To opening crawl or not to opening crawl…? That is the question Lucasfilm is trying to find a definitive answer to, as it pertains to ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY.
You can understand the logic of both sides of the argument. Those in favor would say that the film should try to maintain some degree of continuity with the rest of the films, especially because the events of the ROGUE ONE will feed right into STAR WARS, or as it is now referred to in the grand scheme of the STAR WARS Saga – EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE. However, those who say no crawl would state that ROGUE ONE is not a main chapter, but more of an in-between between stories, and, as a result of the tale it will tell, really needs no introduction.
It's a break from tradition, and that certainly doesn't sit well with some… But wouldn't it be nice if these standalones could sort of cut their own path through the STAR WARS Galaxy to do exactly that – stand alone?
Kathleen Kennedy remarked on the matter over the weekend at STAR WARS Celebration…
“You know, we’re in the midst of talking about it, but I don’t think these films will have an opening crawl. I think that’s what we kind of telegraphed at the beginning of the event today.”
And to show you what was telegraphed, here's the introduction of the ROGUE ONE panel she is talking about.
It certainly is a different spin on things and immediately calls attention to the fact that this is going to be something very different. Does that work for you?
Director Gareth Edwards offered up a few words on the matter as well…
“I think basically there’s a lot of things that I probably can’t talk about, is probably the safest way to answer that. The idea is this film is supposed to be different than the saga films…the whole crawl of it all — it’s funny people are fascinated on that.”
The key word there is different, so perhaps fans might want to start getting used to the idea that ROGUE ONE might start a little differently than your traditional STAR WARS film in the past. That's not a bad thing. It's just… you guessed it… different.
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY opens on December 16.