Kathleen Kennedy. Picture: file
Kathleen Kennedy, who has shepherded the sci-fi franchise throughout all the time it has been owned by Disney, is stepping down from her function as president of Lucasfilm after nearly 14 years.
Disney confirmed Kennedy’s exit on Jan. 15 and stated she is going to transition again to full-time producing. She will likely be succeeded by Dave Filoni, who will oversee artistic as Lucasfilm president, whereas Lynwen Brennan will function co-president.
“When George Lucas requested me to take over Lucasfilm upon his retirement, I could not have imagined what lay forward,” Kennedy stated in an announcement. “It has been a real privilege to spend greater than a decade working alongside the extraordinary expertise at Lucasfilm. Their creativity and dedication have been an inspiration, and I am deeply happy with what we have completed collectively. I am excited to proceed creating movies and tv with each longtime collaborators and contemporary voices who symbolize the way forward for storytelling.”
Filoni is a Lucasfilm veteran who joined the studio in 2005 and is its chief artistic officer. He beforehand labored below George Lucas on the animated collection “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” which premiered in 2008, and has since develop into a significant artistic power behind “Star Wars” as a producer on exhibits like “The Mandalorian.” Brennan, in the meantime, beforehand served as president and common supervisor of Lucasfilm’s companies.
In an announcement, Filoni hailed Kennedy for overseeing “the best growth in ‘Star Wars’ storytelling onscreen that we have now ever seen.”
Kennedy grew to become the president of Lucasfilm, the “Star Wars” manufacturing firm based by Lucas in 1971, in 2012. She was tapped for the function when Lucas bought the corporate to Disney for $4 billion. Kennedy was beforehand the co-chairman of Lucasfilm.
Earlier than her time at Lucasfilm, Kennedy labored with Steven Spielberg to cofound Amblin Leisure and produce a number of the largest blockbuster movies ever made, together with “Jurassic Park” and “E.T. the Further-Terrestrial.”
Throughout Kennedy’s tenure, Lucasfilm efficiently relaunched the “Star Wars” franchise for a brand new period and launched 5 characteristic movies, most of which have been hits. From 2015 to 2019, the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy collectively grossed greater than $4 billion globally, and its first installment, “Star Wars: The Power Awakens,” holds the document because the highest-grossing film of all time on the home field workplace. Its two sequels, “The Final Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker,” every collected greater than $1 billion worldwide.
“Star Wars” additionally expanded its tv presence below Kennedy, venturing into live-action TV for the primary time with 2019’s “The Mandalorian.” The massively well-liked streaming present helped launch Disney+ and turned “Child Yoda” right into a cultural phenomenon. Additionally on the tv aspect, “Andor,” a prequel collection primarily based on the movie “Rogue One,” racked up greater than 20 Emmy nominations over two seasons and acquired glowing opinions. Some critics have hailed it as among the many finest “Star Wars” ever produced.
However not all of Kennedy’s bets have paid off. In 2018, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” grew to become the primary “Star Wars” movie to flop on the field workplace. Kennedy fired the unique administrators, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, from the Han Solo prequel and tapped Ron Howard to movie intensive reshoots. Evaluations for the completed film have been blended, and Kennedy later stated it was a mistake to attempt to recast Harrison Ford’s iconic function.
