[QUOTE=GeneChing;1195656]Brad Bird For Star Wars Director - Give It To Brad Bird
Who here remembers the Xmas special? :p[/QUOTE]
The 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special!!! You mean the solid hour of Wookie talk with no subtitles of awesomeness in celebration of Life Day - complete with a song sung by Princess Leia! You mean that awesome Holiday Special?
It’s actually tolerable if you watch it with this: http://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/star-wars-holiday-special
I don’t need no rifftrax for that.
That holiday special is great on it’s own. Give me a case of beer and a few of my buddies and we could come up with far more amusing comments. But that special is so outrageously awful that it doesn’t really need comments. It’s funnier just on its own.
Meanwhile, back OT:
Today at 3:44 PM
Star Wars: Episode VII May Have Found Its Writer
By Claude Brodesser-Akner
Informed sources tell Vulture that Star Wars: Episode VII has found a leading candidate to write the film’s screenplay: Michael Arndt, the Pixar favorite who was nominated for an Oscar for Toy Story 3, won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, and wrote The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which is currently shooting. Insiders confirm that Arndt has written a 40- to 50-page treatment for the film and is likely to be at least one of the writers when the Disney/Lucasfilm project begins shooting in 2014.
The merger between George Lucas’s brainchild and Disney, announced October 30, caught the town by surprise. And talent agents were similarly astonished to learn that Arndt had been at work on the treatment long before the deal was announced, catching them flat-footed and cutting off any chance they’d have to proffer their own many eager candidates for the coveted job.
Sources also tell Vulture that the studio’s brass want to bring back the three central characters of the original Star Wars: a much older Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. No deals are in place with any of the original actors, though our source did say it had high ambitions to sign up Mark Hamill, and EW recently reported that Harrison Ford was open to the idea of returning. We’re told that Arndt’s 40-something page treatment will soon be crossing the desks of top directors, including Brad Bird, Steven Spielberg (Lucasfilm’s co-chair, Kathleen Kennedy’s former producing partner), and J.J. Abrams. Whether they’d be interested is unknown (Star Wars is a lot of baggage for an established director), but Disney wants to make sure they’ve at least tried the biggest names.
A representative for Arndt declined to comment, referring all calls to Kennedy, who did not return a call seeking comment at deadline. A Lucasfilm spokeswoman declined to comment, saying, “We have no news to report at this time.”
The choice of Arndt to pen a treatment makes perfect sense, given both his prestige as a screenwriter and his close relationship with Disney’s equally secretive Pixar — he’s the screenwriter of the cheekily titled Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind for Up director Pete Docter, currently in preproduction — but there’s one more reason still that Arndt would be so appealing to Disney and Lucasfilm: He’s a Star Wars expert.
Since winning the Oscar for Sunshine, Arndt has lectured extensively on the art of storytelling at numerous writers’ retreats, like the Hawaii Writers Conference in Maui and the Austin Film Festival, always featuring a lengthy and detailed explanation of why the original Star Wars’ ending is so creatively satisfying.
At these talks, Arndt always tells attendees that Star Wars’ enduring appeal has to do with resolving its protagonists goals’ nearly simultaneously, at the climax of the movie. In the comments section of a discussion about a Star Wars talk Arndt gave at the Austin Film Festival in 2010, one attendee of the seminar notes, “Arndt stated that if a writer could resolve the story’s arcs (internal, external, philosophical) immediately after the Moment of Despair at the climax, he or she would deliver the Insanely Great Ending and put the audience in a euphoric state. The faster it could happen, the better. By [Arndt’s] reckoning, George Lucas hit those three marks at the climax of Star Wars within a space of 22 seconds.”
Indeed, in the third act of Star Wars, as Arndt explained to his young screenwriting Padawans at the 2009 Hawaii Writers Conference, its central characters’ main goals all are met on pages 89 through 91 of the original Lucas script: At the crescendo of Star Wars, a spectral Obi Wan urges, “Use the Force, Luke,” and he does, thus reaching his inner goal (fighting self-doubt to become a hero). Han Solo reappears (meeting the philosophical goal of overcoming selfishness with altruism) to shoot down Darth Vader, which allows Luke to use the Force to mentally guide his shot and blow up the Death Star (outer goal and inner goals simultaneously met).
So while it remains to be seen whether Arndt will forge ahead with an entire script for Episode VII, clearly, as Vader might say, “The Force is strong with this one.”
