Free Republic

George Lucas “felt betrayed” by Disney‘s initial plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger. Iger has recalled the early meetings that Disney held with the creator of the acclaimed sci-fi franchise ahead of the making of The Force Awakens, which hit cinemas in 2015 as the first part of the sequel trilogy. •Read more: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – what we know so far about the final film in the trilogy In Iger’s new memoir The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company,...

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson erased approximately 20,000 of his tweets days after Disney fired “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn over offensive online remarks. Johnson explained on Twitter that he wasn’t deleting his tweets under any official directive, but was preemptively destroying ammunition in the event right-wing trolls try digging them up to ruin his career. “No official directive at all, and I don’t think I’ve ever tweeted anything that bad,” Johnson tweeted. “But it’s nine years of stuff written largely off the cuff as ephemera, if trolls scrutinizing it for ammunition is the new...

Angry “Star Wars” fans have been up in arms over “The Last Jedi” since it released in December, so much so that one group claims it’s going to remake it. A website called “RemakeTheLastJedi.com” and corresponding Twitter account popped up in June, purporting to be created by a group of producers who mean to make a new version of “Episode VIII.” Of course, people can pledge money on that website. Supposedly it has raised more than $22 million as of this writing — but claims that the cost of actually making the film will be covered by the unnamed producers...

Racist harassment of 'Last Jedi' star Kelly Marie Tran and the 'Solo' backlash: Lucasfilm’s problem isn’t the movies, it’s trolls who want only the nostalgia of their youth, like "old Luke Skywalker hiding on an island from everything new," writes columnist Marc Bernardin. Fandom has always been an us versus them proposition. In the early days, it was because you loved something that the world at large found silly, be it comic books or Doctor Who. It was you and those who felt like you, against everyone else. Star Wars redefined fandom because it built a bigger tent than had...

Video: "analysis of the latest star wars movie, The Last Jedi, in which writer/director Rian Johnson tells a nihilistic story that attempts to deconstruct all elements of the star wars mythos and destroy the attachments of the audience to Star Wars' characters, themes, and mythos."

Disney has closed a deal with director Rian Johnson to develop a new “Star Wars” trilogy, and it is planning a live-action “Star Wars” TV series to air on its entertainment streaming service that is expected to launch by the end of 2019. Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger announced the “Star Wars” news during the company’s quarterly earnings call. In addition to the “Star Wars” TV series, Disney is working on TV series adaptations of Pixar’s “Monsters Inc.,” the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” franchise and an original entry from Marvel. Johnson helmed “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” which is due...