Star Wars: Episode IX Eyes Keri Russell

[Emabulator]

Variety has the story.

Keri Russell is headed to a galaxy far, far away.

Sources tell Variety that the “Felicity” alum is in early talks to join J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: Episode IX,” which Abrams is writing and directing. Russell and Abrams last collaborated on 2006’s “Mission: Impossible III.”

The role calls for action-heavy fight scenes. Russell has shown her ability to perform tough stunts in projects like FX’s “The Americans,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”

Abrams and Lucasfilm execs met with several actresses for the role in the past two months and settled on Russell right before the Fourth of July holiday. Abrams will likely cast two more actors by the time the film begins production at the end of the month. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver are all expected to return.

Abrams helmed “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and was asked to come back to direct this latest installment after Colin Trevorrow exited following creative differences. Abrams filled the role last fall and has spent most of that time working on the script with Chris Terrio.

[Evil Avatar]

That doesn’t seem like good news. Bringing in another “name” actress for the last movie in a trilogy seems like they are just floundering and have no idea where to go with the story after the train wreck of Last Jedi.

[karaliusbronius]

Great, so I can see her as being to Rey like Yoda was to Luke. Not cool man. Now.... is she to be the new supreme leader that Kylo didn't know about?

[MusicToEat]

My guess is she's going to be Rey's mom. JJ Abrams has a lot of work ahead of him fixing all the mistakes Rian Johnson introduced with the Last Jedi.

[NESter the Unlikely]

Star Wars is dead, Star Wars is over. You don't have to be its audience anymore.

Next!

[Evil Avatar]

Originally Posted by NESter the Unlikely

Star Wars is dead, Star Wars is over. You don't have to be its audience anymore.

Next!

Star Wars is a huge blunder for Disney so far, they are $4.5 Billion in the hole (in cash) for a franchise that has made significantly less than $2 Billion in profits.

But, long-term outlook is good. All they need is one hit under their belt and you know how Star Wars fans will be, we will all be singing their praises and buying all the crap again because it has a HUGE fan base and always will.

[vallor]

Originally Posted by MusicToEat

My guess is she's going to be Rey's mom. JJ Abrams has a lot of work ahead of him fixing all the mistakes Rian Johnson introduced with the Last Jedi.

If she ends up being Rey's mom you know Rey gets her looks from Daddy.

[vivafletcher]

Originally Posted by Evil Avatar

Star Wars is a huge blunder for Disney so far, they are $4.5 Billion in the hole (in cash) for a franchise that has made significantly less than $2 Billion in profits.

But, long-term outlook is good. All they need is one hit under their belt and you know how Star Wars fans will be, we will all be singing their praises and buying all the crap again because it has a HUGE fan base and always will.

How did you get that number? Are we including toys, DVDs, etc? Or just box office gross? And it hasn't even been six years. There are sections of their theme parks soon to be dedicated to it.

Buying Lucasfilms was a can't-miss prospect. Zero chance they'd sell it for what they paid for it. If it was a "huge blunder" they'd be happy to be rid of it.

They wouldn't sell for double. In the worst-case scenario, they lose $50 million for a stand-alone movie. But after rentals, DVDs, merch? Even that will be mitigated.

Not a blunder at all. Genius move imo.

[Evil Avatar]

Originally Posted by vivafletcher

How did you get that number? Are we including toys, DVDs, etc? Or just box office gross? And it hasn't even been six years. There are sections of their theme parks soon to be dedicated to it.

There was an article on Breitbart a few weeks back that ran down all the numbers. Remember, what a Star Wars movie makes at the box office total isn’t what it makes in profit. Box office receipts are split 52% going to the theater chain, so even the $1 Billion movies like Force Awakens and Last Jedi don’t pull in as much profit as you might think.

As I said, it wouldn’t take much for them to spin things back out into a success, but I think to do that they are going to have to finally make the tough decision to ditch Kathleen Kennedy — and probably a few more top people including JJ Abrams.

[vivafletcher]

Originally Posted by Evil Avatar

There was an article on Breitbart a few weeks back that ran down all the numbers. Remember, what a Star Wars movie makes at the box office total isn’t what it makes in profit. Box office receipts are split 52% going to the theater chain, so even the $1 Billion movies like Force Awakens and Last Jedi don’t pull in as much profit as you might think.

As I said, it wouldn’t take much for them to spin things back out into a success, but I think to do that they are going to have to finally make the tough decision to ditch Kathleen Kennedy — and probably a few more top people including JJ Abrams.

I'm sure that's true. But when you factor in toys, DVDs, streaming, whatever -- I think they're farther along. It's a no-lose purchase at twice the price imo.

[karaliusbronius]

Remember when Star Wars had Jedi? That was cool.

[Evil Avatar]

Originally Posted by karaliusbronius

Remember when Star Wars had Jedi? That was cool.

Now it has purple-haired lesbians and fat Asian chicks, it is SO much better now.

[Chimpbot]

Originally Posted by karaliusbronius

Remember when Star Wars had Jedi? That was cool.

Meh. Most Star Wars media wasn't nearly as focused on Jedi until the prequels. It was all about bounty hunters, blasters and starships through most of the 90's, with the occasional lightsaber fight (usually between Luke and the latest Sith ripoff). Things changed right around 1999, but prior to that, most Star Wars media wasn't nearly as Jedi-centric as it is now.