An anonymous Disney source has spoiled the ending of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in the midst of leaked reports that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will have four weeks of reshoots before its Dec. 16 release date.
No one can quite agree why the reshoots are happening. Initial reports from New York Post claimed it was because the movie sucked. An anonymous source with an axe to grind said, “Disney won’t take a back seat, and is demanding changes, as the movie isn’t testing well.”
Today The Hollywood Reporter has a different spin on the matter, citing anonymous sources claiming “ the goal of the reshoots will be to lighten the mood, bring some levity into the story and restore a sense of fun to the adventure.”
So Rogue One is either entering reshoots because it sucks or because it’s too much of a war movie for Disney, who really wants another four-quadrant (old, young, men, women) hit like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and are willing to risk every Star Wars movie from now until the sun dies out feeling tonally the same.
#SoAsItTurnsOut South Park was right it's most likely going to be between a giant douche or a turd sandwich pic.twitter.com/mbh7fUVrtU
— Caryn (@SSIdget) May 9, 2016
While the Rogue One leaks have sent mixed messages, at least one concrete item has come out of the reshoots kerfuffle.“This is the closest thing to a prequel ever,” the THR source said, “This takes place just before A New Hope and leads up to the 10 minutes before that classic film begins. You have to match the tone!”
Yes, there will be more shooting for ROGUE ONE. The first cut was pretty serious. The new stuff to inject fun, "classic" #StarWars feel.
— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) June 1, 2016
ROGUE ONE, according to one of my guys, as prequel-ly as a prequel can get, leading up to 10 minutes before A NEW HOPE begins.Tone matters.
— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) June 1, 2016
Of course, you don’t actually have to match the tone (and I still cringe every time someone calls it A New Hope), but whatever, this person just spoiled the ending to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story!
While we knew Rogue One told the story behind the theft of the original Death Star plans — which Leia carried on the Tantive IV under the cover of a diplomatic mission — this leaker considerably narrowed the narrative timeline for us.
Was Jyn Erso on Leia’s ship at the beginning of Star Wars? I mean, does Rogue One literally end with a thumb drive handoff?
If Rogue One butts up against Star Wars it creates all sorts of narrative problems. What happened to this badass corp of Rebel Alliance specialists? Does this new leak suggest they all get killed by Darth Vader and don’t survive to ten minutes before Star Wars? And how will Rogue One pull off a young Han Solo cameo when Harrison Ford’s Han Solo is probably getting drunk in Mos Eisley at the exact same time?
In all likelihood, Rogue One doesn’t primarily take place in the minutes before Star Wars. Perhaps this leaked ending should be considered more like a postscript, with the final shots occurring months or years after the main narrative thrust.
Honestly, I’d rather not know. Hopefully all this internal squabbling over the direction of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be over soon and all these anonymous sources can go back to futzing with the edit instead of dribbling out spoilers during a corporate PR scuffle.
