Star Wars: The Last Jedi may be a divisive movie, but it's also rather good, something we can't really say about last December's
The Rise of Skywalker. After all, that's the worst-reviewed instalment of the sequel trilogy, and a finale that turned the "Skywalker Saga" into the "Palpatine Saga."
In a featurette on the recent home release of Knives Out, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson talked in detail about making his critically acclaimed murder mystery, and reflected on not getting the chance to put his Star Wars movie in front of a test audience.
"It was like a party in the theater, it was really fun," he said of showing his latest film to moviegoers for the first time. "It was like the first time I was like 'Oh wow, this actually plays. This is good.'"
"Which is really nice and that’s something on Star Wars, you can’t test Star Wars movies for a lot of different reason," Johnson continues. "I’ve always hated test screening, and when we were making Star Wars, at a certain point in the process you’re like 'God, I would give my left arm to put this in front of 300 people in Burbank and just see how it plays.'"
The Last Jedi was definitely controverisal, and it's hard not to wonder what might have changed both for the better (and worse) had people got to see the movie in advance. At this point, test screenings might benefit Lucasfilm, and it's not like they'll result in spoilers leaking as that tends to happen anyway!
Johnson is supposed to be returning to a Galaxy Far, Far Away for a new trilogy of movies, but it's been a while since we've heard anything concrete about the studio's plans for that.
Do you hope to see more of Johnson's work in the Star Wars Universe?
Click on the "Next" button below to check out
some concept art from Star Wars: The Last Jedi!
Yoda Returns
Here, Yoda's Force Ghost watches on after calling down lightning to burn the sacred Jedi Temple on Ahch-To. The iconic character's appearance was completely unexpected and a great surprise for fans.