I think we are underestimating the Feige movie. I see why Chapak would want to push that ahead of everything. When it comes to trusting Feige or Kennedy it makes sense to go with Feige.
A little bit of a plan would have been nice but I'm not going to blame Johnson at all. All they had to do was steer with it more and not feel the need to return to Palpatine, despite his enormous presence in the Clone Wars and PT. And giving the fans what they want is a useless exercise. Fans are too capricious to actually know if what they want will make for a good story. What if you don't trust either?
Yeah, that's pretty much what I've been guessing has happaned. There is absolutely no reason not the trust Kennedy, and to be honest, if I were looking for a producer to work with, between the two them, I'd go with Kennedy. Yeah, Feige has had a lot of success with the Marvel movies, but Kennedy has had a much longer career, with a bigger variety of projects in her resume. And when it comes to whether or not she's at fault for all of these projects falling apart, she's been in the industry since 1979, so at this point I'm going to assume she might have a pretty good idea what's she's doing.
See, you're approaching it from a very logical, business style approach. Fans do not approach their favorite franchises that way. They want the producer who makes them feel good.
As much as some fans might hate to admit it, movies are a business, not just about what the fans want. Yes, making the fans happy is good for business, but there are other considerations too. Not to mention, we don't know what Trevorrow or Jenkins had planned, so for all we know they could have gone so far off from what Kennedy & Co. want their Star Wars to be, that they would have been complete disasters for the franchise. They are putting hundreds of millions of dollars into these movies, and hoping to potentially bring in a billion plus, so they're not going to make sure they have a very good reason for canceling the movies or making drastic changes, like bringing in a new director.
There’s definitely a reason that nostalgia-based entertainment has taken off. Same reason why TFA, which so many fans suggest is a ripoff of ANH, but did amazing box office numbers at the same time. Fans say they want something different but when they’re given that (TLJ and to a lesser extent TRoS) don’t do great but the familiar (TFA) does amazingly. The execs know this. And they play off of it to make a buck.
Kennedy has a longer career than Feige but most of her career has been as a producer. He has had more success in terms of running a franchise and building and creating that franchise with the MCU. With some help. People do forget Joss Whedon had a big impact early on in creating the MCU.
Which is why he has had more success with he MCU than she has had with Star Wars. Plus with Kennedy be a issue I don't think if these move setbacks happened once in awhile but it's like every movie it seems. Which totally blew up their old plan to have a new Star Wars movie once a year back in the day. Now we might have another 3 years before a new SW movie. At least they got the tv stuff. Of course the next big debate coming is the Faverau stuff vs the Kennedy stuff which will be Obi-Wan, Andor and Acolyte. If Obi-Wan is great I think Kennedy could change her rep big time with the fans.
Let me be very blunt here-nothing will rehab Kennedy's image to the more vocal detractors in the fan community. See, their plan got blown up and Iger took ownership of it but Kennedy still gets the blame. Even in your post you drew lines of Kennedy vs. Faverau, as if Faverau is running his own separate LFL under Kennedy's nose. She gets not given credit for the successes under her watch and gets blamed for every single failure that occurs. Her image is basically treated as the face of the evil Disney corporation and she is responsible for all the ills and none of the successes. Feige, is the golden child who can do no wrong. He has had ups and downs with his Marvel project, but everything gets credited to him as a success. Kennedy is treated as the opposite. The simple fact is that Kennedy is the boogeyman to SW fans, because they always need one. Lucas was the one for the PT and Clone Wars, and Kennedy is the one for the Disney era.
Fans will accept something different if it's actually good, and I can't say that TLJ or TRoS were actually good movies.
Star Wars fans, in general, have no demonstrated that capability. TLJ was a good movie, but smaller in scope than what is generally considered a "Star Wars" movie. It worked very well in terms of exploring the themes presented. But, fans don't want that. They want safe, familiar, and feel good. Empire Strikes Back could not be made nowadays.
That's what the studios think, but don't confuse the Studios putting out the safe and familiar with fans demanding it. Of course we haven't established where the line between nostalgia and new ideas is either. Also, TLJ certainly brought up some themes but I can't say they were explored particularly well. The whole bit about the same companies supplying both sides went absolutely nowhere. And just because you deconstruct something doesn't make it good.
I'm not basing it on what studios thing (how could I know that?). I'm basing it on what people are currently buying. What they are buying is safe, familiar, and warm fuzzies. I thought it did. Mileage will vary.
I’ll even admit: There are those critical opinions on TLJ I appreciate. I don’t agree with them but I appreciate them. Regardless, the topic of the quality of Episode VIII has been litigated far too much over the past four years. If there’s no movement one way or another in the opinions, is there really a point of doing so again? We can call TLJ a divisive film that we’ll never all agree on and move on.
Some rehab would be possible. While I think none will ever fully be able to let go of not seeing the old gang together again for one final movie I think if people like something they tend to come around a little.