The House of Mouse is probably none too pleased with the rather mediocre box-office results for their latest canon Star Wars flick. Couple that with The Last Jedi's marketing and tie-in sales dropping their toy brand mightily from #1 last year--and a few analysts believe it's tied to fatigue. I personally don't buy that. There seems to be a common denominator between these last two Star Wars films and it's tied to characters. They introduced quite a few new fresh faces between both films--all that seem to have semi-important roles, but most don't have an answer to, "Why should I care about them?" I think they need to take a lesson from the other Disney owned production company, and reinvigorate the stories they're telling by going back to basics.
I'd also like to point out that I'm by no means a Star Wars fan (that'd be my brother), although I have seen and enjoyed most of them. I'm just merely looking at missed opportunities to tell some incredible stories within their very rich and deep history of characters and worlds.
So here's my list of story ideas and where they can take them from script to screen:
1. The Mandalorian-Jedi War
(Wookieepedia)
This of course would take place before the prequel films, and I guess, yes, they'd have a problem by introducing a slew of new jedi and mandalorians--but they did great with Rogue One, and I think they can do that here. Much like Rogue One was a heist film akin to the Ocean's franchise or the Italian Job--This would be their war film. Some sort of mix between the likes of The Dirty Dozen, The Longest Day, Black Hawk Down, and Inglorious Basterds, this film is all about the fight/war itself, how it affects people on both sides, and the undoubtable win for the Jedi.
The setting can take place over the final day(s), or it can be for the entirety of war, but the point is this story strips away some of the complexities they have to balance with the trilogy films, and just tell an all-encompassing war film that just so happens to be set in the Star Wars universe. Come on, they made a killing off Boba Fett marketing-wise with his 15 minutes of on-screen time, they'd make a killing off merchandising for this film. Throw in a Jango and a darksaber cameo, a few famous jedi's, and call it a day.
2. Boba Wick
(SuperHeroStuff.com)
In line with one of my favorite films--This would basically be No Country for Old Men--in space. I was almost going to say Predator--but the way the Coen Brothers develop their antagonist as this calm and calculating menace, it just makes for an all around better story and gives it much more of a thrill. It gives their marketing team one of their creme de la cremes to market--it's easy to explain story-wise since it's a one off job he did at some point in his career, and it helps paint Boba Fett as the boogeyman, or Baba Yaga, that he was considered during the original trilogy.
3. Something Something Podracing
(KnowYourMeme.com)
Yeah, yeah, I know. Hear me out, I imagine this to be more like the original
The Fast and the Furious--you know the one that actually dealt more with the world of underground racing. These pod racers were supposed to be famous all around the galaxy--and yet we've never heard about them other than in that one film? That's gonna change right here. The guys at ILM would feast over creative liberties for characters, the race pods, the giant set pieces, etc. They could really let the reigns go on this one, and it has a lot of building blocks for a great racing film. They could really push the envelope in terms of getting to the next technical level of car chase scenes.
4. Bossk the Bounty Hunter
(Aminoapps.com)
Next to IG-88 and then Dengar, they're the only other 3 recognizable bounty hunters from the original trilogy besides that mandalorian mentioned above. I'd make a
Suicide Squad-esque film with this group of mercs--but better. Either a big enough job that hooks all three together, or maybe they're competing like a weird space
Smokin' Aces--but point is, instead of tackling Solo and the unbelievably high expectations for filling that character's shoes--you're taking some tertiary fan favorites and letting them breathe a bit, like the Two-Buck Chuck you drink on a Tuesday night.
5. Ben Kenobi
(Nerdist.com)
It sounds like it's all but confirmed that there's something going on with this front. I personally hope they keep Ewan (as do most people it seems like), and I'd hope it'd be like a Western or something--along the lines of Unforgiven, or I guess a modern day reference would be--Logan. Throw an event that brings him out of hiding, a handful of sand people to get slaughtered, and call it a day. A beloved character and one of the bright spots in the prequels--that just seems like a close and shut case.
The way I look at it is, if the characters are multi-dimensional, and the story is compelling enough--the box office will share those sentiments. I don't believe there's a Star Wars fatigue here, I just think they're letting the allure of It's universe do the heavy lifting for their films and hoping it makes them enough. I think they can, and will do better.