Author Archives: Thomas
It’s been a while since I talked about rumors, well, this time it’s more “leaks” than “rumors”, one of the sources is even The Hollywood Reporter. So no YouTube shenanigans really this time, more like credible leaks about upcoming things! Of course this article will be spoilerific to the max, so if you are allergic to spoilers please avoid! Click through for all the rumours and leaks!
You are about the enter the Star Wars Rumor Zone!
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Skeleton Crew just ended on Disney+ so it makes perfect sense for Hasbro to make a livestream all about the Ahsoka series! That’s next level marketing!
Two (one really) new Black Series figures were revealed today, and nothing more, no pipeline reveals either.
- Anakin Skywalker from the World Between Worlds Flashback
- Captain Rex (using the new clone body) from the same flashback scene
Preorders begin on January 23rd at 1 pm ET, they say availability is “spring 2025”! Happy hunting! Will you get any of those? Since I have all the Captain Rex I need I will only get Anakin. He looks pretty good. And that’s all folks!
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The year is still young and we are treated to the first Hasbro Star Wars fanstream already! The event starts at 11 AM Eastern. What are your predictions?
I will update this post with a link to the video once it is available (usually a few minutes before the stream begins), so refresh the page a few minutes before the event to see the link to the video or to watch the embedded stream after the jump! Or just head over at the Hasbro Pulse YouTube channel for today’s event and watch it all there!
The stream is now live, the event will kick off soon! Watch the stream here or click the YouTube link above!
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I’ll make this quick, since I have discussed this in detail previously. But the Skeleton Crew series finale failed to make the Luminate streaming charts which are already out for the past 7 days, so the final episode is already included. The #10 entry on the Luminate charts has 377.8 million minutes.
Meanwhile on the Nielsen charts episode 4 also failed to leave an impression, the show is still absent from those charts as well, the #10 original series here has 326 million minutes.
This means Skeleton Crew is with little doubt the least watched Star Wars live action show on Disney+ ever. With probably even less viewers than for Ms Marvel.
Anyone who still clings to the hope that this may somehow, maybe get an order for a second season will be sorely disappointed. It’s moot to discuss the reasons for this failure. It’s probably a combination of factors: kids as main characters which may not be something most adult Star Wars fans want, Star Wars Goonies meets Treasure Island may be too far removed from Star Wars as fans know and like it, and maybe The Acolyte has left nothing but scorched earth.
The only people to blame here are the ones making all the decisions at Lucasfilm and Disney. Absolutely not to blame however are the showruners Christopher Ford and Jon Watts and all the actors starring in Skeleton Crew, they delivered. The only question Watts and Ford may have to answer is if their pitch really was a good fit for Star Wars, however that is Kathleen Kennedy’s job to decide, not theirs, they did a really good job. So if you like Pirates of the Star Wars Galaxy as a concept the show was a fun ride with the best writing for any Disney+ Star Wars show outside of Andor and early Mandalorian seasons.
Why there is still no report of Kathleen Kennedy leaving Lucasfilm after her third colossal failure in a row (Indy 5, The Acolyte, now Skeleton Crew) and cratering merchandise and video game sales keeps on boggling the mind. Next victim of her touch of death could as well be The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, the leaks for that movie sound horrible. But by then it may be far too late to replace her. It’s difficult to see how Star Wars could make a comeback any time soon when there’s nothing but craters, smoking ruins and scorched earth.
Let’s hope for the best.
Defeat
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Skeleton Crew released its series finale on Tuesday. Sure, in theory this could get a season 2, but let’s be real, audience numbers make that almost impossible.
Which is a bit sad really, because people missed out on a genuinely good-hearted, fun and entertaining show that tried to give people a really good time. And the finale “The Real Good Guys” is no exception, it’s a fun ride with more action than any of the other episodes. All important questions and mysteries are answered too, but it also leaves a few things open for future stories. But unlike other shows Skeleton Crew feels more or less complete, yes, with potential for more, but this particular chapter of the story had a proper beginning, middle and end. It was a fun journey!
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I still owe you all my spoiler review for episode 7 of Skeleton Crew! Sorry for the somewhat late post, but better late than never as the saying goes…
“We’re Gonna Be In So Much Trouble” is the endgame for Skeleton Crew. All the different factions arrive on or in orbit of At Attin, we learn a bit about At Attin and its secret is mostly solved by now, with one important omission, who the supervisor is (we do hear him for the first time).
It was a fun ride once again, very enjoyable, but maybe, when you think about it all, not really all that star-wars-y. In fact, you could easily remove the few Star Wars references from Skeleton Crew and the series would still mostly be the same… a quasi retelling of Treasure Island and Goonies.
