Announcing official details surrounding Rogue One, the first stand-alone #StarWars film, as well as Episode VIII! http://t.co/gzAlAgbAt5
— Star Wars (@starwars) March 12, 2015
Fear not, Star Wars fans, as we were given some key information from Disney about the future of the franchise and some information about the first stand-alone film of the series.
Disney has revealed that the release date for the eighth installment in the Star Wars film series will be on May 26, 2017 and that Rian Johnson of Looper and The Brothers Bloom fame will be directing.
Here’s the some information from the press release regarding that film:
“Bob Iger confirmed that Rian Johnson will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII. The film, which continues the saga after the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is set for release on May 26, 2017 — forty years and a day after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977. Johnson is widely considered one of cinema’s most gifted young filmmakers, having directed the modern sci-fi classic, Looper, as well as Brick and The Brothers Bloom. He was also behind the camera for three episodes of the critically-acclaimed TV series Breaking Bad, including “Ozymandias,” which series creator Vince Gilligan named as the best installment of the show. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman, producer of Looper, Don Jon, Brick, and The Brothers Bloom, are on board to produce, and J.J. Abrams will serve as executive producer.”
But there was also more information revealed about the franchise’s stand-alone film starring Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) and that included the ever-elusive name.
Information from StarWars.com revealed:
Rogue One is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Oscar nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). The first actress cast is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim for her performance in The Theory of Everything. The idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. He will executive produce along with Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) are on board to produce and John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will co-produce. The film starts shooting this summer in London and is due for release on December 16, 2016.”
It’s crazy to see that we’ll be getting three, yes THREE, Star Wars films in three years and all relatively close to one another. While there was a huge gap between Episodes 4-6 and 1-3, it doesn’t appear that we’ll be waiting long for the rest of the planned films in the series to come out. Since they will be coming out during two of the major holidays for movie-goers (and cause it’s Star Wars, duh) these films are going to be huge money makers and bring in viewers new and old to the beloved series.
What are your predictions for these installments of film? Who could Felicity Jones be playing, and what mysterious turns will come up in the newest three Star Wars films now that Johnson has been joined the ranks of other illustrious directors to get behind the camera for the film? I don’t know about you, but I know that I can wait to see what happens in a galaxy not too far away….
Leave your comments and predictions below!
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