There have been a lot of interesting Star Wars related reports hitting the ‘Net in recent weeks.
The news that George Lucas was selling his empire to Disney was quite a surprise, and he did a very good job of keeping it under wraps until the deal went through. But once the sale was final, speculation and rumors immediately hit the ‘Net as to who would be writing and directing the next chapters of the Star Wars saga.
The really good news here is Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, will be back, along with Simon Kinsberg (X-Men First Class). The first assumption would be that one scribe would write Episode Eight, while the other would pen Episode Nine, because Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) is currently working on Episode Seven. However, the Hollywood Reporter now says this may not exactly be the case.
You may recall that there was a report saying that Disney would like to shoot a Star Wars movie every two to three years, which seemed a bit confusing because how can you push out that many FX extensive movies that quickly? Now the Reporter tells us that Star Wars could end up being like The Avengers, with other movies growing out of it, sort of like how Iron Man appears in The Avengers, as well as his own series.
At first, I was surprised there would even be three more Star Wars films, because what else was there to tell? Six of them is just fine, right? The series has been uneven enough as it is, and the franchise can do just fine without any more movies. Disney can certainly make a ton of dough from the rides, the toys, and more.
At the same time, I’d love to see what Kasdan could do with the series again, and without Lucas writing and directing, the next Star Wars films could be vastly improved because the best one in the series, Empire, was written by Kasdan and directed by Irvin Kershner. And funny enough, as much as I would have loved a new Star Wars film every couple of years when I was a kid, when I think back on it, the anticipation was a big part of the fun back then too, like waiting forever for a concert.
Star Wars is supposed to be a big universe where there could be a ton of stories to tell for a long time. For example, the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons have gotten good reviews, as have the Star Wars video games. But aren’t three more films enough for the fans? Could a mere three more movies even be too much for the fans? All we know for certain is the first new installment is due in 2015, and we’ll see how many other branches will grow from the Star Wars family tree down the road.
