"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," the first film in a planned series of non-saga "Star Wars" spinoffs, has been met with plenty of excitement from fans. Though movie-goers have only seen a brief snippet of film from Gareth Edwards' anthology movie, optimism is high for this unique "Star Wars" offering. But is all this good will from fans misplaced?
A recent report suggests that Disney is seriously worried about the movie's critical and financial prospects and has ordered four weeks of reshoots this summer as a result. While unconfirmed, the report does claim that creative differences have driven a wedge between Edwards and the studio and that the movie is not testing as well as executives had anticipated.
Here's what the unnamed source had to say: "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."
J.J. Abrams' massively successful "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has been cited as the measuring stick for "Rogue One," which doesn't seem fair given that a saga entry connected to the original trilogy is naturally going to be more successful than an unrelated standalone story. Whether or not "Rogue One" has problems, Disney and Lucasfilm shouldn't be expecting the film to post similar box office results to the record-breaking numbers "The Force Awakens" put up.
One theory unrelated to the report is that the studio could be pushing for more fan-service elements such as an extended cameo for Darth Vader, who we know will be popping up at some point in the film. We have no inside information, but it sounds feasible that Disney would push for more traditional "Star Wars" qualities while Edwards tries to argue for a more grounded sci-fi film.
"Rogue One" seems a sure bet to make money regardless of the final product, but with "Alice Through The Looking Glass" flopping at the box office this weekend, Disney isn't taking any chances. We'll see how it all turns out when "Rogue One" arrives on Dec. 17.
