Lucasfilm
Star Wars is roaring back to life, much like Anakin Skywalker in “Revenge of the Sith.”
Box-office analysts are buzzing about a comeback for the franchise after the success of the re-release of 2005’s “Revenge of the Sith” in theaters. The popular Star Wars prequel broke through a crowded spring slate last weekend and raked in $25 million.
Disney has made a slew of Star Wars TV shows for Disney+ in recent years, but hasn’t released a new Star Wars movie since 2019. That drought seems to have Star Wars fans pining to see lightsaber battles on the big screen again.
“There is a hunger out there for big-screen Star Wars content,” Shawn Robbins, the director of movie analytics at Fandango, told Business Insider. “It’s definitely not gone away.”
Industry analysts see the reissue’s success as a sign that this iconic film franchise is set to rise out of the lava despite struggles on the TV side.
Disney didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Too much, or not enough?
Disney+ launched shortly before the pandemic in November 2019. Since then, Disney hasn’t released a new Star Wars movie in theaters, though it debuted a dozen Star Wars shows on its streaming service.
But while “The Mandalorian” was a breakout hit and “Andor” was critically acclaimed, most of its other shows didn’t get the same reception from critics or fans. Over time, interest gradually faded.
Veteran film critic Scott Mantz said that despite a few wins, the Mouse House “oversaturated” Disney+ with so-so Star Wars series.
“You had so much Star Wars stuff that was kind of OK that it diluted the franchise,” Mantz said. “It just didn’t feel as special as it did when we had to wait three years between each film.”
However, the “Revenge of the Sith” re-release — as well as the popularity of the “Andor” series — suggests that the general lukewarm sentiment toward Star Wars shows is primarily about execution, not overall franchise fatigue.
Nostalgia sells, which is why Disney has leaned into sequels, remakes, and reboots.
“They occasionally miss, but they know exactly what they’re doing,” box-office analyst David A. Gross said of Disney. “Their collection of franchise film stories, and how they manage them, is outstanding.”
A flurry of false starts
Although Star Wars has gone six years without a new film, that wasn’t necessarily the plan.
Disney had announced splashy Star Wars movie projects from Marvel president Kevin Feige as well as a trilogy from “Game of Thrones” cocreators D. B. Weiss and David Benioff, though they’ve since folded.
The company also said back in 2017 that “The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson would create a new Star Wars movie series, but nothing has come of it yet. Johnson confirmed in 2019 that he was working on the project, and reiterated in 2022 that he was set on finishing the films.
A movie starring Daisy Ridley as Rey also got delayed, while a film announced five years ago, “Rogue Squadron,” from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, doesn’t yet have a release date.
Yet another forthcoming trilogy led by X-Men producer Simon Kinberg was announced last fall, though there’s no release date set.
In short, Disney has announced a ton of movie projects in recent years, but none have seen the light of day.
After a break, Star Wars can break out
While fans may be frustrated by the long wait for new films, Robbins said Star Wars “needed a break” after Disney made so many shows in a short span. The successful re-release of “Revenge of the Sith” leads him to believe Disney is building goodwill with Star Wars fans, who proved they’re willing to show up to theaters.
Robbins said that if this past weekend is an indication, anticipation is building for Star Wars’ next films: “The Mandalorian & Grogu” slated for 2026 and the recently unveiled “Star Wars: Starfighter” in 2027.
The fact that legions flocked to theaters to watch a 20-year-old film they could stream on their couch signals they’re craving the goosebumps they can only get from big screens, movie analysts said.
“Whenever you’re in a movie theater and the opening crawl and the Star Wars theme comes on, I mean that is iconic, epic — baked into our movie-going DNA,” Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.
Nostalgia strikes back
Disney analyst Jason Bazinet of Citi said investors were frustrated by the company’s high-profile misses in theaters in recent years. Unlike with Star Wars, Disney has pumped out Marvel movies, but for every “Deadpool & Wolverine,” there were flops like “The Marvels.”
Bazinet said he thinks the conservative “go woke, go broke” critique of Disney has merit.
“It feels like there’s more and more of a ‘woke’ overlay that’s happening at a lot of the movies,” Bazinet said. He thinks Disney should focus on the “old iconic stories” that appeal to fans in “the middle of America.”
Despite Bazinet’s comments, however, even Star Wars films that have been criticized for perceived progressiveness in some corners of the fandom — like 2017’s “The Last Jedi” — have done well at the box office. Only 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” was seen as a true financial flop in Hollywood.
And recent interviews BI conducted with 12 Disney superfans revealed their biggest complaint was a lack of originality in recent films, not a move toward “wokeness.”
“The franchise is in a good spot to make that return to the big screen,” Robbins said of Star Wars. “Disney can feel more confident in that being a potential hit — as long as that movie is good on its own merits.”
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