Opening crawl enthusiasts likely have a bone or three to pick with Rogue One, the first standalone Star Wars film that predictably slayed the box office this weekend. Even Dan Perri, the famous title designer who created the original 1977 crawl, isn't feeling the movie's decision to omit the signature Star Wars intro.
"Frankly, it is a huge mistake, because the image is so iconic and it's so important to tens of millions, hundreds of millions of fans," Perri told the Hollywood Reporter Tuesday. "I couldn't imagine it starting without that. It's foolish." Of course, the Rogue One omission of a classic crawl mainly stems from the fact that the very story of Gareth Edwards' film is taken from Perri's OG design.
"You know, we're in the midst of talking about it, but I don't think these films will have an opening crawl," Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy toldEntertainment Tonight back in July, suggesting that future standalone Star Wars films will also be short at least one crawl.
Interestingly, Perri hasn't seen Rogue One yet. In fact, he hasn't seen a single Star Wars film since the '77 original. "There are too many things to do and there are too many films out there to see," he told THR Tuesday. However, the film still bagged some serious box office dollars, even without Perri's endorsement or a fan-pleasing opening crawl.
During its opening weekend, Edwards' film pulled in $155 million at North American theaters. When adding inForbes' estimated global dollars, the film's opening haul leaps to a highly braggable $290.5 million.
