Two Blockbuster Disney Franchises in Serious Trouble
posted Friday Oct 26, 2018 by Scott Ertz
Over the last few years, two Disney-owned franchises have absolutely ruled the big screen: Marvel and Star Wars. New films are always just around the corner, and almost all of them have received nothing but positive box office results. However, 2018 has been hard on both of these brands, and this week saw Disney responding to the issues.
For Star Wars, the second anthology film, Solo: A Star Wars Story received less than stellar reviews and equally disappointing box office sales. While a number of issues have been cited as to why this might be the case, the most common theory is the overpopulation of new content in the family. Between a new section in Disney theme parks, a variety of films, and several new television series, Star Wars fatigue might be setting in.
As a result, Disney has officially canceled the third anthology film, the as yet untitled and previously unconfirmed Boba Fett film. The confirmation came directly from LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy by way of Sirius XM's Erick Weber. Rather than spreading the love across a variety of related projects, Lucas will instead put all of their focus into The Mandalorian, a streaming series from Iron-Man director Jon Favreau.
On the Marvel topic, Disney created problems for themselves when they fired James Gunn, the franchise director for Guardians of the Galaxy, based on what some saw as controversial tweets from several years ago. After the firing, fans and actors alike let Disney know that they disapproved of the decision. The entire cast published a public letter to Disney asking that Gunn be reinstated and refusing to work on the project under another director.
Disney has not been interested in listening to fans or staff, and have decided instead to suspend the third installment of the series. Once again, Erick Weber brings the news, this time care of Marvel boss Kevin Feige, who confirmed the status. There is no telling what the final determination will be on producing the film, but one thing is for sure: James Gunn has joined rival DC's writing team, penning the next Suicide Squad film.
