Disney sabotaging their own film is blatantly BS. That being said, I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to at least consider that the WB/Bad Robot deal may have been a catalyst for Bob Iger exerting some creative power over this film.
Cue speculative alternate narrative…
JJ signed on under the condition of almost full creative control, Bob reluctantly agrees knowing that JJ might be a good asset to have in his pocketbook. WB deal happens and now JJ won’t be working with Disney again anytime soon, so Bob likely felt he could reverse course and put out the movie he (and whoever other non-creative executive types) thought would be most profitable.I’m not saying it’s probable, but it’s way more likely than the vindictive sabotage portrayed in the leak. If there is any truth to the leaks, this could be a classic case of telephone.
But Abrams is not just the writer/director. He is the writer/director/producer (he produced the entire Trilogy through Bad Robot, under Lucasfilm, under Disney). I don’t think the creator of this story understand what a no-no it would be for Disney to do that. The industry backlash could be terrible. None of the benefits are worth the risk. You hire a director you think you can trust and if they lose that trust, you fire them. You don’t meddle in the movie. The only way a studio can do that these days is for the Director to go past their deadline and then they can take the picture and finish it. That is what happened to blade Runner in 1982 (and how they made Ford the the voiceover and added the happy ending). Before they did that they had no power to make the director do anything. That is normal for Hollywood. They had to fire the Solo directors because they couldn’t meddle in the movie.