Kathleen Kennedy steps down as president of ‘Star Wars’ producer Lucasfilm

Kathleen Kennedy will step down from her function as president of “Star Wars” film producer Lucasfilm this week and grow to be a full-time producer, Walt Disney said Thursday.

Disney has named Dave Filoni, a protégé of “Star Wars” creator George Lucas and the co-creator of “Star Wars” streaming TV sequence “The Mandalorian,” president and chief artistic officer of Lucasfilm. He will work alongside co-president Lynwen Brennan, who runs the studio’s business operations.

Filoni, 51, will now steer one of the highest-grossing film franchises in historical past in addition to live-action and animated TV reveals.

Kathleen Kennedy has run Lucasfilm since Disney purchased it in 2012. She will grow to be a full-time producer. REUTERS

The 72-year-old Kennedy, who has run Lucasfilm since Disney bought it in 2012, oversaw three blockbuster sequels to the unique “Star Wars” trilogy and the profitable spinoff “Rogue One.”

“It has been a true privilege to spend more than a decade working alongside the extraordinary talent at Lucasfilm,” Kennedy said in a assertion.

The 2018 movie “Solo,” which launched a new actor as the smuggler made well-known by Harrison Ford, flopped in theaters.

Disney put the “Star Wars” films on hiatus in 2019 to give attention to live-action TV sequence, including “The Mandalorian” starring Pedro Pascal and the in style character Baby Yoda.

George Lucas hand-picked Kennedy as his successor to steer Lucasfilm. Getty Images for Disney

Disney scrapped deliberate “Star Wars” movies from administrators Patty Jenkins and Rian Johnson as Kennedy labored to reset the movie strategy.

Filoni, meanwhile, oversaw many in style and acclaimed TV sequence including “The Mandalorian” and “Ahsoka.”

Both Kennedy and Filoni labored with Lucas, the creator of the unique “Star Wars” movie sequence that debuted in 1977. The franchise, about a group of rebels in a galaxy far, distant, has introduced in more than $10.3 billion at global box workplace receipts, according to Comscore.

Dave Filoni is a protégé of “Star Wars” creator George Lucas and the co-creator of “Star Wars” streaming TV sequence “The Mandalorian. REUTERS

Lucas hand-picked Kennedy as his successor to steer Lucasfilm. The 5 movies she oversaw introduced in a mixed $5.9 billion. The most profitable, 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” surpassed $2 billion in worldwide ticket sales.

Lucasfilm expanded into producing live-action streaming TV sequence under Kennedy, including Filoni’s “The Mandalorian,” which debuted with the launch of the Disney+ streaming service in 2019. Other sequence included “Ahsoka” and “Andor.”

The company also added “Star Wars”-themed lands at Walt Disney World in Florida and at Disneyland in California.

Kennedy and Filoni at a fan conference last yr. AP

In 2005, Lucas employed Filoni to help build a “Star Wars” animation studio. Filoni, often noticed at Hollywood premieres and fan occasions sporting a cowboy hat, helped create the animated TV sequence “The Clone Wars.”

“The Mandalorian” will head to the big display screen in May in a movie co-written by Filoni called “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” The film “Star Wars: Starfighter,” that includes Ryan Gosling, is scheduled to succeed in cinemas in May 2027. Kennedy will continue to work as a producer of those movies.

Daisy Ridley, star of the sequel trilogy that started in 2015, also has said she is returning to a new “Star Wars” project.

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