‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Interest Rivals ‘The Force Awakens,’ Says Disney Head

Star Wars is one of the biggest, if not “the” biggest, franchise out there, so it makes sense that the franchise’s new owners would want to get the lay of the land and set the direction for the future of Star Wars. To that end, Disney boss Bob Iger took a meeting with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy and discussed everything from the new story arc established in The Force Awakens to the projections for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. As Iger was about to learn, interest in Rogue One was surpassing expected predictions, but what was even more shocking was the news that fan interest in Rogue One has even surpassed the interest shown in The Force Awakens, prior to that film’s release.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Has Captured The Imaginations Of Fans

Bob Iger is impressed with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and he shares that opinion with Variety as someone who has already seen a rough cut of the film, proving he speaks of the story with much more information than even the most die-hard fans.

“It’s really interesting in terms of Star Wars storytelling,” the Disney chief said. “Star Wars has only been told as a saga, and this is a moment in time … we love what we’ve seen.”

Still, it was never expected that Rogue One would come anywhere near the groundbreaking performance of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which brought in $2.1 billion globally and became the third highest-grossing film of all time. Iger isn’t intentionally downplaying Rogue One. It’s just that expecting another blockbuster as successful as The Force Awakens might just have been expecting too much, particularly from a stand alone Star Wars film.

As it turns out, Star Wars fans have proven Iger and Kennedy wrong.

“The level of interest [in Rogue One] is as high as it was for Force Awakens,” Iger says, explaining that his estimate is based on fan interest in the teasers and posters released for the two films.

Rogue One Isn’t Your Parents’ Star Wars

It may go without saying, but Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is going to be unlike anything we’ve seen previously, because, as Cinema Blend points out, much of the story arc in this offshoot film will distinguish itself from previous films. Primarily, Rogue One will establish itself as a unique story within the Star Wars franchise by not centering on a Skywalker family story arc. Instead, Rogue One sends a ragtag band of rebels on a mission to steal the plans for the first Death Star.

Riz Ahmed, who plays Rogue One’s Bodhi Rook says the new film is more about people than previous Star Wars films. Where Star Wars sequels have basically followed along a consistent plot, Ahmed says the focus with Rogue One is more on characterization.

“The film is about complex characters and loyalties and murky pasts… The film is a little edgier, with people making these huge compromises,” says the Rogue One actor. “History isn’t always clear.”

Ahmed describes the characters in Rogue One as a collection of undesirables thrown together to achieve a common objective and adds that ideals of loyalty and morality will be in short supply. Risking betrayal at every turn, the Rogue One protagonists will face off against one another as well as daring a dangerous plot against the Empire.

It sounds like Rogue One is made up of an entire cast of Han Solos and, from what Ahmed says, it seems these scoundrels will have no problem with shooting first.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to open in theaters on December 16.

[Featured Image by Walt Disney Studios/Lucasfilm]