Simon Kinberg ’03 has punched his ticket to a galaxy far, far away, signing a deal with Lucasfilm to write and produce a new trilogy of Star Wars films for Disney. Producing with Kinberg will be longtime Lucasfilm President, Kathleen Kennedy.
Kinberg is best known for his work on 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, a relationship that began with his screenplay for 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, and includes his directing 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix and producing several films in the series, including 2017’s acclaimed Wolverine solo Logan, directed by fellow Columbia alum James Mangold ’99. Kinberg even weathered the IP’s move from Fox to Disney, serving as Executive Producer on this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which earned upwards of $1.3 billion in box office receipts and became the highest grossing R-rated film of all time.
The new trilogy won’t be Kinberg’s first foray into the Star Wars universe. In 2012, he was hired by Kennedy alongside screenwriters Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan to map potential directions for Episodes 7-9 of the film series following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, an effort that culminated in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He also created the Disney XD animated series Star Wars: Rebels with Carrie Beck and Dave Filoni (now Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm), which ran from 2014-2018. There was even a brief period in 2018 when Kinberg and Mangold, fresh from their success with Logan, were hired by Disney to develop a standalone Boba Fett film. The project was canceled following the underwhelming box office response to that summer’s standalone Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Disney’s larger push into streaming.
Nevertheless, Disney continues to forge ahead with new projects, and fan anticipation remains high. Mangold is already back in the fold, currently set to direct and co-write Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi with Theater alum Beau Willimon ’03 (CC '99). Coupled with Kinberg’s new trilogy, Columbia alums are at the forefront of the race to bring the storied franchise back to the big screen. May the force be with them.
