Tag: anthology films

Posted on

Chronicle’s Josh Trank to direct second Star Wars standalone film

josh-trankStarWars.com has annouced that Josh Trank will direct the second Star Wars standalone film. Chronicle, his directoral debut, netted him The Fantastic Four remake that he’s helming currently.

His Star Wars film is expected after Episode VIII, in 2018… Assuming they’re still planning on using the schedule of an Episode every other year. A rumor floating around pegs the 2018 spin-off as “Solo,” but Kathleen Kennedy maintains that the new movies “reach beyond the core characters and storylines of Episodes I through IX.”

In a statement, Trank said “The magic of the Star Wars Universe defined my entire childhood. The opportunity to expand on that experience for future generations is the most incredible dream of all time.”

Unlike the first standalone, they’re not announcing the writer, which makes me think this could be one of the films we already knew are slated to be written by Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg.

Interesting, Trank directed a fan film in 2007:

Posted on

Godzilla director to helm first Star Wars spin-off film

Gareth Edwards directs Elizabeth Olsen in 2014's Godzilla

StarWars.com has announced the creative team for the first standalone Star Wars film: Directing will be Gareth Edwards. He doesn’t have a long resume, but he’s the man behind Hollywood’s latest Godzilla. On script duties is Gary Whitta, who wrote The Book of Eli, After Earth and several Walking Dead video games. The film, whatever it may be, has even been given a release date: December 16, 2016.

This raises a few big questions: We’ve previously heard that spin-offs would be written by Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg, but they are both rather busy: Kasdan has Episode VII, and Kinberg has his fingers in any number of pies. Are Edwards and Whitta doing Boba Fett, as recent rumors say that’s the first? Will Kasdan and Kinberg still be tackling their own spin-offs later on?

As for Edwards and Whitta themselves… I got nothing. The new Godzilla, his first big-budget feature, has been mostly well-received (though rather lacking in the women’s roles.) I’ve seen After Earth, and while it wasn’t great, I’m not sure how much of that you can lay at Whitta’s feet.

And we still have no idea of what their Star Wars film will actually be about. Count me in the shrug column for now.

Posted on

Rumor: Subjects of the first three spinoff films?

SPINOFF RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.StarWars-Union.de got some tips on what may be the first three spin-off films. Apparently this chart was shown at a Hasbro retail training course:

Fall 2014: Rebels
2015: Episode VII
2016: Boba Fett
2017: Episode VIII
2018: Solo
2019: Episode IX
2020: Red Five

Boba Fett seems fairly clear-cut (or not,) but both Solo and Red Five leave plenty of room for interpretation. There have been rumors of a Han Solo film from nearly the first, but this doesn’t necessarily have to be a Han Solo film, although that’s probably our best guess right now. (Unless they really do plan to introduce Thracken – that’s a joke tweet, BTW.) And Red Five? The placement means that it could feature a character introduced in the sequels – the inheritor of Luke’s old call sign? I doubt they’d do a Luke film in the gap between A New Hope and Empire, but that’s a possibility as well. And what does Kathleen Kennedy’s claim that the standalone characters won’t be going “in and out of the saga episodes” mean to any of this?

In any case, thanks to StarWars-Union.de’s Christoph Wolf for the heads up and translation!

Posted on

Rumor: Boba Fett film could be a challenge

SPINOFF RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.Making Star Wars says the Executive Breakfast did indeed happen this morning, and one subject of discussion was a Boba Fett spinoff film, which may be inevitable but isn’t apparently as straightforward as one would expect.

The problem, apparently? Making Fett into a film hero while maintaining his ‘menace.’ And presumably keeping things PG-13 at the most, Disney being Disney.

Honestly, the less I say about this the better, so, uh, take it away, commentators.

Posted on

Roundup: Spin-off release date rumors, Phil Tippett and a closer look at the Rebels LEGOs

SPINOFF RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.Buzz. Could the first spinoff film be pushed back to 2017? That’s what Ali Arikan is claiming on Twitter today. Considering we know next to nothing about it, I find it hard to get too worked up if this proves true. And if it does mean more time between actual Episodes (like the traditional three years,) I’m all for it.