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This is just an update really, because I discussed the streaming charts for Skeleton Crew in detail only earlier this week. But Nielsen and Luminate have both released new charts earlier today. Nielsen for week 2 of Skeleton Crew and Luminate for week 6! So Luminate has data for episode 7 (review will follow probably tomorrow, stay tuned).
And what do the charts tell us?
Skeleton Crew made neither of the charts. The #10 entry on the Nielsen charts has 306 million minutes, the #10 entry on the Luminate charts 288.7. It’s safe to assume even the final episode next week will not make the charts, which means Skeleton Crew will be the first Star Wars live action series ever not to make it into the top 10 original shows streaming charts once. Even Marvel hasn’t managed that yet, Echo was in the top 10 for one week (because all episodes were released at once, if not, this show would not have made the top 10 either).
With that it’s now evident that Skeleton Crew is a colossal and pretty expensive ratings flop for Disney. Even though the show is generally well received. All possible alarm bells should ring over at Lucasfilm and Disney. And Andor will certainly not take the world by storm either, despite very enthusiastic and overwhelmingly positive reviews for season 1.
My advice to them… fall back upon what is known to work. Maybe it’s time to make a deepfake Luke series. If Disney even still wants to make more Star Wars for Disney+ after a string of super expensive flops. Ahsoka season 2 in 2026 will certainly not be it.
The Nielsen Streaming Charts
The Luminate Streaming Charts
The kids learn about the ratings for their show
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The Hollywood Reporter broke the news yesterday: contrary to what some fans theorized, Baylan Skoll will not die off-screen or mysteriously disappear in Ahsoka season 2. Late actor Ray Stevenson will be replaced by Rory McCann, who, among other things, appeared in Game of Thrones before.
Baylan was too essential of a character to write him out of Ahsoka season 2, with various plot threads unresolved, so a recast was the only sensible option.
Ahsoka season 2 is currently scheduled to release sometime in 2026.
What are your thoughts on this?
The character will live on
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As you may know I look at how each and every Disney+ Star Wars series performs on the streaming charts. Earlier in 2024 I also added Luminate to the picture and looked at their charts. And I already talked about the Luminate charts for Skeleton Crew previously, because their charts are released in a much more timely fashion. Nielsen has a four week delay, Luminate usually posts their charts 24 hours or so after the data gathering period has ended for the week (however, Luminate have not updated their charts since mid December).
So what do the Nielsen streaming charts say? Did Skeleton Crew perform any better here after never making the top 10 Luminate streaming charts? Click through for the details!
No love for Neel
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Sorry for the delay but to release episodes for a tv/streaming show over Christmas and even New Year’s Eve is an odd choice maybe, when people are busy doing other things. Anyway, I did of course watch the latest Skeleton Crew episode titled “Zero Friends Again” in the meantime and it was another very solid and fun entry!
We are nearing the endgame of season 1 (which will probably also be the only season this show will ever get based on audience numbers and the pretty high budget) so there’s lots to talk about!
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2024 is almost behind us now! The perfect time to talk about your personal Star Wars action figure of the year 2024! Please pick only a figure that was actually released in 2024, so if you bought a rocket firing Boba Fett prototype, good for you, but that figure would not be eligible. It doesn’t need to be a Hasbro figure, anything goes, Hot Toys, Funko, SH Figuarts, as long as it’s Star Wars and it was released in 2024! Also, no vehicles or playsets please, even if the Ghost has been shipped, let’s make this about figures only!
Post your personal pick for Star Wars action figure of the year in the comments! I will tell you about my pick after the jump!
And the award goes to….
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We got a new episode of Skeleton Crew earlier this week, because of the Christmas holidays my review follows somewhat later than usual, but I did watch the latest episode over the holidays!
And it was the most and best fun I had with Star Wars in ages. “You Have A Lot To Learn About Pirates” was a near perfect lighthearted romp and adventure for the whole family, kids and adults alike can love this.
So even if you have turned into the Star Wars Grinch… maybe give Skeleton Crew a chance and see how your heart will grow a size or too… it may rekindle a spark inside of you!
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Now this has nothing to do with Star Wars – or at least only very, very remotely. But since Kathleen Kennedy still thinks she can make a Rey Palpatine movie about some New Jedi Order with mega blockbuster superstar Daisy Ridley many people will certainly watch with great interest how Daisy Ridley’s upcoming action movie will do – in which she plays Girlboss McClane in a movie that is a blatant Die Hard ripoff. And no, this is no joke! Someone actually made a movie with Daisy as a female John McClane who has to stop a terrorist attack in a skyscraper and then gave it a different title hoping a few people at least may not notice the copy/paste job. Click through for more!
