After taking up position as President of Lucasfilm following George Lucas’ sale to Disney, Kathleen Kennedy has overseen the relaunch of the Star Wars saga, with the first three Disney-backed films – Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi – enjoying enormous box office success to the tune of $4.5 billion combined.
However, fans have been mixed when it comes to the films – particularly The Last Jedi, which is easily the most divisive Star Wars movie to date – and the most recent release, Solo: A Star Wars Story, underwhelmed at the box office and is on course to become the lowest-grossing chapter of the saga, and the first Star Wars film to actually lose money (up to $80 million, apparently).
Well, if a rumour from Ankler (via DorkSideoftheForce), Kennedy’s time may be about to come to an end, as the site reports that:
“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.”
Kennedy has certainly come in for a lot of criticism from some sections of the Star Wars fan base, so it would not be a surprise if she made the decision to step away – assuming that the decision isn’t taken out of her hands after Solo’s underperformance, that is.
Of course, it’s also possible that there’s no substance to the report, so we’d advise treating this rumour with caution for the time being…
