Disney Chief: More Star Wars 'Character' Movies on the Way
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:50 am
http://mashable.com/2013/02/05/disney-s ... er-movies/
A movie about Yoda's first love?Would you want to see a Star Wars movie all about Yoda? How about Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar or Lando Calrissian?
That's the sort of thing we can expect now that Disney has bought Lucasfilm, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger. Speaking on CNBC Tuesday afternoon, Iger confirmed rumors that the company was working on "standalone" Star Wars films about various big names from the Lucas universe.
"I can confirm we're working on a few standalone films," Iger said, adding that Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote Empire Strikes Back) and Simon Kinberg (writer of several X-Men films) were already working on them. "They are not part of the overall saga."
So these films would not be part of the regular chronological stream of franchise movies in the series — Episodes VII, VIII and IX are already confirmed and in the planning stages, with J.J. Abrams confirmed to direct the first.
Rather, each of the films Iger is alluding to would focus on a separate Star Wars character, and have more of a biographical bent. The plan is to release them in the same period of time as Episodes VII through IX — in other words, between 2015 and 2021.
Marvel, also owned by Disney, is the presumed model here: we're talking about the Star Wars equivalent of the Captain America, Thor and Hulk films, whereas the regular Star Wars Episode movies would be the ensemble equivalent of the Avengers.
Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, a mainstay of Hollywood gossip, had reported Monday that a standalone Yoda movie was in the works — though Knowles was unsure about what period of Yoda's live the movie would cover.
"At this stage specifics are sparse, but [Lucasfilm chief] Kathleen Kennedy is putting together a Star Wars slate," Knowles said.
Given that Yoda lived for 900 years, there's plenty of potential story to choose from when covering our little green friend. Indeed, there's potential for a whole new trilogy.