Star Wars Episode 8 News Update: Disney Execs Demand Reshoot of Star Wars Spin-off

A Star Wars spin-off is pretty much slated for theatrical release in December 16 this year. Titled 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story', the spin-off film is supposedly intended as a follow-up to the blockbuster success of 'The Force Awakens' while Episode 8 is still in the works. However, Disney execs aren't too happy with the result that they demand an expensive reshoot starting in July.

As reported by Page Six, Gareth Edward's first film cut did not seem to please the top brass and will forcibly go into four weeks of costly reshoots. This may sound a tall request but the bosses do not want anything less stellar than the franchise's earlier releases.

'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' is pretty much the prequel that explains how the original trilogy started: the mission to steal the Death Star blueprints set in the timeline gap between the Revenge of the Sith' and 'A New Hope'.

According to Morning News USA, there were speculations about the film acquiring a stronger darker theme as opposed to the usual wholesome nature of the Star Wars movies. Darth Vader will reportedly appear assuming the role as the Emperor's chief enforcer who goes after dissidents and rebels who are perceived as security threat to the Galactic Empire.

After Disney's acquisition of the Lucasfilm classic along with the blockbuster hype created by 'Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens,' the people calling the shots are quite careful on how to go about with the already-announced spin-off to avoid mistakes that plagued the franchise's prequel trilogy.

Edwards is a highly capable director but they want the production team to stave the darker theme off the film and embrace a lighthearted and more wholesome direction of previous title release. Although Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy has long been exploring a rather different and unique tone for the spin-off, Disney execs aren't too warm to her idea.

"The move is happening after execs screened the movie and felt it was tonally off with what a 'classic' Star Wars movie should feel like. The goal of the reshoots will be to lighten the mood, bring some levity into the story and restore a sense of fun to the adventure," an insider source said as quoted in a reported by the Consequence of Sound.