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1195904]That holiday special is great on it’s own. Give me a case of beer and a few of my buddies and we could come up with far more amusing comments. But that special is so outrageously awful that it doesn’t really need comments. It’s funnier just on its own.
[/QUOTE]
I’ll have to burn you a dub of my copy. My friends and I used to challenge each other to sit though it - the record was 11 minutes.
Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino who are preemptively backing away from the job
From the folks at the AV Club.
As it must until the day it is officially handed to someone, the list of directors to helm the next Star Wars film must be whittled down from all the possibilities in the galaxy, as each day some famous filmmaker will back away from the awesome responsibility of assuming the franchise and being prematurely hated by its fans with thermal-detonator intensity. Already Zack Snyder took himself out of the running he was never actually in, and today it’s Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino who are preemptively backing away from the job no one has officially offered them yet. Everything is proceeding as we have foreseen.
Spielbergwhose name was on that mythical “short list” from yesterday, for what it’s worthtold Access Hollywood, “No! No! It’s not my genre. It’s my best friend George’s genre,” vehemently refusing any science-fiction stories where aliens are already an accepted reality, thus negating the need to stare at them in awe. And Entertainment Weekly, no doubt presaging weeks of stories like this, randomly asked Tarantino about Star Wars, because he was there, to which Tarantino replied, “I could so care less.” Despite this meaning he therefore cares some, and is thus duty-bound by the rules of grammatical pedantry to do it, Tarantino continued, “No, sorry. Especially if Disneys going to do it. Im not interested in the Simon West version of Star Wars,” causing Con Air director Simon West to get a little unexplained headache. (“What the hell was that?” Simon West wondered. “I felt a disturbance, as though a million manic voices suddenly started talking **** about me for no reason, then were suddenly silenced.”)
Anyway, suspend all hopes for this ever becoming a reality, and prepare to hear some version of these sorts of refusals from directors every day, until someone finally takes it. Please, someone ask Werner Herzog.
i hate when people make up stories from small things, just to get buzz…tarrintino..would have NEVER done a star wars film..ever..doesnt matter who…he didnt say he wasnt interested in directing. he said he wasnt interested in seeing it. Matthew vaughn is the front runner to direct the next star wars.
Disney Star Wars
True that, but a Tarantino directed Star Wars…just imagine what he could do with Mace Windu.
Everyone dissing the notion of Disney Star Wars as some sort of sell out is so out of the loop. Star Wars sold out long ago. Come on now…Lego Star Wars? Seriously? That being said, it’s still Star Wars, so I’ll probably see the new film when it comes out.
[QUOTE=MightyB;1195950]I’ll have to burn you a dub of my copy. My friends and I used to challenge each other to sit though it - the record was 11 minutes.[/QUOTE] Um, thanks, but no need. I made it all the way through with my buddies several years ago. There was a lot of beer. I got a friend who has it on VHS. :o
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1196503]True that, but a Tarantino directed Star Wars…just imagine what he could do with Mace Windu.
Everyone dissing the notion of Disney Star Wars as some sort of sell out is so out of the loop. Star Wars sold out long ago. Come on now…Lego Star Wars? Seriously? That being said, it’s still Star Wars, so I’ll probably see the new film when it comes out.
Um, thanks, but no need. I made it all the way through with my buddies several years ago. There was a lot of beer. I got a friend who has it on VHS. :o[/QUOTE]
Gene’s right, and no matter how many of us ***** and complain about it, in the end we’ll all go and see it.
Afterwards, we’ll ***** and complain so more because we’re nerds and that’s what we do.
I’m hoping for Benicio Del Toro or Peter Jackson.
Clever title…too bad as Abrams could’ve rocked it.
J.J. Abrams: ‘Star Wars’ won’t be my next enterprise
by Geoff Boucher
Back in 1977, Star Wars was the ideal North Star influence for a future filmmaker named J.J. Abrams. But now, 35 years later, he says the Jedi universe isn’t the right direction for his career.
Disney’s new acquired Lucasfilm is moving fast on the now-public plan to have a new Star Wars film in theaters in 2015 to launch a new trilogy. Sources say Lucasfilm sent a treatment last week to three filmmakers — Abrams and Oscar winners Brad Bird and Steven Spielberg. But Abrams told EW this morning that as much as he loves the Jedi universe, it won’t be his next destination.
