Maybe Spielberg from 20 years ago could do it. I don’t know. With so many attempts, surely someone will figure out the precise formula that works. Since nobody has it all, it will probably be a team effort from writers like Filoni working on the worldbuilding and more film-centric writers being allowed to hone a script/storyboard until it becomes decent in a sort of Pixar development process. After going through an art director with a strong sense of simple, powerful design most directors would be able to make a decent film, but for a great one you’d need a director who could balance swashbuckling action with high romance and a dash of monster movie camp, among other things. These are after all fantasy fairy tales.
The original movies were all great because they were collaborative efforts from people at the top of their game and on the forefront of the craft of moviemaking. Disney needs to replicate that in some form.
Yup. Everyone is obsessing over the particular director at the helm when the magic of the OT was in collaboration. In the ST, we got one director with no real vision at all—mostly nostalgia and mystery boxes—followed by a director whose vision of Star Wars was “not Star Wars”. Now, it sounds like J.J. is doubling down and doing what he does best: using fast edits and fee-fees to distract you from the lack of substance underneath. (Full disclosure: I haven’t seen ROS yet, but I’ve read the review thread and I’m horrified by what I’ve seen.)
Disney had a number of successful models to replicate in creating a modern movie trilogy and I’m surprised how badly they botched it. Such a wasted opportunity that we’ll never have again.