Tag: standalone trilogy (rian johnson)

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Beyond Skywalker: What’s the future of Star Wars?

Kathleen Kennedy talks to the Los Angeles Times about what we can expect from Star Wars in the post-Rise of Skywalker world:

Kennedy said she plans to make key decisions about the direction of the franchise in the coming weeks. But some things she already knows. While the “Skywalker” saga is ending, the company won’t abandon the characters created in the most recent trilogy. Additionally, she said, the plan is to move beyond trilogies, which can be restricting.

“I think it gives us a more open-ended view of storytelling and doesn’t lock us into this three-act structure,” she said. “We’re not going to have some finite number and fit it into a box. We’re really going to let the story dictate that.”

Not too many detail details – although we do learn that Jon Kasdan has completed a pilot script for a Willow series – but some things to chew on.

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Rian Johnson addresses his new Star Wars (vaguely)

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is out and about and talking about his upcoming Star Wars trilogy at the Observer:

“I think that the fun and challenging part of it is to dive in, figure out what’s exciting and then figure out what it’s going to be,” he said. “We’re doing something that steps beyond the legacy characters. What does that look like? To me, the blue sky element of it is what was most striking about it. I know the way that I’m coming at it and what’s fun about it for everyone in Lucasfilm is figuring out, ‘what’s the next step?’ It really makes you think and figure out what the essence of Star Wars is for me and what that will look like moving forward.”

Johnson’s new movie Knives Out is debuting at September’s Toronto International Film Festival. No release date or production information for his next Star Wars film has been announced.

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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.

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Rian Johnson is waiting for Episode IX (almost) just like everyone else

Rian Johnson, at CinemaCon for his next film, Knives Out, talked Star Wars briefly with MTV’s Josh Horowitz. He does admit he’s gotten the chance to talk with IX director J.J. Abrams a few times, but says that overall he’s just happy to be in the audience for this round.

(Of course he knows a lot more than any of us, but hey.)

He also taked about “chugging away” at his next Star Wars film and talked around the latest Benioff and Weiss rumor.

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Rian Johnson didn’t drop his Star Wars trilogy

A rumor was circulating yesterday that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson had dropped out of his upcoming standalone Star Wars trilogy, until Johnson himself chimed in. “No it isn’t true,” he tweeted late Wednesday night. “I’m still working on the trilogy. With all due respect to the movie bros, who I’m sure are lovely kind bros with good fraternal intentions.”

Johnson has been a frequent target of some less savory parts of the fandom who have been unusually irate about The Last Jedi.

The trilogy, which was announced before Jedi‘s release, has no release date, script, or cast yet, which isn’t particularly concerning: Lucasfilm hasn’t said much about any film projects beyond Episode IX. A second set of non-saga films is in the hands of Game of Thrones‘ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss – rumor has it that at least one of theirs will go into production before Johnson’s.

Johnson is currently doing post-production on Knives Out, a murder mystery starring Daniel Craig.

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Rumor: A Star Wars spinoff has been shelved, but it’s not one we’d heard of

In another wrinkle to yesterday’s big report that standalone films are being put on hold, Jason over at Making Star Wars says it was only one film – and it wasn’t something fans have heard about yet.

The genesis of the earlier report was prompted by studio space being canceled for a film based around the denizens of Mos Eisley, Jason says. I could also note that a Mos Eisley story could involve Boba Fett, but that’s probably my bias speaking, as Jason says both the Obi-wan and Fett films are likely safe.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm sources tell ABC that “multiple” films are still in development and that yesterday’s report is “inaccurate”, though they naturally decline to share any details about the (unannounced) projects in question.

A more interesting nugget is that up sometime after Episode IX will be a film from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which “be a little more grown up”, while Rian Johnson’s trilogy will be later, and more “all ages”. The timing is certainly something I find far more interesting here, but the tone concepts are more than we had before.

My own thoughts on this is that I wouldn’t expect a hard-R Star Wars film (though who can say), but perhaps PG-13 more along the lines of Revenge of the Sith, with Rian Johnson aiming for a more traditional PG or a softer PG-13 along the lines of what we’ve seen in the new trilogy so far.

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Rumor: Star Wars spinoffs “on hold”?

Collider reports today that future “A Star Wars Story” spinoff films that were in the works at Lucasfilm have been put “on hold.” Films focusing on Obi-Wan and Boba Fett have been rumored, but not yet officially annouced or confirmed in any way by Lucasfilm. (Meaning that, short of actually announcing one of the films, we’re unlikely to get any confirmation or denial of this report any time soon.)

This seems a rather dramatic move after Solo’s underperformance at the box office, but none of the former “Anthology” films have gone smoothly behind the scenes – Rogue One’s production issues, Josh Trank’s departure from what was reportedly the first version of a Fett film, and Solo‘s surprising director swap.

Lucasfilm is instead choosing to focus on Episode IX and other projects, like the trilogy from The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson and a “series” from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which are unaffected by this decision. No timeline has been given for either set of films.

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Rian Johnson books return trip to the GFFA with a “brand-new” trilogy

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has clearly made quite an impression over at Lucasfilm, because they’ve just announced that he’s developing a new Star Wars trilogy. The new trilogy won’t be part of the episode/Skywalker cycle, and will “introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.” He will write and direct the first film at least, along with producer Ram Bergman.

There’s no release dates for these new movies yet. J.J. Abrams’ Episode IX is the last film on the schedule currently, with a release date of December 20, 2018.

Johnson’s The Last Jedi is next up, on December 15.

Some of us have been speculating that a standalone trilogy might fill the gap between IX and the (nigh inevitable) second sequel trilogy, and this indicates that may be how Lucasfilm is leaning as well… But we’ll just have to wait and see.