Choosing the title of a Star Wars movie is a pretty tricky task, the origins of those subtitles is firmly rooted in Saturday morning movie theatre serials such as Flash Gordon from the 50’s, as is the opening crawl. It would be fair to say there have been some strange titles, The Phantom Menace whilst somewhat appropriate was definitely a little out there compared to the others. But perhaps the title which has the least commonality with what has come before is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
The title having a character (or family) name within it, is definitely unique, though this is the final movie of the Skywalker Saga, so it could be very appropriate once we see the movie. Recently Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president spoke with Io9 and in attendance was The Rise of Skywalker producer Michelle Rejwan. They were asked if The Rise of Skywalker was a more difficult title to come up with, given the delay in its announcement and how quickly the title was chosen for The Last Jedi.
Kennedy: “Yeah, it was.”
Michelle Rejwan: “It actually was.”
Kennedy: “Yeah. I mean, I think every Star Wars title is very important. And so we spend a lot of time thinking about it. It was interesting. We came to the title pretty late on this movie because I think all of us were so immersed in creating the story. And I’m a big believer, I think the author should fundamentally drive the title and Chris [Terrio] and J.J. [Abrams] writing the script, it was important to let them really spend time with understanding what this was and all the nuances of what the mysteries were that were being revealed. So I think you’ll find when you see the movie, it was a very apt title.”
I have to say, I’m not a fan of this title simply because it has the name Skywalker in it. Having not seen the movie I cannot begin to think of an alternative, but I will attempt to do so once I have seen it. Maybe I’m wrong and it’s the perfect title, that remains to be seen, but prior to watching the movie, I’m not keen on it.
Director J.J. Abrams spoke himself about the title some time back when he discussed it with ET Online and here is what he said.
“The title feels like it’s the right title for this movie, and I know that it’s provocative and asks a bunch of questions, but I think when you see the movie, you’ll see how it’s intended, what it means. In the flow of titles, this movie had a very weird responsibility, it had to be the end of not just three movies, but nine movies, and the idea of having to incorporate the stories that have come before strangely is the story of the movie.”
I guess we simply have to trust in their decision at this point and judge the movie as we see it. Is the title all that important anyway? No, not for me, after all if The Phantom Menace had been the best ever Star Wars movie, and not the worst (my own opinion) then we’d probably be in love with the title. Was The Empire Strikes Back a good title, I mean I love it because I love the movie, but if you know nothing about Star Wars, is it a good title? Probably not. The point is, if The Rise of Skywalker is a great movie, then I simply won’t care about the title, but right now, looking from outside, I’m not a big fan of it.
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What do you think of the title The Rise of Skywalker, love it, hate it, or don’t really give two hoots? Share what you have in the usual place below.
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SOURCE: Io9
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