The “Star Wars” universe has really gone through a big shake up in the last six months: directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from the “Han Solo” movies, and filmmaker Colin Trevorrow parted ways with Lucasfilm on “Star Wars: Episode XI,” both replaced by veterans like Ron Howard and J.J. Abrams respectively. It seems like hiring younger upstarts backfired on the Kathleen Kennedy-run company (let’s not forget the same thing happened with “Star Wars: Rogue One”).
READ MORE: Rian Johnson Was Initially Unsure About Directing ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’
But with all the turmoil surrounding all these movies, one picture that has seemingly gone unscathed is Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” a movie that promises to have big, bold surprises, but twists that obviously didn’t upset or alienate Kennedy and the Lucasfilm story team. Comparatively, if the rumors are correct, Disney’s first two Star Wars movies ‘The Force Awakens’ and ‘Rogue One’ ran for 135 minutes and 133 minutes respectively. We shall see how it all pans out.
And while still, mostly under wraps, some details are surfacing. Rumors, and rumors perhaps to take with a grain of salt, claim ‘The Last Jedi’ will run 150 minutes or two and a half hours.
Most signs have pointed to Johnson crafting a different kind of “Star Wars” movie, a sentiment recently echoed by Domhnall Gleeson. “Wow there’s some stuff there which is kind of – not scary but different to what I expected,’ and that’s a really, really nice thing,” he told Collider. “I think that’s a really positive thing, I think it’s important for those films that we don’t repeat ourselves. So, I just wanted to talk to [Rian Johnson], and when I talked to him he was so clear and so confident, not in a brash way but he knew the film he wanted to make, and it was a really lovely thing. Just to sit down with a filmmaker you really enjoy… but to see him, just the confidence of it and his excitement about what it could be and everything.”
As tickets have gone on sale already for ‘Last Jedi,’ Lucasfilm has responded by releasing the long-awaited second trailer tonight during Monday Night Football. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” stars Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, John Boyega, and the late Carrie Fisher, but you already knew that. Rian Johnson is on board to write and direct, and it’ll be interesting to see how the film differs from the J.J. Abrams nostalgia-fest that was ‘The Force Awakens.’
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” opens on December 15th. Watch the new trailer and let us know what you think.