Clean Harder!
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I will make this very quick. Luminate updated their charts with data from the last seven days earlier today (their cutoff date is always on Thursday at 11:59 pm). Which means Skeleton Crew episode 4 was added. And the show did not make the charts yet again.
Skeleton Crew could be the first Star Wars series never to make the Luminate streaming charts (however, since Luminate is still pretty new only Acolyte was ever on the Luminate charts). We will have to wait for Nielsen and what they are saying, but if Nielsen shows the same trend (and the show would never be on the Nielsen top 10 streaming charts) then Skeleton Crew will become the least watched Star Wars live action series ever and the first to never once break into the top 10 most watched original shows. Even though it is currently the #1 show on Disney+.
The #10 entry on the Luminate charts has 307.3 million minutes. Around this time The Acolyte had a very bad 262 million minutes on the Luminate charts. So in theory, Skeleton Crew could have more than The Acolyte at this point of course, as long as it’s less than 307.3 million minutes. But since Skeleton Crew underperformed The Acolyte in the previous two weeks that seems unlikely.
Lucasfilm is in dire need of some deep soul searching and honest in-depth analysis of the state of Star Wars in 2024 after Kathleen Kennedy burned one too many bridges. It may very well be that The Acolyte finally broke the camel’s back. Also, maybe don’t try to be Stranger Things in space again, even if it’s fun. Why not make something that is, well, Star Wars? What it is known for? Well executed of course. And that’s the crux with almost all of the Disney+ Star Wars series.
Jude Law surrenders
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Unfortunately the latest Skeleton Crew episode feels like a first major misstep for the show. The beginning is actually pretty interesting and sets up something potentially intriguing…. the ending is also pretty interesting, as in, it advances the plot… but the 20 minutes between those two segments are just an utterly bizarre throwaway side quest that literally makes no sense. At all. Like… what were they thinking when they wrote that, I wonder!
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While we still have to wait a while for Nielsen to include Skeleton Crew on their streaming charts newcomer Luminate (the company behind the US billboard charts) have updated their streaming charts with data from last week only yesterday, which means episode 3 of Skeleton Crew is included in the dataset.
And it does not look good for the latest Star Wars series. Click through for more!
Jude Law learns about the viewership numbers for Skeleton Crew
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The adventures of the “Skeleton Crew” continue! We already got episode 3 out of 8 last night. And I can tell you right now that episode 3 does not dip in quality or fun factor. But, more surprisingly perhaps, Skeleton Crew proves to be pretty smartly written, at least for a Star Wars series on Disney+. It greatly outshines things like The Acolyte, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett or Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandalorian season 3 in this regard.
This show appreciates the viewer.
Also, the show may not be what we thought it would be, Goonies lost in space. We may return to the home planet of the kids sooner than anticipated, because the plot advances pretty quickly! Instead we learn about new mysteries that actually promise to be more interesting than just seeing kids week after week who are lost in space.
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While Nielsen is still the gold standard when it comes to streaming charts, based on their long history of providing industry standard ratings for classic network tv, there are several new players who also have their own charts. There is Samba TV, who only gather data from users who use their app, then there’s Luminate, a somewhat more serious player, who, like Nielsen, try to gauge overall viewership by analyzing various sources, not just any one app.
And while Nielsen always have a four week delay, so the first results for Skeleton Crew should come very late December, Luminate release their charts in a much more timely fashion, i.e. usually on late Friday/early Saturday with the data for the previous 7 days. Which means Luminate already has data for the Skeleton Crew debut from earlier this week.
And it does not look all too good for the new Star Wars show. Click through for more.
Can he attract an audience next week?
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The Skeleton Crew has arrived! Goonies in Space! To say that 2024 has been a very rough year for Star Wars is putting it mildly… so how does the year end for Star Wars?
I’ll elaborate further in my review but let me just say this: the show is a lot better than expected and much less bad than feared. Yes, it is indeed Space Goonies and episode 1 looks nothing like Star Wars, but Skeleton Crew hits home where it counts the most: it’s just (innocent) fun and perfect family entertainment for young and old. It is good natured, the creators do not insult you or waste your time, the kids, who are of course just kids so not necessarily Marlon Brando, are charming and fine and probably the best kid characters in Star Wars yet (not that Star Wars has a good track record here)… I was, despite criticisms, pleasantly surprised! I look forward to where this is going! I feel this is what we desperately need after the last series on Disney+. Innocent fun and a space adventure!