“I have some original stuff I am working on next,” said Abrams, who is now in post-production on Star Trek Into Darkness, the follow-up to his 2009 hit Star Trek. Then of course there’s Revolution the latest addition to his considerable television pursuits, which have included Lost, Fringe, and Alias.
Abrams also told EW that the 1977 tale of mystic knights, a kidnapped princess, an evil empire and eccentric robots was a life-changing adventure for a youngster who was soon to be obsessed with film and film-making.
“As a kid I was always a fan of special effects,” Abrams said. “Watching movies I was constantly trying to figure out how they did it, whatever the effect was. Star Wars was the first movie that blew my mind in that way; it didn’t matter how they did any of it because it was all so overwhelmingly and entirely great. It was funny and romantic and scary and compelling and the visual effects just served the characters and story. It galvanized for me; not for what was exciting about how movies were made, but rather for what movies were capable of.”
Fans of Starfleet and of the Jedi have long viewed the brands as rivals of a sort and Abrams was clearly on the side of the Force as a kid. His disinterest in Star Trek as fan has served him well, he has said on a number of occasions, because he wasn’t distressed when it came time to set aside certain aspects of the mythology for the reboot. That memory has a flip side — he knows he wouldn’t have that same detached decisiveness if he was directing, say, Harrison Ford as in a return to the Han Solo role.
Abrams said back in 2009 that one of his great challenges was helping the Enterprise catch up to the Death Star in cinema’s Space Race.
“As a kid, Star Wars was much more my thing than Star Trek was,” told Hero Complex back in 2009. “If you look at the last three Star Wars films and what technology allowed them to do, they covered so much terrain in terms of design, locations, characters, aliens, ships — so much of the spectacle has been done and it seems like every aspect has been covered, whether it’s geography or design of culture or weather system or character or ship type. Everything has been tapped in those movies. The challenge of doing Star Trek — despite the fact that it existed before Star Wars — is that we are clearly in the shadow of what George Lucas has done.”
That rules out two of three known candidates. On Thursday night, at the premiere of his new film Lincoln, Spielberg said the galaxy-spanning Jedi saga created by his buddy George Lucas just isn’t a good fit for him. “It’s not my genre,” the director explained. “It’s my best friend George’s genre.”
Spielberg has made three films with alien life — E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and War of the Worlds — but all of those films were set on contemporary Earth and in a grounded reality. That said, the future visions presented in Minority Report and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence certainly present environments that aren’t far removed from prequel trilogy settings like Coruscant and Kamino.
With Spielberg and Abrams out of the picture, it’s now all eyes on Bird, now, who has been traveling abroad in recent days while doing location scouting for his upcoming project, 1952, a sci-fi project for Disney (co-written by EW senior writer Jeff Jensen and Lost scribe Damon Lindelof). As for the new Star Wars story, the hiring of Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) was announced on Friday.
[QUOTE=Fa Xing;1196571]Afterwards, we’ll ***** and complain so more because we’re nerds and that’s what we do.[/QUOTE] Dude, speak for yourself. We’re CMA practitioners. These are nerds. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1196632]Clever title…too bad as Abrams could’ve rocked it.
Dude, speak for yourself. We’re CMA practitioners. These are nerds. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
Are you sure?
These aren’t the nerds you are looking for
[QUOTE=Fa Xing;1196633]
Are you sure?[/QUOTE] I just discovered femtroopers. Dayum. Why the heck have I been wasting my time with Star Wars Legos?
Star Wars is bigger than any of us.
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1196647]I just discovered femtroopers. Dayum. Why the heck have I been wasting my time with Star Wars Legos?
Star Wars is bigger than any of us.[/QUOTE]
You sir, win.
A live-action TV series?
Star Wars: 1313…budgeted at more than $5 million per episode…:eek: Looks more like Bladerunner than Star Wars…
ABC to look at ‘Star Wars’ live-action TV series
by James Hibberd
ABC entertainment president Paul Lee says he’s going to take a look at the long-gestating Star Wars live-action TV series now that the Disney deal to acquire Lucasfilm is complete.
“We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm, we’re not sure what yet,” Lee exclusively told EW. “We haven’t even sat down with them. We’re going to look at [the live-action series], we’re going to look at all of them, and see what’s right. We weren’t able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. It’s definitely going to be part of the conversation.”
