‘Star Wars’ Shakeup: Kevin Feige and Patty Jenkins Movies Shelved, Taika Waititi Looking to Star in His Own Film (EXCLUSIVE)

The Walt Disney Company is facing “serious consequences” and possible legal action over the pink slipping this week of Marvel VFX chief Victoria Alonso.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 3, Episode 6 of “Star Trek: Picard,” currently streaming on Paramount+. Of the many pleasures of the third season of “Star Trek: Picard,” the greatest has to be watching the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” finally reunite on screen for the first time since the 2002 feature film “Star Trek: Nemesis.” That movie was a failure critically, commercially and with “Star Trek” fans, many of whom were especially upset that the beloved character of Data (Brent Spiner) was killed off. Except, it turns out, he wasn’t. In Season 1 of “Star Trek: Picard,” fans learned that Data’s android consciousness had been kept alive within an inanimate memory core by Altan Inigo Soong (Spiner), the brother of Data’s original creator, Noonien Soong — until Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) honored Data’s desire to finally perish from existence completely. 

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is set to write the screenplay for a new Star Wars film, according to reports.As reported by Variety, original screenwriters Damon Lindelof (Lost) and Justin Britt-Gibson have departed the project, with Knight on board as a replacement.The untitled film, which is expected to be among Lucasfilm’s first Star Wars films since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel).More information about the project is expected to be announced at Star Wars Celebration in London on April 7-10.Along with Peaky Blinders, Knight is known for writing and directing 2013 films Locke starring Tom Hardy and Hummingbird with Jason Statham.

This week it was revealed that Lucasfilm had lost writers screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson, as the pair left last month after working on the script for the latest “Star Wars” film, with two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel“) attached to direct.

Victoria Alonso was overwhelmed.   The veteran Marvel Studios executive and producer of the nominated film “Argentina, 1985” was stopped on the red carpet, posing for photographers assigned to capture top executives on Hollywood’s big night. But something shocked her.   “Look at this! Two women!” Alonso said of the female photographers hired for the gig (as in most corners of Hollywood, women are outnumbered by men on the photo line). Emotional, Alonso insisted the pair put down their cameras and pose for a photo with her in front of a giant Oscar statuette. As they all smiled, she told them, “We’ve worked so hard to get here, and we’re not going anywhere.”  

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight is set to write the screenplay for the untitled “Star Wars” movie that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) is attached to direct, as original screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have departed the project, Variety has confirmed. The movie is widely expected to be among Lucasfilm’s first “Star Wars” films since 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” More information about the movie, including a possible title, is expected to be announced at the Star Wars Celebration in London in April. (A representative for Lucasfilm did not respond to a request for comment.)

The next “Star Wars” movie, to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chino, has lost its screenwriters. TheWrap has confirmed that Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson (“Counterpart”) have left the untitled, unannounced project.“’Star Wars’ scripts are a lot like James Bond scripts or most tentpoles for that matter.

Star Wars universe is in rude health following a string of well-received Disney+ tv shows but the franchise hasn’t released a full-length movie since 2019’s The Rise Of Skywalker.Following Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars in 2012, work began on a sequel trilogy and the original plan was to release one full film every year, starting with 2015’s The Force Awakens and including spin-offs Rogue One and Solo.However, following the mixed reception to The Rise Of Skywalker, Disney seems to be focusing more on its acclaimed television universe. Season three of The Mandalorian is currently being released onto the streamer with Ahsoka set to premiere later this year.Jude Law’s Skeleton Crew is also due for release in 2023 and there’s a second season of Andor in the works alongside a series focusing on original trilogy hero Lando Calrissian.The next Star Wars movie is currently due for release December 2025.

Despite the historic Best Director wins by Chloe Zhao and Jane Campion over the past couple of years at the Oscars, this year’s nominees proved that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make sure women filmmakers are recognized in the same way as their male counterparts. And for someone like Patty Jenkins, a filmmaker who has been in the business for decades, it’s disheartening to see one step forward and two steps back when it comes to the Academy recognizing women directors at the Oscars.

Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, and Kristen Stewart pose together for a photo at last night’s star-studded pre-Oscars party!

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Patty Jenkins says she was more than disappointed that no women were nominated for best director this year. “I give up, I give up,” the “Wonder Woman” director told me Saturday at the Charles Finch and Chanel pre-Oscars dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge. “I say that even with all of their push to have diversity. The numbers are just hugely imbalanced of who votes for these things. I sort of just stopped paying attention to it. It’s still going to take a long ways to go. It’s going to take a lot more to really see truly more diverse awards. I really appreciate the efforts that they’re making but we have a long way to go.”

K.J. Yossman The first panels and guests for Star Wars Celebration London have been unveiled. The official fan event, which switches each year between the U.S. and an international location, is headed to London, U.K. From April 7-10, the Force is set to take over the ExCel exhibition center in London. Among the highlights are the Lucasfilm Studio Showcase on Friday, April 7, which promises the “current crop of live-action filmmakers” as well as special guests to discuss “Star Wars” projects including “The Mandalorian, “Andor” and more. On Saturday, the Lucasfilm team will give fans a sneak peak at the upcoming “Ahsoka” series, with exec producers Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau on hand to share some secrets while on Monday Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Indira Varma will make an appearance to discuss “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

EXCLUSIVE: There is a disturbance in the Force.

Death On The Nile and Tenet, revealed his choices in a poll for Sight and Sound magazine.Since 1952, the magazine has asked various filmmakers every decade for their lists of the greatest films of all time. As part of the Winter 2022-23 issue, directors like Branagh, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Barry Jenkins and Ari Aster were invited to contribute their favourites.Branagh’s top pick was The Godfather, while Cloud Atlas and Lady Bird also made his top 10.

There’s a minor disturbance in the force, but there always is when it comes to Lucasfilm and “Star Wars” Celebration. And what we mean by that is Lucasfilm always makes major “Star Wars” updates at Celebration—which is coming up in April of this year in the U.K.—and the nature of development over at the company, which has been admittedly a little rocky over the last few years, means, some projects go forward and some get nixed (and honestly, this is a better approach than just releasing a movie with a weak script because it has a release date like a lot of blockbusters).

in a Twitter post and said: “I originally left Rogue Squadron after a long and productive development process when it became clear it couldn’t happen soon enough and I did not want to delay WW3 any further. When I did, Lucasfilm asked me to consider coming back to RS after WW3, which I was honored to do, so I agreed. They made a new deal with me.

The Jojo Rabbit Oscar winner is in talks to potentially star in his own Star Wars movie, however, Taika Waititi is still working on the script. It’s very early days for his Star Wars movie, like several projects that Lucasfilm has in the works.

Two longtime Star Wars projects have been officially shelved.

There’s a minor disturbance in the force, but there always is when it comes to Lucasfilm and “Star Wars” Celebration. And what we mean by that is Lucasfilm always makes major “Star Wars” updates at Celebration—which is coming up in April of this year in the U.K.—and the nature of development over at the company, which has been admittedly a little rocky over the last few years, means, some projects go forward and some get nixed (and honestly, this is a better approach than just releasing a movie with a weak script because it has a release date like a lot of blockbusters).

Star Trek film series as being “cursed”, while explaining his frustrations with the next planned instalment.The actor has played Captain Kirk since the 2009 reboot directed by J.J Abrams, which was followed by two sequels Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.In February last year, Paramount announced a fourth instalment in the reboot series was officially in development. At the time, Matt Shakman (WandaVision) was attached to direct, but he’s since departed the project to helm Marvel’s Fantastic Four.Speaking in an interview with Esquire, Abrams, who is a producer on the fourth outing, provided an update on the film’s progress. “I will say it’s the first time [since the original reboot] that we have a story that feels as compelling as the first one,” Abrams said.In the same interview, Pine shared that this was news to him: “I don’t know anything.