Boba Fett Movie Is Reportedly Dead

Bye-bye, Boba. 

According to Critics Choice member Erick Weber, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has confirmed that the Boba Fett spin-off film is dead in the water and that the company will shift focus from the planned feature to Jon Favreau's Star Wars series The Mandalorian, set for an exclusive launch on Disney's upcoming and yet-unnamed streaming platform. 

Weber tweeted out on Thursday, October 25, "Kathleen Kennedy just confirmed to me Boba Fett movie is 100% dead, 100% focusing on THE MANDALORIAN #StarWars."

While it's disappointing that the film all about the fan-favorite Mandalorian bounty hunter apparently isn't happening anymore, it isn't entirely surprising. 

Just a month after The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the Boba Fett film was Officially A Thing and that Disney and Lucasfilm had tapped Logan filmmaker James Mangold to direct, Collider published a report indicating that the companies had placed all their in-the-works Star Wars spin-offs (belonging to the A Star Wars Story collection) on hold in order to prioritize completing Star Wars: Episode IX and The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson's upcoming Star Wars trilogy.

The decision to pause production on the pics arose in the weeks following Solo: A Star Wars Story's disappointing box office debut, so many took it as an indication that Disney and Lucasfilm were rethinking their plans to create a string of prequels because of the way Solo performed upon its launch. The Alden Ehrenreich-starrer pulled in $392.8 million worldwide during the course of its theatrical run — a fine figure when it comes to tentpole movies but nowhere near the amount that Disney and Lucasfilm were expecting the film to earn. For comparison, the other A Star Wars Story anthology film, Rogue One, raked in a staggering $1.05 billion internationally when it opened in December 2016. It's likely that the companies were gunning for Solo to turn just as massive a profit considering that the film focuses on the early days of one of the most well-known and beloved Star Wars characters of all time — Han Solo. 

That said, those who have kept a finger on the pulse of all things Star Wars may have seen the Boba Fett movie cancellation coming. And, when viewing the situation with an even more critical eye, one will find that this may actually be a good thing for Disney, Lucasfilm, and the expanded Star Wars universe as a whole. 

Rather than getting stuck in the past, concentrating on characters who have already had their time to shine on screen, Disney and Lucasfilm truly should be looking ahead. Favreau's The Mandalorian, the series the companies are opting to focus on instead of the Boba Fett film, is said to dive into a previously uncharted piece of the Star Wars map as it follows "a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic." Likewise, writer-director J.J. Abrams' Episode IX will weave a tale fans haven't yet heard. Ensuring that The Mandalorian and Episode IX are as stellar as they can possibly be is apparently the number-one concern — and rightfully so. Get the big projects that tell brand-new stories right, and then dip into the archives. We feel you, Disney and Lucasfilm. We feel you.

Kennedy apparently didn't comment on any of the other Star Wars spin-offs — like the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie — so those may still have a chance at gracing the silver screen at some point in the future.