Recalling recent news that The Suicide Squad movie would undergo reshoots to instill a bit more humor into the film following the panning of the self-serious Batman v. Superman, it appears that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will likewise be getting reshoots this Summer for similar reasons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, who confirmed the news with new sources after the New York Post‘s Page Six first reported it (with the strong language of saying it was in “crisis”), there are several weeks of reshooting in store for the cast and director Gareth Edwards.
This all came about after Disney executives screened the Star Wars spinoff and decided its mood needed to be lighter and more “fun.” They allegedly thought it was too far from the tone of “classic” Star Wars movies, and, according to a THR source, that it rather seemed like a war movie.
Supposedly, they find it especially imperative that the tone matches the original movies — and particularly that of A New Hope — because this takes place right before it; also, it has a lot to live up to following the glowing reception of The Force Awakens, whose standards both the Post‘s and THR‘s sources say the original cut of Rogue One didn’t quite live up to. In the words of the Page Six source:
Gareth’s work on the first [2014] ‘Godzilla’ shows he can handle a big studio blockbuster. But Rogue One has fallen short of what J.J. Abrams did with Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens.
The film stars Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn, and is set for release on December 16. According to Deadline, this release date will not be impacted by the tweaks.