Seven years after the release of "The Rise of Skywalker," Disney and Lucasfilm hoped that they could relaunch the all-important franchise with "The Mandalorian and Grogu." And in doing so, once again revealed that they understand very little about the audience they're trying to serve.When "The Force Awakens" hit theaters under the leadership of then-Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, it was a tremendous financial success.While hardly reinventing the wheel creatively, it at least provided a solid foundation for the franchise to build from.
But the ensuing releases in the "main" trilogy within the Star Wars universe saw progressively diminishing returns as it became clear the studio had no cohesive plan or sense of what audiences love, or loved, about the series.Pedro Pascal attends the premiere of Disney's "Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, on May 14, 2026.(Brianna Bryson/GA/The Hollywood Reporter)Classic heroes like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo were undermined at every opportunity.
"The Last Jedi" incorporated a bizarre class and political storyline that had little relevance to the plot within that individual movie, and was swiftly discarded as a plot within the trilogy afterward.The "plan," such as it was, was to make audiences care about the leads simply because they existed.
It didn't work.DISNEY'S FIRST 'STAR WARS' MOVIE IN SEVEN YEARS IS TRACKING TO BE YET ANOTHER MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENTFast forward to 2026, and Disney's apparent hope for the Star Wars series was that their streaming service would provide a building block for theatrical releases."The Mandalorian" was popular in its first season as a novel, "western" style episodic adventure.
That momentum quickly fizzled, but with few other options, they rushed a cobbled-together story into theaters anyway.Not only has it failed, the latest box office returns show how far Disney and Lucasfilm have to go to regain audiences' trust.The opening weekend of "The Ma...