It's Finally Time For An R-Rated Star Wars Movie

The news that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners for HBO's immensely popular Game of Thrones, will write and produce a new series of Star Wars films opens up the possibility for the galaxy far, far away to take a darker turn that it has in previous installments.

Frankly, it's an opportunity that Disney should take.

During their tenure on Game of Thrones, Benioff and Weiss have embraced the R-rating's hallmarks: nudity and violence. Although not everyone may agree with how they've portrayed those things on their TV show, there's no doubt that they've done them in a way that has kept audiences engaged and interested. They're masters of driving viewers to, and keeping them watching, "mature" content, and to make them work on more family-friendly movies would be to ignore those skills.

Disney has, in the past, been incredibly resistant to taking its many popular franchises in more mature-rated directions. But now is the perfect time for the House of Mouse to take advantage of the creators it has partnered with to pursue the possibilities of an R-rated Star Wars movie.

Following the success of Logan and Deadpool, the dialogue surrounding R-rated genre films has changed substantially. Although many studios were once reticent to do R-rated superhero and sci-fi films, DC is reportedly interested in making R-rated superhero films, Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek movie will be R-rated, James Franco wants a "hard R" for his Multiple Man movie, and the reboots of Hellboy and Spawn are also aiming for that adult-targeted rating. Superhero and sci-fi films are more regularly aiming for higher ratings, and Star Wars may not be immune to this trend.

Even Disney and its subsidiaries -- which include Lucasfilm -- seem more amicable to the idea of R-rated films than they have in the past. Disney CEO Bob Iger has openly talked about the possibility of films aimed towards older audiences in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying, "there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool." It's not outlandish, then, to think that Disney might see the value in exploring the possibilities of an R-rating in the Star Wars universe, especially after recruiting two creators who specialize in that kind of content.

A major reason R-rated films are becoming increasingly popular is that they present great storytelling opportunities that family-friendly films just don't. Benioff and Weiss could explore darker chapters in the galaxy's history, such as the the Great Hyperspace War -- which took place between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire -- and the subsequent Sith genocide. The Sith genocide is a dark topic, and could very easily feel out of place in family-friendly content, but it would be a perfect match for an R-rated movie. The mature rating would also help to avoid saturating the market with similar, family-friendly Star Wars films, allowing Disney to use Rian Johnson's separate trilogy to tackle events and stories in the style of existing Star Wars films.

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One of the biggest impediments to making an R-rated Star Wars series is the important role that toy sales have historically played in the franchise's profits. In 2016, Star Wars toys earned approximately $760 million in the United States. However, in the seven months leading up to the release of The Last Jedi, the number of shipping containers containing Star Wars toys decreased by 47% in comparison to the same time period before Rogue One premiered. Analysts attribute this decrease, in part, to retailers attempting to determine "what the steady state" of product is, as there are more Star Wars films releasing than ever before.

It's unlikely that Star Wars will ever not sell a massive number of toys, and there's nothing stopping children from buying toys from the R-rated movies that they haven't seen; Rambo, Robocop, Predator and other R-rated films all found success in the toy aisle, after all. Beyond action figures, though, an R-rated film presents merchandising opportunities in the form of mature video games. Star Wars video games made over $1 billion in 2015, and darker films present a great opportunity to continue growth in that market. Many fans were disappointed when Star Wars 1313, which was set to explore the Star Wars universe in a more mature way, was cancelled. R-rated Star Wars films would help Disney establish a darker side of its universe, which it can then explore in the grittier games many fans have been clamoring for.

There are a lot of good reasons for Disney to avoid making an R-rated Star Wars film, but the House of Mouse should take the opportunity that Benioff and Weiss' expertise presents. The two creators helming movies for Lucasfilm presents many possibilities for telling unique stories set in the ever-popular universe, and Disney needs to take a chance by giving fans the mature Star Wars that they deserve.

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss films will be separate from both the new trilogy helmed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. No release window has been announced for the films, and it’s unclear if they will be part of the “Star Wars Story” anthology film slate.