This could be huge.
Following the “disappointing” box office of prequel/spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story – so far $350 million at the worldwide box office, which is only about a third of what Rogue One made – Disney have reportedly put all other Star Wars prequels and spin-offs on hold while they try to figure out why this one turned out to be a bit of a financial dud.
There was a Boba Fett movie apparently in pre-production, with James Mangold (Logan) behind the camera, but that is apparently on ice, as is the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie (most likely with Ewan McGregor back in the role), set to be directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliott, The Crown).
However, The Playlist are reporting that the reason why the Obi-Wan movie is being reassessed is because it is no longer being aimed towards a cinematic release.
About a year ago, we reported that Disney were planning to launch their own streaming service, lined up to be in direct competition with Netflix.
That would mean that all Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars movies would only be available on this new service, and if you remember, Disney were also recently looking to buy out 20th Century Fox, which would also massively bump up their exclusive titles.
So what does all of this have to do with Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Well, in much the same way that Netflix have managed to get some big exclusive movie releases – Bright, Annihilation, Mudbound– the reports state that Disney would be looking to launch their new streaming service alongside the exclusive release of the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie.
That would likely mean a massively decreased budget (which is also probably why Daldry is reported to have left the project), but with Jon Favreau’s (The Jungle Book, Iron Man) live-action series also heading for the streaming service, it would make a certain kind of sense, and would be a fantastic way to attract a lot of customers away from Netflix.
But would Star Wars fans be happy about seeing one of their favourite characters only getting the small screen service? Watch this space… (Geddit? Space?)
