The film, which is slated for release on December 16, will reportedly need four weeks of expensive reshoots this July after the initial cut didn’t live up to the high bar set by director J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Rogue One is being directed by Gareth Edwards, who rose to fame with the most recent Godzilla reboot.
“Disney won’t take a back seat, and is demanding changes, as the movie isn’t testing well,” said a source to Page Six.
For its part, Disney appears to be downplaying the issues as much as possible, providing a statement that read: “The filmmaking team and the studio always anticipated additional shooting and second unit work to make the film the absolute best it can be, and the actors were aware there would be additional shooting. Coming off The Force Awakens, there’s an incredibly high bar for this movie, and we have a responsibility to the franchise and to the fans to deliver the best possible movie we can.”
Struggles with the new film may come as a surprise to those who have seen its first trailer, which had many Star Wars fans on the edge of their seat when it first came out in April — in fact, some fans even re-created it cut for cut in Lego. But the darker edge that was alluded to in the two-minute clip may be a little too bold for Disney, which presumably wants to maintain a comedic element to balance the Star Wars universe’s ever-present dark side.
With six months before the film hits theaters, there is still plenty of time to fix whatever may be misfiring on the new film, and — let’s be honest — if Edwards’ Rogue One is able to leap the same bar as Abrams’ recent Star Wars gem (or even approach it), it should be one heck of a flick.
