Boba Fett is one of the most famous characters in the Star Wars universe. Even though the legendary bounty hunter in the original trilogy did little more than stand around coolly and be pushed into the Carkoon pit by a blind smuggler.
Still, Lucasfilm wanted Boba Fett under Disney's wing their own Star Wars film dedicate. Director Josh Trank was commissioned for this, but his project never came about. Now we finally know exactly what caused the Boba Fett film to fail.
Fantastic Four is to blame for the "death" of Boba Fett
Trank has now opened up to Polygon that, contrary to original reports, he was not fired by Disney, but rather threw the craft himself. The decisive factor was the controversy surrounding his film Fantastic Four from 2015.
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The Marvel film fell through with fans and critics alike, giving the then rights owner 20th Century Fox losses of $ 80-100 million. Fantastic Four is still considered to be one of the biggest flops in film history.
To counter the negative press, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy decided to postpone the announcement and Josh Trank's appearance at the Star Wars Celebration 2015. So far there has been no official announcement of the Boba Fett film, only unconfirmed reports that could have been dismissed as a rumor.
Josh quit to quit being fired
As a result, Josh Trank decided to say goodbye to the project: "I quit because I knew I would be fired if I didn't do it myself." – the director reveals to Polygon.
At that time, only J.J. Abrams for Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens director at Disney – Kathleen Kennedy's reputation for firing filmmakers had to deal with Colin Trevorrow, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and David Benioff and D.B. White work out first.
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That Lucasfilm would have held Josh Trank as director for Boba Fett is anything but likely: In 2015 the filmmaker was anything but popular with comic fans, his career as a filmmaker came to a complete standstill because of Fantastic Four.
Only later did it gradually the controversial production history of Fantastic Four revealed that Josh Trank at least partially acquitted himself of the "guilt" for the cinema flop.
The Mandalorian pulls faster than Boba Fett
Three years later, rumors say the Logan director James Mangold develop a Boba Fett film instead of Josh Potion. This unconfirmed project also never came about and is said to have been sawed off in favor of the TV series The Mandalorian.
According to alleged insiders, the concepts surrounding the two bounty hunters in Mandalorian armor resembled too much, which is why Jon Favreau's TV project for Disney + was given priority. This decision definitely paid off for Disney.
The Mandalorian on Disney + is extremely popular with critics and fans alike, the Star Wars series by leading actor Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) has already been extended by a second and third season.
In addition, the flop of Solo: A Star Wars Story and the split resonance of Episode 8 – The Last Jedi forced Disney to rethink its Star Wars tactics: Star Wars films will only continue in cinemas in 2022, while TV series around Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) or Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) are currently taking priority.
