Kathleen Kennedy to take the fall for the failing Star Wars franchise?
Despite the hype surrounding the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, recent movies from the stable haven't really been setting the box office on fire.
While the collection for the most recently released 'Solo' were disappointing to say the least, 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ didn’t fare too well either.
Given all the backlash the franchise has received, rumors have started swirling about Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy walking out the door,
According to The Ankler, a Hollywood insider newsletter, and a change of guard is happening in September. The newsletter read: “While Kathleen Kennedy worked wonders relaunching this property from the abyss of the Lucas prequel trilogy and turning it into a bigger than ever all-devouring cultural force, there has to be more than some thought that it’s time for new blood at the helm. The talk out there is of a September changing of the guards. We'll see.”
The question is how accurate this news truly is. The Dork Side of the Force believes this news is extremely reliable, for The Ankler has predicted several things accurately in the past, like Sue Kroll stepping down as the head of WB’s Worldwide Marketing, Stacey Snider’s desire to join the Amazon brand, internal management problems and changes at Sony and Glen Mazzara taking over as Dark Tower’s primary showrunner.
However, last week WIRED debunked this rumor. They wrote, “The idea that Kennedy would be forced to step down after that—or that fans need to speak up to save her job—is ridiculous, and betrays a particular myopia that fandom engenders; the idea that fans know best and have the inside scoop because they love the property so much. Kennedy’s position, at least in the eyes of parent company Disney, is pretty much secure; if she does step down for whatever reason—something that’s pretty unlikely—it’ll likely be a personal decision that has absolutely nothing to do with pressure from corporate overlords.”
But wait, there’s another twist in the story. YouTuber Grace Randolph claims that she has insider information from an unnamed source, and apparently Bob Iger, chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company, wants Kathleen Kennedy to resign. The information originated from Pinewood Studios. She even mentioned that several people were offered her position, but they all refused, namely J.J. Abrams. Grace went on to say that a “risk-averse Hollywood” would not want to function on “house divided,” referring to the division between those loyal to Kennedy and those loyal to the ‘Star Wars’ brand.