Even many working in Hollywood don’t realize a live-action Star Wars TV series has been sitting on the shelf the past few years. The project was commissioned by longtime Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum, who enlisted writers such as Battlestar Galactica‘s Ron Moore and swore them to NDA secrecy on the plot details (more on the show’s storyline below). Fifty scripts were written. McCallum once called the scripts the most “provocative, bold and daring material that we’ve ever done.”
And then … nothing.
The scripts gathered dust, the scope of the production and the extent of the show’s necessary visual effects deemed too expensive for a broadcast or cable network. The president of one premium cable outlet told me last summer the project just didn’t make any financial sense. The closest comparison was HBO’s lavish Game of Thrones. But that deal gave HBO control of a major chunk of the Thrones empire, including DVD and international distribution which significantly offset the show’s high production cost. The Star Wars show was budgeted at more than $5 million per episode and Lucasfilm wanted to retain ownership.
But now Disney has purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion and Disney owns more than a couple TV networks. The financials for a big-budget TV show are more compelling if the license fee and other income sources stay in the family. Already one Star Wars-related project is in the works for kids network Disney XD. Cartoon Network’s popular and innovative animated title The Clone Wars will likely shift to XD after its current deal expires. Could the live-action show finally see the light of day too? It’s a tricky question because a new Star Wars film is planned for 2015. Cautious brand managers are sometimes reluctant to have a live-action TV show on the air when producing live-action films — such as Warner Bros. putting the kibosh on any Batman TV projects while making Christopher Nolan’s trilogy.
Lee said he wasn’t sure if the project was still viable. “It’s going to be very much up to the Lucasfilm brands how they want to play it,” he said. “We got to a point here with Marvel, a very special point, where we’re in the Marvel universe, and very relevantly so, but we’re not doing The Avengers. But S.H.I.E.L.D. is part of The Avengers. So maybe something oblique is the way to [approach the Star Wars universe] rather than going straight head-on at it.”
Sources say the live-action series centers on the story of rival families struggling over the control of the seedy underside of the Star Wars universe and the people who live within the subterranean level and air shafts of the metropolis planet Coruscant (the Empire’s urban-sprawl-covered home planet). A bounty hunter may be the main character. Set between the original Star Wars film trilogy and the prequels, the time period allows for all sorts of potential appearances from classic figures from the Star Wars universe.
Extensive art work including character designs, costume designs, and set designs were all developed by a top team of concept artists and designers who worked for more than a year on the third floor design studio at George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch’s main house on the project. The team was closely supervised by McCallum and Lucas.
If all this sounds vaguely familiar, it might be because this roughly matches the description of the upcoming Star Wars videogame 1313. In fact, sources say story materials and the designs for the TV project were used to help make the game. So if you want to see what the TV show was supposed to look like, check out art from 1313 (one example above). This creative strip-mining could arguably help the TV show’s chances — it’s not like Hollywood has been shy about doing crossovers between videogames and films before.
Can you imagine that ultra-hypothetical ABC Sunday-night lineup? Once Upon a Time, Star Wars: 1313 and S.H.I.E.L.D?
Star wars ep 7= seven samurai?
OMG! SEVEN SAMURAI is my fav chanbara flick eva!
Today at 1:45 PM
Zack Snyder Is Developing a Star Wars Film Outside the New Trilogy
By Claude Brodesser-Akner
Back in November, the Los Angeles Times reported that Man of Steel and 300 director Zack Snyder said he had no interest in directing the hotly anticipated seventh Star Wars film. But Vulture has learned that while this may be specifically true — he won’t be doing Episode VII — it was a bit of misdirection: He is in fact developing a Star Wars project for Lucasfilm that is set within the series’ galaxy, though parallel to the next trilogy. It will be an as-yet-untitled Jedi epic loosely based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samurai, with the ronin and katana being replaced by the Force-wielding knights and their iconic lightsabers. (Go ahead, say it — you know you want to: “ … an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.” Felt good, didn’t it?)
