UPDATE: Disney and Lucasfilm revealed a first look at Star Wars: Starfighter footage at D23.
Star Wars badly needs some good news from someone who isn’t on the Lucasfilm payroll, and IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond is putting his reputation behind Star Wars: Starfighter.
Gelfond has been on the Star Wars: Starfighter set, and on the same The Town episode where he confirmed the movie for IMAX, he gave a pretty clear picture of what Shawn Levy is going for.
“I’ve been on set, the Ryan Gosling one, and that’s a throwback to the Harrison Ford kind of Star Wars,” Gelfond said.
Going Back To Harrison Ford-Era Star Wars
That comparison says plenty. This doesn’t sound like another movie built around Jedi mythology or legacy characters. Gelfond is describing the scrappier, adventure-driven side of Star Wars that Harrison Ford helped define as Han Solo.
That also tracks with what we’ve heard about Gosling’s role behind the scenes. We’ve reported that Ryan Gosling is heavily involved with Star Wars: Starfighter, with the actor having a bigger hand in the project than simply starring in it.
It also lines up with what we’ve already seen and heard from the production.
Levy shared the first official look at Gosling alongside newcomer Flynn Gray, and leaks out of MakingStarWars have named Gosling’s character as Cade.
Gelfond Says “Take That To The Bank”
Belloni wasn’t ready to buy into the optimism that easily. His response to the Harrison Ford comparison: “They hope.”
And when Belloni pointed out that The Mandalorian and Grogu tanking did not help that cause, Gelfond doubled down. “Well, Matt, I’m on a limb on this one. I’ll tell you, take that to the bank,” he said. “I think it’s going to be good.”
Gelfond also has a pretty good recent track record with these calls.
He predicted The Odyssey would be the biggest movie of the year while Belloni laughed it off, and The Odyssey is now Christopher Nolan’s biggest movie ever, on its way to becoming the biggest IMAX release in history. Gelfond made sure Belloni remembered the prediction during the interview.
Starfighter Has A Lot Riding On It
The stakes go well beyond one movie. Starfighter is the first theatrical Star Wars since The Mandalorian and Grogu underperformed, and after it, the release calendar is empty — the exact situation we flagged in our exclusive on a massive Star Wars reboot.
If the Gosling movie connects, Lucasfilm finally has something it can build around again. If it doesn’t, the talk of a full Star Wars reboot starts looking a lot less like rumor and a lot more like the next move.
Star Wars: Starfighter opens May 28, 2027, in IMAX, three days after Star Wars turns 50. No pressure.
