Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker lands in theaters on December 20, marking an end to the nine movies that Disney has now decided comprise the “Skywalker saga,” even though I’m pretty sure every character with a claim to that name is now dead.
OR ARE THEY? That’s a topic for another time. For right now, let’s talk about Rise of Skywalker reshoots.
Now, reshoots by themselves are very normal, especially on big-budget movies like The Rise of Skywalker. You go back and reshoot bits of dogfights between X-Wings and TIE Fighters to make sure the angles are right, fix continuity stuff in action scenes, etc. Reshoots have been worked into the production schedule for The Rise of Skywalker from the start and have been happening for a while already. They’re no big deal.
However, reshoots have a reputation for indicating that a movie is in trouble, and indeed, sometime that’s the case. Movies like Justice League and Suicide Squad infamously went through extensive reshoots, and those movies blow. In this case, reliable Star Wars blog Making Star Wars reports on a number of “secret” reshoots going on beyond the scope of what’s normally expected. Then former LA Weekly columnist Art Tavana got stirred up worry with this tweet:
So is this cause for alarm? Eh……I don’t think we know enough to say anything for sure. Like I said, reshoots on big-budget movies are common, even if they go a little longer than expected. And as Jason Ward of Making Star Wars points out, director J.J. Abrams is known for revising his movies after the fact. And as for George Lucas being brought on as a creative consultant, Ward claims he’s been consulting on it for a while. I mean, you have to at least run your idea for a new Star Wars movie by the guy, right?
“I don’t think it has to do with the movie being in trouble,” Ward concludes. “I think this is kind of a thing that happens with every single Star Wars movie.” Good enough for me.
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If you’re interested, Ward also has a few things to say about potential plot leaks for the movie. Whatever the reshoots mean, it’s full speed ahead toward release round Christmastime.
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