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This will surprise literally no one. The mythological Rey movie has now been removed from the release schedule according to the Hollywood Reporter. Star Wars was originally supposed to have two movies in 2026. The Mandalorian & Grogu in May and the Rey movie in December. But with the latter still not having a script and not a writer – yet again (this is the second time now) – it was inevitable that the movie would be removed from the schedule. There simply would be no time anymore to finish the movie in time for a December 2026 release. Click through for a discussion!
Mandatory photo of Rey crying
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The headline says it all. Earlier today an official release date for Andor season 2 was given. Nothing else was said and no trailer was released. My guess is that marketing for Andor will only begin once Skeleton Crew has finished to avoid any confusion and overlap.
Are you excited for season 2 of Andor? Will anyone who initially did not watch Andor season 1 watch season 2?
As of now Andor will be the only new Star Wars on Disney+ in all of 2025. Nothing else for 2025 has been announced. Which means Andor will be the last new Star Wars before The Mandalorian and Grogu movie hits theaters in May 2026.
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According to Deadline (a reputable trade magazine with actual inside sources) Lucasfilm is at it yet again… according to Deadline’s sources Kathleen Kennedy hired Simon Kinberg to make an all new trilogy of Star Wars movies, he will be the sole writer and producer (alongside Kennedy). According to the article there is some dispute about whether Kinberg will write episodes X-XII of the Skywalker saga or make an all new trilogy. Deadline’s sources told them it’ll be actually Episodes X-XII.
Now, Lucasfilm themselves have not announced anything, Kennedy did not walk out on some stage and talked about this new project. But you can usually trust Deadline to be correct when they post these things on their front page.
Kinberg has worked for Star Wars before, he was co-creator and writer for Rebels, he’s also the person who wrote the horrific Dark Phoenix X-Men movie and he’s also the one who wrote the 2015 Fantastic Four movie. So let’s just say my confidence in Kinberg is not particularly high. Even if other works like the RDJ Sherlock Holmes movie were received a lot better.
But since this is Lucasfilm let’s just all have a good laugh and wait for the inevitable report by any of the Hollywood trades that Kinberg no longer works on yet another trilogy. He can join Rian Johnson, Benioff & Weiss, Taika Waititi, Leslye Headland, Colin Trevorrow, Damon Lindelof, Steven Knight, Patty Jenkins et al in the clubhouse soon!
Why is Kathleen Kennedy still in charge over at Lucasfilm, planning nonsense things?
Read the original report by Deadline here!
Another day at the Lucasfilm offices
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The clown show that is Lucasfilm these days has a new trick: “the vanishing screenwriter”. I’ll make it quick, the fabled Rey movie has lost yet another writer. First it was Damon Lindelof and a writing partner who were “let go” over creative differences… then Kathleen Kennedy hired Steven Knight – the man who co-developed “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and is the showrunner/writer of Peaky Blinders – and 18 long months after that they still have nothing. According to reports Kennedy liked none of the treatments submitted by Knight. Knight himself has done many things, just nothing for Star Wars, he is working on the Peaky Blinders movie, he is busy creating a new studio in Hollywood. So if you followed the news it won’t be a surprise that Knight is now no longer attached to the Rey movie.
According to Variety Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is still attached to the project, Yeah, sure.
Part of me wants Lucasfilm to go through with this and to deliver the biggest Star Wars disaster of all times. The sensible part of me wants them to come to their senses and to stop this before it can potentially end Star Wars for good. But if they want to go ahead… my advice is, hire Leslye Headland, surely a movie about a woman needs a female writer? You may as well end Star Wars spectacularly.
What are your thoughts?
Another day at the Lucasfilm offices
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Earlier today everyone’s most favorite toy company – aka Hasbro – posted their numbers for the last quarter. Wall Street did not like it all that much, and shares dropped by several points following the report, even though Hasbro made money, they report an operating profit of $302 million.
But then again, revenue for the quarter is down 15% compared to the respective 2023 quarter, and year to date revenue is down 18% even. Hasbro becomes more and more Magic The Gathering, the Company. Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming keep Hasbro afloat. Consumer products revenue keeps declining however, i.e. classic toys. And what about Star Wars? For the first time in ages the brand does get a mention in the presentation and Hasbro even talked about Star Wars in the earnings call where they answer questions of analysts. Let’s just say it’s not pretty. Click through to learn more!
Spoiler…
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On Reddit I came upon a photo of a toy shelf at – what seems to be (not confirmed) – Ollie’s and I want to share it here because it’s utterly hilarious.
And yes, this is anecdotal, do not take any of this too seriously, but still… click through for a chat about the state of Star Wars in 2024.
One lone 5th Brother keeps this from being true perfection.
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