Alumni. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, effects guru Phil Tippett doesn’t totally write off the idea of coming back to Star Wars. Meanwhile, Billy Dee tells Blastr he still hasn’t heard anything about returning.

Rebels. Jedi News has some nice pictures of the LEGO minifigures that have been causing such a fuss.

Posted on

Rumor: Pixar to take on Star Wars?

SPINOFF RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.Oh, Latino Review. Today’s report: Disney sibling Pixar is getting their own Star Wars movie.

At this point, no idea what the size or shape of this film will be and given the long-view storytelling production model that is part of the Pixar brand, this could be a long way off. We can expect it to take place in the middle of a Venn Diagram between Star Wars and A Pixar Movie, and what that means to you depends on your definition of both.

I can see it – and a lot of folks floated this idea back when the Disney sale was announced, and it would be a poetic return to Pixar’s Lucasfilm roots. But, per usual, take this with a big grain of salt.

Posted on

Kennedy: Spin-off characters won’t be “in and out” of Episodes

Kathleen KennedyLucasfilm officially opened their new ‘Sandcrawler’ building in Singapore this week (complete with some delightful photos) but for our purposes perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of this are Kathleen Kennedy’s comments on how the spin-off films will interact with the sequel trilogy, from the Straits Times, via Toys Revil.

“George was so clear as to how that works. The canon that he created was the Star Wars saga. Right now, [Episode VII] falls within that canon. The spin-off movies, or we may come up with some other way to call those films, they exist within that vast universe that he created,” she says.

“There is no attempt being made to carry characters (from the standalone films) in and out of the saga episodes. Consequently, from the creative standpoint, it’s a roadmap that George made pretty clear,” she adds.

We’re all pretty clear on ‘canon’ in this context, so the real meat here seems to be that the characters anchoring the spin-off films won’t be in the “Episodes.” The question: Does she mean just the new Episodes, or the Episodes that are already in the bag? The rumor mill has pegged characters such as Boba Fett, Han Solo, and Yoda as contenders, but Lucasfilm and Disney themselves have said nothing beyond that the spin-offs would be “origin stories.”

I’m inclined to think she means only the new films – which would probably clear folks like Fett and Yoda – but it’s certainly open for interpretation. And a formal name for the spin-offs would be nice as well. Star Wars Origins? (via)

Posted on

Rumors: More on the Episode VII script split, Kenobi ‘daughter,’ Jesse Plemons and Boba Fett spinoff

FRYSQUINT: SEQUEL TRILOGY RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.Latino Review is at it again, this time with “details” of the Fett spinoff film and a few words on the earlier rumors. Namely, they conflict with The Hollywood Reporter and say the Abrams/Arndt split had to do with focusing on Skywalker kid(s) over Solo(s) and that Mark Hamill may “end up shooting 6 months on the movie,” which seems excessive.

As for that controversial Obi-Wan’s daughter thing, “it’s absolutely not true,” though “the Kenobi family will come into play.” They have no details, but throw out possibilities like a “niece or nephew” and “Force Ghost.” Maybe Lady Kenobi from The Phantom Menace rumor days will finally show up, why not?

They also say that Jesse Plemons is basically locked, but don’t expect Lucasfilm to name his part publicly when they announce him. His character will be “the main protagonist of Episode VIII,” and yes, I see you there waiting to comment “Ben Skywalker!” ::eyeroll::

SPINOFF RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.And of course no rumor dump is complete without a Boba Fett spinoff rumor. Yawn. Here’s what they say about Fett:

To counter-act the prequels, the Boba Fett spin-off movie planned for 2018 has an interesting twist pitched by Episode VII writer Lawrence Kasdan: the spin-off will start with a complete stranger killing Boba Fett and taking his armor, starting a Man-With-No-Name bounty hunter tale. So: someone kills the Boba Fett from the prequels and takes his armor and name. One this is for certain is that Kasdan didn’t like the prequel and wants no Bobba Fett Clone in the spin-off film.

There are shades there of some of the post-AOTC retcons, but we have every right to be skeptical. (Making Star Wars isn’t buying it at all.)

Latino Review also believes that Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) is at the top of the director’s list, because duh. Three sources told them that, presumably after Googling “Joe Johnston Boba Fett.”

Whatever, man. As usual, I remain skeptical and urge you to do the same.