After Skywalker? No new Star Wars films until 2022

Disney has announced film release dates through 2027, and as we we warned, there’s a Star Wars hiatus after The Rise of Skywalker. Lucasfilm won’t be taking 2021 off film though, as a new Indiana Jones remains set for July 9, 2021. The first Avatar sequel takes the Star Wars slot on December 17, 2021.

“Untitled Star Wars” for December 16, 2022 is likely the first movie from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The Avatar leapfrogging continues with more sequels in December ’23 and ’25, with a second “Untitled Star Wars” set for December 2024, and a third “Untitled Star Wars” in December 2026.

We don’t know much about the Benioff and Weiss films, though the latest rumors say they may be headed for the ancient Old Republic. Any of these spots could also be for the trilogy from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson as well. Lucasfilm isn’t saying:

Both sets of films will be separate from “The Skywalker Saga,” which is what Lucasfilm has been billing Episodes I-IX as of late. December’s The Rise of Skywalker is said to be the last, but I’m old enough to remember them saying that about Revenge of the Sith as well.

James Cameron officially making Avatar sequels

As movie news goes, greenlighting sequels to a film that made a bajillion dollars is pretty much a no-brainer. Say what you will about Avatar and James Cameron, but there’s no denying the guy knows how to drag in the moola.

(Will this finally incite George Lucas to make more Star Wars, as last year’s stupid sequel trilogy rumor claimed? Again, probably not. George doesn’t need new movies to make himself further bajillions.)

We all know that Avatar is no Star Wars, even if it is now officially a franchise. And who can tell what the future holds? Cameron might have an Empire Strikes Back in him after all. But in any case, we can expect to hear this refrain for at least a couple more years. Sigh.

Sorry, Mr. Cameron, Avatar is no Star Wars

In case you missed it, there was this small little movie that came out last year called Avatar.  (Not to be confused with Avatar:  The Last Airbender.)  It really struggled; only pulling in three Academy Awards.  (So sad.)

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, director and creator James Cameron is talking about its impending 3D re-release; including more Pandoric atmosphere and a missing tear-jerker moment.

Apparently, he is hoping this re-release will test out whether or not the Avatar brand can develop into a Star Wars– or Star Trek-type franchise.

Perhaps, being an old fart Star Wars fan, I find this difficult to believe.  But stranger things have happened.  (As in back in 1977.)  And even an attempt at doing more with the Avatar franchise will make at least the Avatarians (Pandorians? Avatar fans?) happy, for now.  So more power to him.

No Best Picture Oscar for Avatar

The Hurt Locker beat out Avatar for Best Picture (and director – Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win) but the sci-fi extravaganza did take statues for visual effects, cinematography, and art direction. I don’t find this particularly heartbreaking: Avatar might have been a fun movie to watch, but Best Picture? Ehh.

Best Picture was really the only uncertain prize going in, so there weren’t many surprises for the genre winners: Pixar’s Up took Animated feature and Music, while Star Trek got Makeup. (District 9 will always have this, I suppose.)

Box Office: Avatar beats Titanic, but still lags behind The Phantom Menace

Avatar may have beat Titanic in terms of cold hard cash, but it still has yet to catch up with The Phantom Menace when it comes to the amount of tickets sold, Entertainment Weekly points out. And when the domestic box office numbers are adjusted for inflation, it’s only #26 – all three original trilogy films and TPM are higher, along with Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Exorcist and all-time champ Gone With the Wind. (A New Hope is #2.)

Granted, all this stat-pushing is petty and useless, but hey: We’re interested, aren’t we? And on that note, check below the cut for a blast from the past: The ad George Lucas took out in Variety when Titanic took the top spot from Star Wars. Continue reading “Box Office: Avatar beats Titanic, but still lags behind The Phantom Menace

Avatar and The Clone Wars: ‘Trespass’

So pretty much the entire world has heard of James Cameron’s monument to 3-D visual effects, Avatar, and quite a few have ended up comparing the story to Dance with Wolves, or The Last Samurai, or other white-guilt storylines. But, really – most of the story elements have been seen in the first season episode ‘Trespass’ in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Continue readingAvatar and The Clone Wars: ‘Trespass’”

George Lucas on Avatar, 3-D

Access Hollywood caught up with the maker himself at the Golden Globes (he had the Jack Nicholson seat at the show) and – naturally – asked him about the Best Drama winner and getting Star Wars in 3-D:

“We’ve been looking for years and years and years of trying to take ‘Star Wars’ and put it in 3-D,” George explained to Access. “But, [the] technology hasn’t been there. We’ve been struggling with it, but I think this will be a new impetus to make that happen.”

More of the same, basically: But is from George. (via)

Movie news: Clueless director to take on Vamps

As if!Anything you can do to draw attention to your mouth is good. Clueless director Amy Heckerling is making a vampire romantic comedy. I can’t believe they found a way to actually might make me kind want to see a vampire movie. (No, Alicia Silverstone is not involved – Krysten Ritter is – but I am not one to resist a cheap Photoshop gag.) In related news Saturday Night Live’s Twilight spoof has been burning up the internet.

Oh, James Cameron. The New York Times claims that Avatar’s price tag is a cool $500 mil. Well, at least the latest trailer actually bothers to make it look like an action movie.

Mumble mumble fourth. The Los Angeles Times’ Geoff Boucher looks at the difficulty of making upcoming films for several different franchises: Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, X-Men and Pirates of the Caribbean. On that note, io9 quotes the relevant parts of a /Film podcast where X2 screenwriter Michael Dougherty describes what X3 might have been.

Shocking! ‘Archival footage’ from that cheesy alien abduction movie actually fake. People, did we learn nothing from Blair Witch?

Also… The ‘lost’ cantina scene of Star Trek; Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen talk The Hobbit; New poster for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.