| | | | | | Welcome back. Just in time to see the ushering of a new Star Wars age. After months of whispers (OK, way more than whispers), Kathleen Kennedy finally announced her official stepping down as head of Lucasfilm Thursday. And it was proclaimed that Dave Filoni, longtime Lucasfilm employee, nerd and George Lucas protégé, will be president and chief creative officer, while business vet Lynwen Brennan is now co-president. Much has been said about Kennedy's tenure — even our story talked how the many highs were equaled by as many lows — and there are some (more than some, actually) who are cheering her departure. Is this a time for cautious optimism? Filoni and Brennan may offer more of the same. Could Filoni’s vision be even more narrow, now that he won’t have the more populist views of Kennedy to constrain him? Maybe Disney, without a strong exec at the top of Lucasfilm, will exercise a heavy hand in what it thinks Star Wars should be. One thing that is likely to change is the approach going into a project. Kennedy is said to have started projects by meeting a filmmaker and asking them what they would like to do. Filoni, on the other hand, could take a macro view, know what stories he wants to see happen, and then meet with filmmakers to execute them. That would be a fundamental change. Kennedy offered no preview in her so-called exit interview yesterday, which was quite light on detail, leaving geeks squinting to read between the lines. Is she happy to leave? Is she relieved? That was unclear. Does she take a parting shot at Disney for not taking a risk on a Ben Solo movie? She certainly stands up for Last Jedi, although sidesteps her responsibility on letting Rian Johnson get scared off by angry fandom, as a strong producer would have pushed for him to stay, if they thought that was the right move. And she never says if she got spooked by fandom. She also seems to throw Harrison Ford under the bus for the very mid Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, saying it was made because Ford wanted to do it. One thing that is strongly implied: the battle for Rey is over and Simon Kinberg won it. She says the new leadership is on board with the Kinberg trilogy (and even says when the script is due to come in). Not once is the Rey project that was to have been directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy mentioned. Anyway, all this has caused a lot of chatter in geek circles and comes not only as we’re still getting used to the New Year but also as Lucasfilm is deep into the post-production of the first Star Wars movie since 2019, The Mandalorian and Grogu. The movie, due to be released May 22, has been undergoing scoring sessions on the Fox lot this week and last. (A welcome and mighty feat for the city’s movie music industry, as many movies now score in London or Sydney or Budapest.) Now, let’s move from lightsabers to yellow sombreros with this week's scoop... —Aaron Couch and Borys Kit. |
THE FASTEST MOUSE IN ALL THE WEST IS RACING TO THE BIG SCREEN. Warner Bros. has set Jorge R. Gutiérrez to direct an animated feature centering on the classic Looney Tunes character Speedy Gonzales. The news comes a month after Mexico City-born filmmaker Gutiérrez took to social media, posting a photo of himself holding a Speedy Gonzales figurine while wearing a straw hat and red bandana similar to the ones that the lightning-quick mouse typically dons. He all but said he was making the movie in his caption, and now our colleague Ryan Gajewski has it confirmed. "Jorge is a singular storyteller whose voice, artistry and cultural perspective make every project he touches feel both timeless and completely new," says Warner Bros. Pictures Animation president Bill Damaschke of the filmmaker who may be best known for his 2014 animated fantasy, The Book of Life. The potential movie is a long time coming. Warner Bros. previously developed a big-screen take on Speedy Gonzales more than a decade ago, with Eugenio Derbez's casting as the voice star reported in 2016. During a 2024 interview with United Press International, the actor said that his movie was unlikely to get made, as the property was likely seen as "politically incorrect" by studio brass. Maybe this version will get up and running. ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! |
WE ARE HOSTING A WONDER MAN SCREENING AND Q&A, AND YOU ARE INVITED. Click here to RSVP to our first Heat Vision Live event of 2026. It's your chance to see Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sir Ben Kingsley and showrunner Andrew Guest talk about the new Marvel show! We recommend reserving your spot sooner rather than later, as it's filling up fast. |
WHAT NOW?
That's what every Star Wars fan wants to know, including Richard Newby.
"Lucasfilm has to prove it can make Star Wars into epic, theatrical events that excite fans old and new again. There’s plenty of reasons to hope, but also, expect more growing pains than an adolescent Wookie," writes Newby in a column looking at the state of play for a galaxy far, far away.
A new hope? |
➤ Samara Weaving has three films out this year, most notably for our crowd, the sequel to Ready or Not. She tells Brian Davids: “I don’t think anyone will be disappointed by how much pain Grace is put in.” That includes an accidental punch from co-star Kathryn Newton, prompting Weaving to drop the "C-word." She also reflects on having to relinquish the starring role in Radio Silence's Scream movies, and explains why her only wedding photo is with Jason Segal, not her husband, Jimmy Warden.
