With the possible Netflix deal happening in 2026 (and lack of theatrical movies), a 50th celebration screening on a premium screen will be massive.

I think it's pretty clear this will be the original edition, they keep stressing "1977 version" and it fits with all the leaks of the last several months of what was believed to be restored footage (and now is pretty much confirmed to be).

And if they're putting that much money into the restoration, then they're going to want to make some of that back with a physical release on Blu/4K so I think that will be happening in spring/summer of 2027.
If this drops in Feb 27, then TESB could release in March, then ROTJ in April and then Starfighter debuts in May of '27, can you imagine a 4K trilogy boxset released a week or so before Starfighter comes out with some exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the new movie included?

I think Disney had a sitdown with Filoni and Kennedy and finally asked them how to get the fans back on their sides and this might be what came up.
Personally I hope the Ben Solo movie also gets resurrected - Driver was absolutely the best part of the ST.

Certainly still time to adjust plans if they want to release ESB and ROTJ as well. But yeah, a 4k box set later in the year should be expected. Also I'm assuming Matt Ferguson (the artist they've used for all of their recent anniversary release posters) will be doing the ANH poster. (I'm a huge fan but I thought his Revenge of the Sith poster was a miss)

I like Star Wars.

Why?

Because I grew up with it from childhood and never got jaded.

It’s a cult classic. I’m glad people are finally starting to talk about these movies!

Maybe with a 50th release it will finally make some money. I wonder if Disney is going to put out a bunch of 50th Anniversay Star Wars merchandise?

You should just put this in your sig.

(maybe you already have, I have signatures turned off)

I'm just breaking the rules and padding my post count, at this point.

Disney/Lucasfilm have never capitalized on Star Wars merchandise before. Why start now?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish cleaning my bathroom with my Darth Vader toilet brush.

You Star Wars nerds get your wish : Kathleen Kennedy OUT, Dave Filoni & Lynwen Brennan in

Will make no difference, same ideology with a different face.

Good. I don't care what you've produced in the past screwing up episodes 8 and 9 to that extent should have gotten her fired 5 years ago. She lost more than a generation of fans through lack of basic planning.

I go back and forth on whether or not the problem is Kennedy not understanding Star Wars or Disney itself not understanding Star Wars.

So I'm not going to start dancing around to "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" yet.

And I'm not really a fan of Filoni, either. I know he has his fans, but when I watch his projects like Rebels and Clone Wars, it seems like for every good thing he brings to the table, he brings in at least one element that doesn't work. (*cough*time travel*cough) and tends to drop his creator's pets ad nauseam into the stories.

Filoni's a huge red flag for me

Star Wars nerds are finicky. Even if they hired someone like Jon Favreau, who some have also clamored for, they would find “reasons” to say he sucks and isn’t right for the job. No one, I repeat on social media or boards knows or truly understands how the movie business and creative side works outside of what is reported. Every nerd thinks they’re an armchair movie executive.

You can't really paint Star Wars fans with that broad a brush. There is no "they". I'm sure there are just as many Dave Filoni devotees as there are haters. And there's probably a whole lot more in between. The same is going to be true of Favreau or *name any other creative/executive*. I've said this before in this thread, but Star Wars means too many different things to too many different people at this point. If it isn't one faction of the fanbase complaining, it'll be another. And it's likely that none of the most vocal factions even represent anything close to the majority or what we would consider casual fans.

Except I 100% understand why they hired him: He was "mentored" by George Lucas, beloved by a large set of the nerd fanbase, has a successful track record in terms of viewership, and can likely pitch pretty well. I would argue basically everyone knows why he was hired.

Filoni is very good at catering to the most vocal segment of the fanbase that's obsessed with lore and exploring the "inside baseball" of the franchise. That's why I don't like his work.

I know there was plenty of good that Kathleen did, but her justification for dumping the old book/comic canon was absolutely stupid.

The fact that I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday and saw so many shelves full of of the old Legends books being reprinted while modern projects like the High Republic are already being phased out means they truly did not understand the material. Not having a cohesive plan for the sequel trilogy is one thing but completely ignoring all the old books to make something new (that you still didn't get right) is on another level completely.

I still think "canon" is the enemy of most franchises. You have to have consistency in your movies, but if you want to make new Star Wars movies and shows from 2015 going forward, you just can't be bound to a book that was written 30 years ago, because a handful of fans have actually read it. Comics, books, video games, animated series and most of it is just glorified merch.
But I do agree with you in one regarde. If you discard all of that, you should actually have a good plan for a sequel trilogy. You don't have to lose all the boundaries of a blowded canon, if your "new" canon isn't constistant in itself.

So far, no major trade is reporting that news yet. Not going to say that Puck News post is wrong, but no one official is reporting and that would be pretty huge news if official. Many of these posts from Discussing Film in the past have been wrong or taken out of context. Like the WB-Netflix 17 day window post from a few weeks ago that have everyone losing their minds. I saw the original story and that was completely taken out of context.

There's been rumors of Kathleen Kennedy's impending departure since The Last Jedi came out in 2017. You'd think people would learn to take these rumors with a grain of salt over the past 9 years, but a certain subset of fans really want her gone and will grab onto the flimsiest rumors and evidence.

Good or bad output (and shoving pet characters into everything) aside, he knows the property inside out more than anyone other than Lucas, and more importantly he actually cares about the SW universe unlike Kennedy, Abrams and Johnson (and likely more than Lucas). Does that mean he'll be great in a "Kevin Feige" type role of shepherding everything forward? Maybe-maybe not, but it does makes him probably the best consultant for other filmmakers to work in the SW playground and keep everything consistent and "feeling" like Star Wars.