These are some of the imponderable questions raised by the funneling of resources to streaming services, with “Obi-Wan Kenobi” — a limited series in which Ewan McGregor reprises his role from the second trilogy — due to land on Disney+ in May.
Indeed, the first thought consuming the trailer — especially when those strains of composer John Williams’ “Duel of the Fates” kicked in — was just how big an opening weekend a movie version would have registered at the box office.
Alas, we’ll never know, as Disney has prioritized producing must-have content for Disney+, which has outpaced even the most ambitious projections for its growth, reaching nearly 130 million subscribers. At roughly $7 a month, that’s a whole lot of credits, and “Star Wars” shows, like “The Mandalorian,” are obviously a major part of that.
Saturating the market was likely a factor. Arguably, though, the studio might have overreacted, in the process underestimating the appeal of the Kenobi character and the lure of having McGregor (as opposed to a recast newcomer) reprise the role.
While it’s fun to speculate and play “What if?,” it will be virtually impossible to sort out whether Disney left money on the outer rim by producing a limited series instead of a movie. People sign up and maintain streaming subscriptions for all sorts of content, although it seems fair to surmise that “Star Wars” fans won’t cancel Disney+ any time before “Kenobi” finishes its run.
The series, incidentally, premieres on May 25, which happens to be the 45th anniversary of the Jedi knight’s debut in “Star Wars,” back in the day before chapter subheads were involved, when people’s at-home alternatives were mostly limited to the three broadcast networks.
Would a Kenobi movie, released on that anniversary with the kind of trailer that just broke the internet, bring people out to theaters today? Let’s just say that if Disney had stuck to its original plans, even with all that’s happened to movie-going, they’d be justified in having a good feeling about this.
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