Disney’s ‘Rogue One’ Plans Under Fire As ‘Star Wars’ Execs Unhappy With Test Screening Order Reshoots


Disney’s Rogue One dreams haven’t materialized to satisfaction after feedback from a test screening went foul. Star Wars execs want a bunch of footage to undergo reshoots. Disney took a big chance with these Star Wars spinoff movies. Slightly branching off from the main storyline and characters that have been familiar for years will offer the expected challenge of expanding the deeply embedded franchise.

The format is totally new. One-off movies that need to exist in the earlier universe established for movie watchers mainly by Leia, Luke, Han, and the others, while not depending on them, and then cast off in a new direction. The biggest difference is the fact that it has to contain a complete story without the luxury of spreading plot points and mysteries along the trilogy trajectory that Star Wars traditionally does.

A Hollywood source told Page Six about the Star Wars Rogue One reshoot situation after test screenings.

“The execs at Disney are not happy with the movie, and Rogue One will have to go back into four weeks of expensive reshoots in July.”

That sounds harsh, but it doesn’t indicate what exactly is the issue, somewhat indicating the overall effect of the movie doesn’t work. Disney doesn’t want to let the quality of Rogue One slide beneath The Force Awakens, and so it is expending major financial resources on the reshoots so that people won’t leave theaters disappointed by the time of the movie’s December 16 release date.

Page Six further reported on what the source revealed is director Gareth Edwards current standing with Disney.

“Gareth’s work on the first Godzilla [which came out in 2014] shows he can handle a big studio blockbuster. But Rogue One has fallen short of what J.J. Abrams did with Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens. So Disney has ordered reshoots.”

To be fair, The Force Awakens had so many members of the original cast. Han Solo, General Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, practically the whole family was involved. As The Week reports, Star Wars Rogue One‘s Darth Vader appearance is highly anticipated, but besides him, it will feature a new cast that will mainly have to stand on their own. But the new cast of Disney’s Rogue One are mainly veteran actors, some who have been acting for a lifetime, unlike the relatively unknown new actors who played Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story takes place right before the events of the very first Star Wars movie, A New Hope. That’s Episode IV in the chronology. That means the movie should reveal a lot more of what happened to Darth Vader after Anakin Skywalker’s rebuilding in Episode III. It should also reveal why he became Emperor Palpatine’s main executioner by the time A New Hope came around, since that story was firmly in motion despite being the first Star Wars movie to be released.

The source further revealed to Page Six the pressures and marks to be met.

“The filmmaking team and the studio always anticipated additional shooting and second unit work to make the film the absolute best it can be, and the actors were aware there would be additional shooting. Coming off The Force Awakens, there’s an incredibly high bar for this movie and we have a responsibility to the franchise and to the fans to deliver the best possible movie we can.”

Disney still has over six months to make corrections. Most movies go through reshoots. The only reason to worry will be if the reshoots don’t correct the main problems that execs complained about. They might come to realize that you can’t really make a successful spinoff movie from the Star Wars franchise or realize that you can’t depend on the quality to be the same as the main episodes. Disney’s Rogue One performance will likely heavily influence the fate of the other two planned Star Wars spinoffs.

[Photo by Stephen Morton/Getty News Images]

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