‘Rogue Squadron’ Removal Further Affirms That ‘Star Wars’ Is Now Just A Disney+ TV Show

Walt Disney just dropped a slew of release dates, but arguably the biggest news is what’s not on the calendar. As long-expected, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is no longer set for December 22, 2023, which makes sense since the film has been in limbo since Patty Jenkins jumped ship. The good news is that whatever Star Wars movie arrives next will have some downtime between itself and The Rise of Skywalker. The bad news is that this will further cement the notion of Star Wars as a Disney+ television-centric franchise. That is even more depressing than when Disney bought Lucasfilm ten years ago, and I worried about Star Wars movies becoming less special due to regularity. Speaking of which, I need to watch those Andor screeners later today.

Since there’s almost no chance that Paramount’s untitled Star Trek 4 will open in December of 2023, that leaves the holiday season open for James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to kick butt over the holiday season. The Jason Moma/Amber Heard underseas actioner is currently slotted for December 25, but I’d expect it to move to December 22. As much as I mourn its further delay, the year-long gap between itself and both Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water will likely help since all three mega-budget ‘part two’ sequels will likely share at least some plot/spectacle elements. Warner Bros. Discovery has a banger year-end slate with Dune Part Two on November 17, Wonka on December 15, The Color Purple on December 20 and Aquaman 2 on December 25.

Disney has moved the Owen Wilson/Tiffany Haddish Haunted Mansion re-do from March 10, 2023 to August 11, 2023. That’s smart as August could always use another biggie and next March is ridiculously crowded (Dungeons and Dragons, Shazam 2, John Wick 4 and Scream 6). Taiki Waititi’s ‘one for me’ soccer flick Next Goal Wins opens on April 21, 2023. Walt Disney Animation’s Wish will open on Thanksgiving weekend 2023, while Pixar’s Elio will debut on March 1, 2024. The Rachel Zegler/Gal Gadot Snow White remake will open on March 22, 2024, anchoring a crowded March alongside Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s David Leitch-directed The Fall Guy, Kung Fu Panda 4, A Quiet Place: Day One, Godzilla Vs. Kong 2 and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. That’s three animated films in one month, so I’m guessing something will move.

Pixar’s Inside Out 2 will debut on June 15, 2024, nine years after the first film became Pixar’s second-biggest non-sequel global grosser and another example of female-led toons not remotely being box office poison. Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King will open on July 5, 2024, just under five years after Jon Favreau’s live-action redo of The Lion King earned $543 million domestic and $1.66 billion worldwide. Even a drop on par with Alice Through the Looking Glass ($299 million in 2016 versus $1.025 billion in 2010) would give the ‘origins of Mufasa’ prequel (shades of Godfather part II and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again?) a $486 million cume. That would be on par with Cinderella, Oz: The Great and Powerful and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. I’m guessing it will hold better than the unrequested Alice in Wonderland sequel.

The big tragedy is the loss of the Star Wars movie. Wonder Woman 1984 was probably the most transgressive big-budget comic book movie in ages in how it bucked the trend toward darker, more grounded and more adult-skewing superhero flicks. It would have been an easy $650-$750 million global grosser, with decent (if not superlative) reviews and buzz, had it opened theatrically on a non-Covid timeline. We don’t have any idea to what extent Star Wars will exist in cinematic form. That is a testament to how badly Disney and/or Lucasfilm seemingly misread the Last Jedi discourse (rave reviews, an A from Cinemascore and $1.333 billion global) and messed up the franchise with the commercially successful ($515 million domestic and $1.073 billion global) but unloved The Rise of Skywalker. Let’s hope Marvel doesn’t mistake online discourse for mainstream consensus.