Posted in: Lucasfilm, Movies, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: star wars: starfighter

Star Wars: Starfighter – IMAX CEO Praises The Film

The CEO of IMAX, Rich Gelfond, has praised Star Wars: Starfighter, calling it "a throwback to the Harrison Ford kind of Star Wars."

Star Wars fans are not exactly eating well these days. The franchise has been all over the place since they decided to wrap up the Skywalker Saga, and as we unknowingly headed into the pandemic. Star Wars seemed like one of the franchises that really found its home on streaming, but, like everything else with streaming, the bottom fell out of that market, and the attempt to return to the big screen didn't exactly go well. The ironic thing is that The Mandalorian and Grogu likely seemed like a sure thing, so the fact that it underperformed so badly was likely a surprise to all involved. The next Star Wars film to hit the big screen is Star Wars: Starfighter and so far, people have been saying a lot of good things. Now we have another voice to add to the list of those who have said nice things about this film early on. IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond was recently on The Town with Matt Belloni (via GamesRadar+), and he praised the film, saying exactly what Star Wars fans want to hear: this is like the original trilogy.

"I've been on set of [Star Wars: Starfighter] and that's a throwback to the Harrison Ford kind of Star Wars," Gelfond said

When Gelfond was pressed about The Mandalorian and Grogu's box office performance during the interview and comparing it to Star Wars: Starfighter, he replied, "I'm on a limb on this one. I'll tell you, take it to the bank… I think it's going to be good." So it sounds like one of the companies that is extremely invested in this movie doing well is being optimistic. There are reports that the first trailer for Star Wars: Starfighter will be shown during the big Friday showcase at D23, but it's unclear whether that footage will be released to the public. All we know is that Disney is likely happy with what they have seen so far, considering they are reuniting star Ryan Gosling and director Shawn Levy for Ghost Rider.

Star Wars: Starfighter Went From 0-100 At Lightspeed

The Mandalorian & Grogu will be the official return to a galaxy far, far away on the big screen, but reports about a film from Shawn Levy began in November 2022. Everyone thought the film wouldn't get much traction for a while, since Levy had other projects to work on, but then Ryan Gosling got involved. His [potential at the time] involvement following the massive success of the Barbie movie meant that Levy's project went from "eventually" to "right now."

That involvement was first teased back in January 2025, but no one confirmed anything, and it seemed they were waiting until Celebration in April 2025, which isn't a surprise. On the stage in front of a bunch of hopefully not-too-jetlagged fans, it was announced that Levy's project would be titled Star Wars: Starfighter. They also confirmed that Gosling had been cast and that the film had been given a prime-time release date of May 28, 2027.

In a press release from Disney, we also got some very vague story details. The release described the film as "a standalone adventure taking place approximately five years after the events of 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. …  [Star Wars: Starfighter] is an entirely new adventure featuring all-new characters set in a period of time that has not been explored on screen yet." The release also confirmed that production will begin in fall 2025, which makes sense given a May 2027 release date and the amount of post-production a massive film like this needs. It was reported that Mia Goth had joined the cast in early June. In early August, it was reported that Matt Smith had joined the cast.

Star Wars: Starfighter stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams. It is directed by Shawn Levy and produced by Levy and Kathleen Kennedy. The executive producers are Ryan Gosling, Dan Levine, Mary McLaglen, and Josh McLaglen. The script is by Jonathan Tropper.

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