The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

GROUP OF FANS CAMPAIGN TO REMAKE ‘THE LAST JEDI’

- By Kate Feldman

Anything Rian Johnson can do, fans think they can do better. A group of fans, going under the Twitter handle @RMTheLastJ­edi or “Remake the Last Jedi,” have decided that they could put on a much better “Episode VIII” than Johnson did.

“This is a campaign to provide Disney an opportunit­y to course correct with the Star Wars franchise. The fans are completely divided and the core goal of Star Wars has been abandoned. The goal is to not make one half of the fandom happy over the other, it is to make a film that the fandom in general as a whole enjoys,” the group’s website reads.

“The hero archetype’s of the original films is what made these so great, it made characters that everyone could relate to regardless of their background and beliefs. No longer having this core element along with poor storytelli­ng, has made the franchise divisive and in disarray.”

Last week, the team behind the now-viral account announced that it had a team of producers offering to cover the budget. At the same time, the “Remake” website boasted almost $48 million in pledges, a number that is not tied to any actual donations.

“The Last Jedi” brought in a massive $220 million in its opening weekend and eventually went on to become the ninth highest-grossing movie of all time with a worldwide box office of $1.3 billion; it’s since been knocked down by “Black Panther” and “Infinity War.”

The group, which insists in its pinned tweet that “this isn’t a joke,” has, in fact, become quite a joke, although it got some (assuredly sarcastic) support from Rian Johnson.

“Please please please please pleeeeeeea­aaase please actually happen please please please please please,” the director tweeted last Thursday.

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