The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest corporations on Earth. However, they are historically stingy with contracts for studio executives.
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As one recent article noted:
Disney tends to be fairly tight-fisted when it comes to compensating their creatives. They have long had a reputation for paying less than other studios, and relying on the fact that they’re Disney, so everyone wants to work with them, or on their properties.
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Not so, seemingly, for Mandalorian creator and showrunner, Jon Favreau, however. According to another recently published article, the Iron Man (2008) director’s contract is “insane”:
Favreau originally signed on to do just one season of The Mandalorian, so when it became Disney+’s signature series, he extracted an insane deal to continue, with all kinds of bonuses and incentives for writing or directing individual episodes. But I’m betting even Favreau doesn’t get a cut of the show’s merchandise revenue, meaning Disney likely doesn’t share the windfall from my kid’s many Baby Yoda T-shirts and PJs with the guy who, along with Filoni, actually created the character. (Favreau’s rep declined to comment.)
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From the first episode of The Mandalorian, which debuted with the Disney+ streaming platform on November 12, 2019, Star Wars fans and franchise newcomers alike couldn’t get enough of Grogu — then known only as “Baby Yoda” or “The Child” — and his unwitting rescuer, bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal).
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Now, over the course of two seasons thus far, Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni, plus their all-star cast of directors, have taken us on a journey around the Star Wars universe, introducing new characters — and reintroducing old ones — into their corner of a galaxy far, far away.
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Thanks to The Mandalorian, we’ve seen the live-action debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ fan-favorites Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) in Season 2, Episode 3 (“Chapter 11: The Heiress”) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in Season 2, Episode 5 (“Chapter 13: The Jedi”), plus the epic return of legendary Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (CGI Mark Hamill) in Season 2, Episode 8 (“Chapter 16: The Rescue”).
The series even opened up an entirely new chapter of the Star Wars story, the “Mando-Verse,” which was recently blown wide open with The Book of Boba Fett, which starred Temuera Morrison as the legendary Star Wars title character and Ming-Na Wen as mercenary assassin Fennec Shand.
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Next up is The Mandalorian Season 3, which will reportedly drop in December 2022. Then, Mandalorian fans can look forward to live-action Rebels sequel, Ahsoka, sometime in 2023.
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Although the exact plots of these upcoming series are unknown — though they will undoubtedly involve Grand Admiral Thrawn, Ezra Bridger, and the ongoing Darksaber story arc — it seems that as long as there are tales to tell within The Mandalorian saga, Disney is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Favreau (The Lion King, The Jungle Book) happy.
What do you think about Favreau’s Mandalorian contract?