There are long-running movie franchises, and then there’s Star Wars. The beloved space opera has been entertaining audiences for decades, and is currently available in its entirety with a Disney+ subscription. Due to this level of adoration, other sci-fi projects are often judged related to Goerge Lucas’ franchise. And Rebel Moon’s writer revealed how he feels about those Star Wars comparisons.
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon just arrived for those with a Netflix subscription, setting up the director’s burgeoning sci-fi franchise in the process. Some of Rebel Moon’s critical response include comparisons to Star Wars, thanks to similar themes about a cosmic empire that’s oppressing other planets. Writer Kurt Johnstad spoke to Variety about this chatter, and responded honestly saying:
There you have it. By the writer of Rebel Moon’s estimation, they are two very different franchises. But he seems to understand why folks automatically make comparisons to Star Wars. It’s hard to ignore that franchise’s impact on the entertainment industry as a whole, especially within the sci-fi space.
CinemaBlend’s review of Rebel Moon did mention its connection to George Lucas’ franchise, as the movie was seemingly inspired by Zack Snyder’s scrapped Star Wars movie. It should be fascinating to see how the first of Snyder’s movies performs. Especially since the trailer for Rebel Moon Part 2 is already out. Later in his same interview, Johnstad offered the way the new sci-fi property offers something new when compared to Star Wars, saying:
He’s not wrong. While IPs continue to dominate decisions made in the TV and film industries, Rebel Moon offers something totally new. It’s already performing quite well on Netflix, as it’s been trending at #1 on the streaming service for a few days now. And I can only imagine how many more streams its going to get as the holiday week continues on.
Rebel Moon Part One: A Child of Fire is streaming now on Netflix. Be sure to check out the 2024 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.