Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy has announced she will step down from her post at the end of 2025. How will this affect Star Wars? Also, Barbara Broccoli, heiress to the James Bond franchise, has sold the rights to Amazon. What could this mean for the 007 legacy? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni investigate.
A galaxy far, far astray? After 13 years of highs and lows at the helm of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy has announced she will be stepping down from her role as CEO at the end of the year. Her oversight of the company’s flagship property, Star Wars, has been somewhat controversial. “She has The Mandalorian, which has been a big deal for Disney+,” says Belloni. “And she did relaunch the franchise and movies with the JJ Abrams film The Force Awakens. But beyond that, it's been a very mixed bag of Star Wars shows, and the movie franchise has been driven into the ground.”
Changing of the guard? Barbara Broccoli is set to part ways with James Bond in a billion dollar deal that hands over creative control of the franchise to Amazon MGM Studios. “It's sort of sad to me, because this is the end of an era,” says Masters. “This was a property that was managed by one family for 60 years, and I would argue, managed pretty successfully. Say what you will about the quality of some of the Bond films, but especially recently, these are movies that, like Skyfall, grossed a billion dollars.”
Adapt or die? As the Broccoli family says goodbye to Bond, Amazon has a difficult challenge at hand. How do you continue the legacy of a dated character born out of the Cold War? “I would question, ‘is Bond adaptable to today's world?’” Masters asks. “Bond was a womanizing guy with a gun. And, you know, I think one of the execs there was quoted as saying, ‘I don't even think he's a hero,’ so that's a tricky path to walk.”