A new rumor claims that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige wants to take over the Star Wars franchise following Avengers: Secret Wars.
This latest rumor comes from scooper MyTimeToShineH. The scooper claims on X, “Kevin Feige is thinking about leaving Marvel after Secret Wars and take over the Star Wars franchise.”
Speculation about Kevin Feige moving over to Star Wars gained steam when Walt Disney Studios co-chairman Alan Horn confirmed that Feige had plans to produce a Star Wars film.
Horn told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2019, “We are excited about the projects Kathy and the Lucasfilm team are working on, not only in terms of Star Wars but also Indiana Jones and reaching into other parts of the company including Children of Blood and Bone with Emma Watts and Fox. With the close of the Skywalker Saga, Kathy is pursuing a new era in Star Wars storytelling, and knowing what a die-hard fan Kevin is, it made sense for these two extraordinary producers to work on a Star Wars film together.”
Following this announcement, Reddit user oryanjohnson, who appeared to be veteran reporter O’Ryan Johnson of the Boston Herald and CRN, shared his opinion that the announcement that Feige would produce a Star Wars film was indication that Disney was looking to move on from Kathleen Kennedy due to her disastrous handling of the franchise.
He wrote on Reddit, “If you are the President of a division of a company, and the CEO takes the president of a more successful division and gives them your resources, personnel, and your IP, and has them answer to someone higher than you in the organization, then I hate to tell you this, but you have been demoted.
“This is what happened to Kennedy last night. Her three year contract has two years left, and will expire in 2021,” the user added.
He went on to speculate, “More than likely her ‘duties’ will be to run the next Indy project with her long time collaborator, Stephen Spielberg, as Feige, Favreau, and Filoni take over Star Wars television and film projects.”
“This wasn’t done as a favor to Kevin. He has plenty to do without the stress and headaches involved in Star Wars. This is a move made to resuscitate a dying brand that has lost viewers, and is dragging down sales in other divisions, like parks and recreation, and licensed merchandise,” he concluded.
It’s clear the speculation of Kennedy getting ousted by 2021 did not pan out as Kathleen Kennedy still remains President of Lucasfilm.
However, the franchise is arguably in an even worse position than it was back in 2019 as the Disney+ Star Wars streaming series have seen decreased viewership.
X user MAC points out that finale viewership on Book of Boba Fett clocked in at 885 million views. It declined to 860 million minutes for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Andor’s finale clocked in at 674 million minutes and Ahsoka only garnered 575 million minutes.
Each #DisneyPlus #StarWars show season finale draws lower viewership than the one before.
— MAC (@NowItsKnown) November 5, 2023
Not including #TheMandalorian S3 finale, but resuming with Ahsoka's.#BookOfBobaFett-885 Feb 22#ObiWan-860 June 22#Andor-674 Nov 22#Ahsoka-575 Oct 23@wdwpro1 @ValliantRenegad @KinelRyan pic.twitter.com/zo4FxUAI3I
Not only is finale viewership declining for Star Wars show, but interestingly enough Kathleen Kennedy denied that Kevin Feige was even attached to a Star Wars film while speaking with IGN at Star Wars Celebration in April earlier this year.
Kennedy was asked by IGN, “I’m thinking about kind of projects like Rogue Squadron and Kevin Feige’s project, could those still see the light of day?”
Kennedy responded, “Well, Kevin Feige’s project was something announced in the press or as I suppose fandom, but nothing ever got developed. We never discussed an idea.”
She added, “As everybody knows Kevin’s a huge Star Wars fan and if he did come up with something I would be all ears, but that’s never really happened. It’s not an abandoned project, it just didn’t happen.”
As noted above, Alan Horn announced the project through a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter.
On top of Horn’s announcement, the official The Star Wars Show on the Star Wars YouTube channel confirmed the announcement in October 2019.
Host Anthony Carboni declared, “Kevin Feige, diehard Star Wars fan, owner of multiple Hasbro Jabba’s Sail Barges, and President of Marvel Studios will now be able to add Star Wars producer to his list of achievements.”
Carboni’s co-host Andi Gutierrez added, “That’s right. With the close of the Skywalker Saga, Kevin Feige is set to co-produce an upcoming Star Wars movie with Kathleen Kennedy in a new era of Star Wars storytelling.”
Screenwriter Michael Waldron also revealed to The Playlist in May 2021 that he was working on the Kevin Feige produced Star Wars film. He said, “We really are still kind of at the outset in a lot of ways because I’ve been so deep in on Doctor Strange, but so far, no. It’s driven by character and who are some great characters, what’s a great story. And it’s really as simple as that.”
He added, “It’s a big universe that’s the good news. That’s what I love about Star Wars your canvas is all of time and all of space so I feel like you’ve got to take advantage of that.”
In June 2021, Waldron again confirmed he was working on the Star Wars project to Collider telling the outlet, “Look, that’s a very exciting thing. My life has been very wrapped up in Doctor Strange and in Loki. I love Star Wars and that’s really exciting. I’m excited to keep working with Kevin and I’m excited to work with Lucasfilm and Kathy Kennedy.”
He added, “I mean, it’s like, are you kidding me? They’ve made all my favorite movies. So yeah, I’m lucky and hopefully [Loki and Doctor Strange 2] don’t come out and people don’t hate it and say, ‘Wait a minute, he can’t do this.’”
Clearly, Kevin Feige dipped his toes in Star Wars at one point, and there might have been some hope that he could have revived Star Wars back in 2019. However, that hope has likely evaporated given Feige’s handling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that sent the franchise down the same trash tube that Kathleen Kennedy sent Lucasfilm and Star War.
Regardless if this rumor is true, it likely won’t improve what ails Star Wars.
What do you make of this rumor?
NEXT: Matthew Vaughn Explains Where Disney Went Wrong With Star Wars, Says Full Reboot Would Excite Him