Kathleen Kennedy was once of of Hollywood’s top producers. For nearly 40 years she has worked with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and many more. But her legacy has taken a downturn in recent years due to her questionable leadership as head of Lucasfilm.
Originally thought to be a good choice, the numerous poor business decisions and questionable creative directions have lead many to think that her time at Lucasfilm is up. Not only from fans, but even the mainstream media and Disney shareholders are calling her out. But sadly it appears that her contract has been extended.
Reports say that Kathleen Kennedy’s contract was set to expire at the end of this past October, but no announcement of her “Stepping down” was made. On the Lucasfilm website she is still listed as the head of the studio. Even with investors asking Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, to replace her it has been reported that her contract has been extended until 2024. This gives her enough time to work on finishing the 5th Indiana Jones film.
But this isn’t entirely bad news. Besides Indiana Jones 5 and the Leslye Headland Star Wars show Kennedy allegedly has zero creative influence over any other project at the studio. She will seemingly be a figurehead while people such as Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni take over creative control going forward.
There are many alleged rumors as to why Disney wouldn’t publicly fire her. From worry over backlash for removing a woman from power to the belief she has some dirt on certain Disney executives and are afraid she’ll go public with that information out of spite. Of course all of that is just rumor and speculation fueled by those trying to make sense of why a person who has supposedly caused so many issues is still in charge.Â
And remember, if Disney was enthusiastic about renewing her contract they would have made a big press release. So quietly renewing her contract means that they want to avoid any public backlash. Maybe they are hoping she will leave on her own?
Hopefully the next 3 years go by fast.Â
Source: ColliderÂ
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