Is Rian Johnson Disney’s Zack Snyder? Thankfully he is not, at least not yet. If only because Disney already pulled the plug on his antics in the main Star Wars saga. Disney says this was for him to develop a Star Wars universe trilogy outside the main saga, which is all well and good because Rian could do a better job there than he did with his tone def entry into the main saga. However if he were the genius everybody at the Disney PR team are trying to claim there is no way Disney wouldn’t bring him back for Episode IX, unless there is a problem with Rian Johnson.
So if you like many other Star Wars faithful are not a fan of Rian Johnson’s Star Wars worry not Disney got the sense he was wrong as well but far too late to pull back from the latest episode.
To explain what happened first I have to explain the dream that was Star Wars. When the phenomena of Star Wars first broke on to the public consciousness the creators (which George Lucas was a central to but not the sole figure of) scrambled to create sequels in response to the demand and capitalize on the commercial success so they could make more fulfilling movies. Their original idea was to have continuous stories and spinoffs allowing their director and writer buddies to make any kind of story they wanted contained in the Star Wars universe. Reality was less kind than the hippy dippy wannabe film commune the Star Wars creators had in mind. By the third film friendships and marriages were over, the fight to control the rights, for credit, and over the proceeds were quite messy. George Lucas hobbled off to lick his wounds, it was a full decade before felt he had rebuilt enough of his lost wealth that he could try to make his Prequel trilogy. Unfortunately George did it all on his own this time with only a foul-mouthed yes-man sidekick to help steer his vision for the Prequels. He lost several voices, collaborators, who had kept his worst parts of his storytelling style at bay. However this is a story for another time.
Disney to their credit tried to carry out the Magic Kingdom of Star Wars philosophy the young idealistic creators envisioned by opening he universe to up and coming talent. Some of this was because Disney is fully aware of how ominous and big corporatey they were to most people and opening it up artistically might earn them some street cred, the other more realistic reason was opening up the universe if successful was a license to print money. Problem for Disney was the “if successful” part. To even begin they had to restart the franchise George Lucas left frozen in carbonite in a ditch somewhere on Endor.
They got J.J. Abrams, who was a brilliant choice if only because he got what made the original trilogy work, he got it so well unsolicited he gave brilliant lectures on the saga for young film makers and went on to make two Star Trek films if we’re honest that are more recognizable as Star Wars movies. The Force Awakens while uninspired far as breaking new Star Wars ground JJ manged to get the franchise out of cold storage and back on the road by offering up parts of what were originally going to be the story for Revenge of the Jedi. So Disney had the success they needed and quickly moved to capitalize by expanding the SW universe. Kathleen Kennedy President of LucasArts for Disney thought it might be a good idea to try by more artistic by inviting a new generations of directors and storytellers on board, only to find out while talented these young filmmakers were not a good match for the Star Wars brand. Directors were fired, scripts quickly rewritten and expensive re-shoots happened. Problem was they had already handed off the crown jewels to another untested pretentious director named Rian Johnson and were invested far too deeply for another embarrassing clash with a director, we also can’t forget Disney has earning expectations based on this film which from a business stand point makes them hesitant to make any drastic changes.
OK, so we are at point where we explained the why to the question ‘why the inconsistency in the Disney Star Wars movie universe so far’. For the next part I think Disney at some point, probably during Last Jedi screenings, realized Rian Johnson’s vision of Star Wars did not mix with what a good number of fans so quickly gave him the promise of what could be called a plum assignment, either to allow him to save face or make the offer sweet enough he would amble off without creating a scene, then Disney got back the only name they trusted with the main franchise. In this way they are better off than Warner Brothers is with their DCEU where they let the vision of one man contaminate a lucrative well they could have drawn from again and again. Zack Snyder might have been a good choice to shepherd a Superman series but he was an awful choice to give the DC universe to. After costing them billions of dollars WB has come to a full realization of how woeful their DCEU is. Disney is only losing $250 to $400 million domestically, possibly a total of $600 or more worldwide by the time Last Jedi finishes, this is money they could have made, not money they are completely losing in a Lone Ranger, John Carter kind of way. Still I imagine Disney executives are looking at the weak performance as a warning and somewhere in the back of their minds can’t help but think Rian Johnson has cost them a lot of money.
Break it down this way Rian’s story telling (or lack there of) over 24 days has resulted in 27 million fans in the US and Canada not buying a ticket.
(first draft)
Episode IX:Attack of the Tauntaun Flu.
Neither the Rebels nor the First order have a vaccine for the deadest flu in the galaxy, it is a race against time for the fate of the Galaxy. Final battle of the Skywalker saga sees fleets of ships poised for battle floating derelict devoid of life as the Tautaun Flu has wiped out both sides. Final scene before the screen darkens for credits: a spark of new hope as a janitor at the Mos Eisley Cantina discovers he has force powers he can use to clean the loo.