➤ Wait, what's that number?!: The quartet of Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailers generated more than a billion views(!).
➤ Trailer time: The Mummy teases (and Lee Cronin describes it as "One part Poltergeist and one part Seven"); Maggie Gylanhaal's The Bride lives!; Euphoria season three looks wild.
➤ Going Medieval: Horror filmmaker Michael Chaves conjures up Corpse Knight as his first-ever comic book series (coming from Skybound/Image).
➤ Treasure found: First look at Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in Amazon'sTomb Raider series.
➤ It's only fun and games until someone loses their eye: Fallout being turned into a competition TV series.
➤ Sorcery: Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music, a composer collective that he co-founded, to score the HBO's Harry Potter TV series.
➤ Reading time: Adult graphic novel sales rose 9.2 percent in 2025.
➤ Up, up, and away: The famed copy of Action Comics No. 1 that was once stolen from actor Nicolas Cage sells for a record $15 million.
➤ RIP: Scott Adams, who created popular comic strip Dilbert before tanking his career with racist remarks, dies at 68.
➤ Bad news: Kevin Smith not co-writing a Bizarro four-issue mini-series that is not coming in April. |
JAMES HIBBERD GOES BEHIND THIS WEEK'S THR COVER STORY WITH GEORGE R.R. MARTIN:
Here’s a lie all journalists tell: “We’re unbiased.” We’re not — nobody can be, really. What we actually mean by this is: We try our damn best to be unbiased. And for me, there’s no celebrity I find tougher to remain entirely unbiased about than George R.R. Martin.
I’ve interviewed the Game of Thrones author nearly a dozen times since 2011. George generously wrote a blurb for my book, Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, about the making of the HBO hit. He once texted me holiday wishes on Christmas morning (I was alone at the time, and very touched).
Put simply, I like George and have a soft spot for him. This affection hopefully comes across a bit in this week’s cover story profile of the author, “Heavy is the Crown: Inside George R.R. Martin’s Triumphs and Torments.”
The story is also, I think, rather candid about Martin’s struggles and stubbornness.
It’s a story I’ve hoped to write for years and the fact no entertainment publication has previously granted Martin a solo cover story felt a real oversight given his massive contribution to the world of fantasy entertainment.
While I suspect many outlets will jump on Martin’s spicy comments about his feud with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal (“[The relationship] is not just rocky, it’s abysmal,” he says), or our update about HBO’s development slate (an Arya Stark spin-off?), to me the fascinating part of our interview is Martin detailing his 14-year struggle to write The Winds of Winter (his anecdote about Dune author Frank Herbert, in particular, feels revealing).
As I wrote: The success of Thrones was both the best thing that could have happened to Martin and the worst thing that could have happened to the greatest story he ever wrote — and the most popular fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings. |
LET'S BRING IT BACK FULL CIRCLE: TO STAR WARS.
Possibly no other franchise has taken hold of pop culture in the way this space fantasy has. And it’s really the indelible characters of the original trilogy that power it all.
That’s for both good and ill. It’s good that there are elements that resonate and inspire almost 50 years later. It’s not good that it’s been very hard to find ways to make forward shifts in Star Wars stick.
Nowhere is that problem more finely illustrated in Disneyland’s shift in its Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge park, where it was announced this week that some characters from the 2010s sequels will be scaled back while returning classic personages such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, not to mention the John Williams score.
All this to say, there’s a big fondness for the originals. And that will be playing out auction-wise for the next month via Hake’s.
Today, the auction house kicks off the final part of its vintage toy selling of the collection of Jeff Jacob, a fan who amassed an assemblage of Star Wars toys (and more, such as G.I. Joe, GoBots, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers) over the course of the last 32 years.
This one, dubbed Part 4, features a 451 lot catalog with a lot of goodies for toy hounds. For example, there’s a complete set of 92 Star Wars (1977-1985) uncirculated AFA-graded action figures that Kenner released for their Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi, and The Power Of The Force toylines.
There’s about 20 Kenner pre-production proof cards for Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi (1983) figures. These rare cards were created before the movie’s title was changed to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and some have blanks where the character’s name and manufacturer’s name were intended to appear. (They even had a “Free! Nien Nunb” action figure offer.)
We love the innocence of the Death Star Space Station playset originally released in 1978.
As it says on the box, it contains "Working Elevator, Exploding Laser Cannon, Trash Compactor With Moving Wall, Alien Trash Monster, Opening Light Bridge, Trap Door And Rope Swing To Safety."
The set, which has been graded (AFA 85 NM+) and is protectively encased, is currently bidding at $5,000, with a sale estimate in the $10,000 to $20,000 range.
The auction winds up Feb. 4. May the Force be with you. |
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