Today in Donald Glover: Lando is now a movie, Mr. & Mrs. Smith moves release dates
The strike will probably keep Glover’s next Millennium Falcon ride grounded for some time
It’s been some time since our eyes gazed upon the gas giant way out in the “Lando system” known as Bespin. Communications with the tibanna refinery run by the coolest cape enthusiast in the galaxy, Lando Calrissian, have been dead silent since the disappointing release of Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018, which unofficially began a pumping of the brakes on Star Wars as a movie series. That might be changing. For years, there have been grumblings of a Lando Disney+ series to join the galaxy of Mandalorians, Ahsokas, and Book Of Boba Fetts. Now, it seems like it’s going to be a movie. Stephen Glover, the brother of Donald, lead story editor of Atlanta, and co-writer of Lando, told the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, “It’s not even a show. The idea right now is to do a movie. Right now, because of the strike, it’s like [a game of] telephone.”
https://x.com/pablofindsout/status/1702312015635554764?s=20
Earlier this summer, Donald and Stephen Glover took over writing duties on Lando from Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien when it was a show. Sources at Disney have confirmed that Donald Glover’s Lando will be a movie, but there has been no movement outside that because of the strike. There has been no development or negotiations because that would require WGA writers. So until Disney returns to the bargaining table and reportedly responds to the WGA’s latest offer, there won’t be any Star Wars for anyone. Of course, a Star Wars movie is one of the worst things any aspiring franchise installment can be right now, so we’ll see what happens with all that.
In other Glover-related news, per Variety, Amazon Prime is moving the release its Mr. And Mrs. Smith series, starring Maya Erskin and Glover, from November 2023 to 2024. Many networks and studios are scrambling to fill fall and spring content calendars because the AMPTP has yet to settle its multiple strikes. For example, Warner Bros. Discovery, which will take a $300 to $500 million hit to avoid paying their writers a collective $50 million, moved Dune: Part Two to next March. The AMPTP’s refusal to end the strikes has cost the California economy (the world’s fifth largest) $5 billion. The WGA proposal would cost Amazon $32 million. Amazon is worth $1.25 trillion. We don’t get it either. We thought these guys loved money.