New rumors have hit the net offering that George Lucas has been called to save Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker following test screenings that are claimed to have been a complete “disaster.”
The Star Wars rumors come from the same YouTuber responsible for that rumor offering Disney is losing confidence in Brie Larson and Captain Marvel.
Note: Possible BIG spoilers follow, so bear that in mind.
Update: Disney CEO Bob Iger confirms Star Wars movies are going on hiatus for years.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker rumors:
It’s claimed that three cuts of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker exist: A Kathleen Kennedy / J.J. Abrams version that absolutely tanked with test screening audiences; a second one featuring mandates from Disney CEO Bob Iger; with the third from George Lucas.
It’s said the Star Wars test screenings were made up with a quarter of hardcore fans, a quarter who said they are simply fans, a quarter who are aware of Star Wars but don’t buy merchandise or consider themselves big fans, and a quarter of people who are just as likely to see any movie (general audience).
Kennedy / Abrams cut
Regarding the Kennedy / Abrams version, it said the first act is said to be pretty good and scored a 65 at the test screening; however it is all downhill from there.
The second act scored a 12, and is said to be “really really bad.”
The third act scored only a 4, with only the general audience people giving it points.
The aggregate score for the Kathleen Kennedy / J.J. Abrams cut is said to be a 29, just awful.
A huge problem the test screening had was when Rey basically – in OP fashion – destroys The Emperor, which caused them to burst out in laughter.
Iger sat in on one of the last test screenings and is said to be p-ssed.
“Rey doesn’t win, as much as literally stomps a mudhole in The Emperor’s a–,” the Youtuber says. “When this happens, all the screeners burst into laughter.”
Iger is said to have flipped his lid and immediately ordered a redo.
Iger cut
Disney CEO Bob Iger is said to have ordered a rework of the latter half of the first act and some of the second half.
It’s claimed that Iger also ordered in Anakin and Luke in the flesh (Youtuber has no idea what that means).
The Iger test screening for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is said to have fared better at a 65.
George Lucas cut
With the Kenney / Abrams version and the Iger version scoring not as high as hoped, George Lucas, who is said to have worked on some early writing on the flick, offers help and incorporates both the Kenney / Abrams version and the Iger version, but during the third act George Lucas introduces a secret Skywalker.
The Lucas version is said to have scored an 88.
Various additional info:
While some rumors have claimed that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker underwent a massive redo, the YouTuber claims it’s about 25% of the three different versions that have been redone.
The Youtuber offers three possibilities that may happen:
- Kennedy gets fired; Iger picks the Lucas version
- Kennedy quits, which is unlikely, and Iger picks the Lucas version.
- The release date pushed back to further fix things (least likely).
It’s further claimed that Disney reportedly spent an additional $300 million after the “meltdown,” and that the firing of the Game of Thrones creators was a shot in the direction at Kennedy (Rian Johnson is also rumored to have been let go).
Secret Skywalker
Regarding the identity of the secret Skywalker, that is unknown.
It could be an existing character (the Youtuber laughed at the notion it’s Rose).
My thought: Who knows? Maybe it is a new character, a character that will go on to star in new movies, as reportedly, Rian Johnson was going to basically reboot the franchise with new stories and characters, but Disney is said to be in no longer favor of that approach as they don’t want to further tick off the hardcore audience and continue to stray away from the core concepts.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker gets released on Dec. 20, 2019.
