https://puck.news/kathleen-kennedy-to-step-down-at-lucasfilm/
Kathleen Kennedy to Step Down at Lucasfilm
After a mixed 13-year run, the legendary movie producer has informed Disney, as well as friends and associates, that she will exit as Lucasfilm president by the end of the year.
By Matthew Belloni
February 24, 2025
It’s happening: After years of speculation, and polite
urging from observers like me,
Kathleen Kennedy has informed Disney, as well as friends and associates, that she will exit as Lucasfilm president by the end of the year, per three sources. Disney and Kennedy’s personal publicist declined to comment.
Not a huge shock, of course. Kennedy will be 72 in June, and the legendary movie producer will have run Lucasfilm for 13 years as
George Lucas’s handpicked steward under Disney. Kathy was actually planning to leave last year, I’m told, and had even set up an exit interview with a journalist, but she decided to stay for one more year.
Thank the Lord! She is an absolutely terrible studio boss. Her tenure has been an abject failure in almost every respect.
Financially, every Stars Wars episodic film (7-9) made less than its predecessor. That is significant in a very bad way. One of the last Star Wars films, Solo, actually lost money (a lot of money). Indy 5 ended up one of the larger financial disasters for Disney in the vein of John Carter, the Marvels and The Lone Ranger. Except, Indy is a character and franchise that is far more beloved than John Carter, the Lone Ranger and the ladies that make up the Marvels. That makes the financial disaster for Indy 5 that much larger of a stain.
Speaking of
Disney+, I've been told The Skeleton Crew was a decent show. I didn't watch it. And the thing is that the streaming numbers reflect that I'm not the only one not watching. Why? Because the prior shows have been such a disaster that the general public doesn't seem to invest into the Star Wars streaming programs moving forward. I literally stopped watching Acolyte after the third episode because of how dumb that show was. My DW finished the show in its entirety and she told me that I made the correct decision to bail. She rarely agrees with me. If folks around here love all the new Star Wars D+ programming, then God Bless you. Then there is the cost of Lucasfilm D+ productions, which is absolutely insane given how much they use the volume for production (which looks like crap -- and which is why Andor's on location shooting looks better than other productions -- and which is why Andor's budget is insanely high). Otherwise, the only other D+ non-Star Wars show was Willow. That show was so poorly received that D+ has now removed it from its programming and banished it from further viewing by anyone ever again. FYI - I loved the original movie and despised the TV show. So, I am very biased.
Artistically, Lucasfilm is a disaster. Lucasfilm has somehow announced and "fired" or moved on from the following people: Lord/Miller, Benioff/Weiss, Jenkins, Trevorrow, Trank, Connelly, Lindeloff, Taika, Feige, R. Johnson, Waldron, del Toro, Steven K. and even the great Rogue One ended up with Terry Gilroy instead of Edwards to complete the project. This suggests that Kathleen Kennedy has no strategic vision and as a studio head that is really important. You need to have talent that are understanding of the project as a whole. For instance, J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson's vision for the episodic films was more disjointed than cohesive. Actually, I think making the argument to bring J..J. Abrams back to Star Wars for Episode 9 was a mistake is ultimately correct. The decision not to re-cast Princess Leia after Carrie Fisher's death was a major mistake and then ramming CGI old footage to "honor" her memory was unnecesary and only helped make Episode 9 a mess of a movie. On top of it, they took Han Solo, a dead character, and then turned him into a quasi-force ghost speaking to his injured son that killed him. There is a cloned Emperor and he's now the bad guy. Rey announces she is a Skywalker in the end. These are examples whereby the story and characters were ram rodded together and the audience was told to accept it because it's Star Wars. It was all a schizophrenic movie trilogy and why the company is still wasting time about brining Rey back is beyond me.
Moving forward, here's the biggest question for TWDC and fandom: Is Star Wars better off? Under Kathy Kennedy, I would submit that Star Wars is in a far poorer position now than when she took over Lucasfilm. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Bluey were a more valuable franchise right now than Star Wars. Bluey! Not only has the existing franchises (Star Wars, Indy and Willow) been damaged, there is absolutely no new creative projects/franchises under the Lucasfilm banner either since she started. What is the brand new project or franchise that Lucasfilm is developing that has folks excited? What movies do they have in development that exists outside of existing franchises? This is not a creative vision that has left the production company better off. It has been over 5 years since the last Star Wars movie was released. I guess next year there is the new Mando & Grogu movie to be released. So, it took 6 years and exchanging a D+ show season to get a film into theaters? That's winning? How Kathleen Kennedy has been able to hold on so long is really quite confounding. And, I'm a person who loathes seeing people lose their jobs. And I think she is a Hall of Fame producer in Hollywood too.
I have often felt that Star Wars couldn't get any worse with Kathleen Kennedy gone, but then again, there is what is happening with Dr. Who and James Bond. Those franchises have turned into a debacle for the BBC and Broccolis that they are pulling the plug. So, Bob Iger could make a bigger mess of things. After all, he did recommend and vote for Bob Chapek to be TWDC CEO, right.
At least we have the Galactic Star Cruiser memories and Galaxy's Edge.
