWonder Woman3, a take on Cleopatra, and now Disney has announced that herStar Warsproject is no longer listed on its slate of upcoming releases.
Lucasfilm having troubles with its film side of theStar Warsuniverse is one thing, but something likeStar Wars: Rogue Squadronpresents its own issues. The biggest, of late, would be the competition. It would, by necessity, be a film filled with model work, miniatures, and lots and lots of CGI all in an effort to try to pull off what thebox office hitTop: Gun Maverickpulled off using real jets, real stunt pilots, and Hollywood’s brightest leading actors of today. This puts the movie on the backfoot before it can even begin, forcing audiences to grant it leeway for being a movie where by necessity everything will be some sort of special effects trickery—forcing it to compete, brand recognition aside, with actual people executing real (and highly dangerous stunts) in the real world.
The post-Return of the Jedistory ofThe Mandalorianhas grown and been met with great adulation, and now the interregnum period set between the prequels andA New Hopehas grown as well with the recentObi-Wan Kenobiseries and theupcomingAndorseries starring Diego Luna. That said, the film side ofStar Warsproduction has been on hold for three years now.
Currently, the only ongoing successes theStar Warsfranchise has had is in the Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni-led televised side of things and the theme park, Galaxy’s Edge, which opened up at Disneyland not too many forest moons ago. With no new movies in three years, it looks likeStar Wars: Rogue Squadronhas joined the film side in its failure to launch.
