The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be the gold standard when it comes to movie franchises. Numerous other film franchises have tried, and most have failed, to copy the success of the company's first few phases. Meanwhile, Disney’s other big global franchise Star Wars has had more ups and downs on its path to sucess. Now Lucasfilm’s creative chief Dave Filoni says he is taking "inspiration" from the MCU and Kevin Feige.
Following Rosario Dawson and more appearing at Star Wars Celebration in Japan, we have a lot more visibility into what’s going on in the world of upcoming Star Wars movies and TV series. Speaking with ScreenRant, Lucasfilm CCO Dave Filoni admits that building the franchise with multiple projects in development at once is “tricky” which only makes him more impressed with what Kevin Feige was able to do with the MCU. He said…
So we are figuring all these things out and looking at every project and yeah, it's like project development. They don't all develop at the same time. But in Star Wars it's tricky because you need certain things to go before one another if they're in the same space of the way the audience will perceive it, which is why, and I said this in an earlier interview, I really, I'm fascinated by what Kevin Feige was able to pull off. I think it's so special and so unique.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe was certainly unlike anything that had been attempted before. The first set of movies, a collection of superhero origin stories that then came together in The Avengers, was something entirely new, and the franchise only ballooned from there. While many have argued the MCU has struggled recently, on the whole, there’s still nothing quite like it.
Star Wars certainly tried to do something like its own version of the MCU. In the years since Disney bought Lucasfilm, we have seen the number of Star Wars movies in existence nearly double, with numerous Disney+ series in addition. However, even Disney has sometimes admitted that Star Wars has grown too fast. Clearly, what worked for Marvel didn’t work perfectly here.
Part of the reason the MCU model doesn’t fit perfectly with Star Wars has to due with a greatly expanded timeline. However, while Star Wars franchise growth may go differently, Filoni is clearly looking at the MCU as inspiration that something like that can be done with the galaxy far, far away. He continued…
The Marvel Cinematic Universe and what he was able to accomplish on a timeline and perfectly place all these elements. It's an incredible skill and a real… It's really remarkable. We are not operating like they do. We're a bit different in Star Wars because our timeline moves a little bit differently. But I take a lot of inspiration even from that. And I've talked to Kevin and what a great guy. And so we're at a great moment.
With multiple Star Wars movies in development that now seem likely to actually happen, and even more shows on the horizon (you'll be able to access with a Disney+ subscription), the franchise is certainly looking to expand at a fast rate. Star Wars is certainly hoping to find success on par with Marvel’s high point, whether that will happen remains to be seen.
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