It’s not clear just where Snyder’s untitled Jedi film would fall within the Star Wars chronology, but one insider expects it will not be considered part of the “numbered” episodes, but rather a stand-alone film set sometime post–Episode VI events, meaning the next phase of the franchise development is much broader than previously thought. For those unfamiliar, Kurosawa’s influential Seven Samurai (The Magnificent Seven was the American remake) tells the tale of a small agrarian town in sixteenth-century Japan that’s routinely pillaged by bandits. Fed up with the annual shakedown, its farmers retain the services of seven masterless samurai to defend their harvest. One of the film’s stars, Toshiro Mifune, was initially offered the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi (as Kotaku recounts here). George Lucas has cited the classic as one of his favorites, telling the Telegraph in 2005 that “it’s a brilliant, brilliant film, and every time I see it I can’t believe the magic mixture of a great story and great acting and humour and action and suspense — wonderful cinema. The art of moving pictures is on every frame of this movie.”
In late October of last year, when Disney CEO Bob Iger first announced the acquisition of Lucasfilm, he’d stated that after Episode VII, “our long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years.” Our sources also say that Snyder’s would start production after Disney starts on its planned 2015 release of Star Wars: Episode VII, and while no director has yet been set for Episode VII, clearly things are taking shape at Lucasfilm. (A spokesperson for Lucasfilm declined comment.)
In the meantime, we are left to ponder the obvious geek questions: Do Snyder’s Jedi carry just a single lightsaber or a long one and a short one, like samurai do? Oh God, why do you torture us so!?
Too bad this reporter didn’t know Kurosawa well enough to make the Throne of Blood connection. :o
That would actually be pretty cool.
Haaaaaaaaaaaa
Been there, done that. And it wasn’t cool. It was absolutely craptastic!!
Battle Beyond the Stars trailer
Weirdest role for Robert Vaughn ever, reprising his Magnificent Seven character in space.
now it’s getting weird…
How Star Wars Might’ve Had a Different Darth Vader
Brian Ashcraft
Jan 14, 2013 6:20 AM
The Japanese influence in Star Wars is no accident. George Lucas’ hero is acclaimed filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and he was inspired by the Japanese director’s films, such as The Hidden Fortress.
According to a famous bit of Star Wars trivia, Lucas even wanted actor Toshiro Mifune, who starred in many Kurosawa films, to act in Star Wars. The trivia, which has been repeated for years now, says that Lucas tried to get Mifune to play Obi-Wan Kenobi—something that Lucas confirmed. The choice makes sense. But what if Lucas wanted Mifune to play another character?
This weekend on world history quiz show Sekai Fushigi Hakken! (), Toshiro Mifune’s daughter, Mika Mifune, recounted how her famous father was first asked to play Obi-Wan Kenobi—an offer he turned down.
Then, Mika continued, Mifune was offered the role of Darth Vader. The villain’s helmet was apparently designed with Mifune in mind, and if Mifune had taken the role, his face supposedly would have been visible. The inference is that Lucas really wanted the famed Japanese actor in his movie. But Mifune thought the sci-fi flick was going to be a kid’s movie, hence him passing on the project.
Mifune as Obi-Wan Kenobi is a little easier to wrap one’s head around. At that time, he was an international superstar and a hero of Lucas’. Vader has become inseparable from the suit and the voice of James Earl Jones, making it harder to see the character any other way.
Mifune daughter wasn’t born until 1982, so her account isn’t exactly first person—and it’s something I don’t ever recall hearing. If this bit of trivia is true and if Mifune had played Darth Vader, the character could have certainly developed differently during Lucas’ writing process. For example, the Sith Lord might’ve had a badass beard.
Darth Toshiro. Can’t…grok…that…
Even weirder…
I love Star Wars. Except for the fact the Chewie didn’t get a medal at the end of Ep 4. No wonder why he roars at the end. That’s wookie for “Where’s my ****ing medal?”
Below is from StarWars.com in regard to the POTUS’s recent vetoing the Death Star Seriously. Y’all were following that one too, right?
Planet Earth Abandons Death Star Project In Face Of Superior Galactic Imperial Power
Galactic Empire Public Relations | January 15, 2013
IMPERIAL CENTER, CORUSCANT – The overwhelming military superiority of the Galactic Empire has been confirmed once again by the recent announcement by the President of the United States that his nation would not attempt to build a Death Star, despite the bellicose demands of the people of his tiny, aggressive planet. “It is doubtless that such a technological terror in the hands of so primitive a world would be used to upset the peace and sanctity of the citizens of the Galactic Empire,“ said Governor Wilhuff Tarkin of the Outer Rim Territories. “Such destructive power can only be wielded to protect and defend by so enlightened a leader as Emperor Palpatine.”
Representatives on behalf of the nation-state leader from the unimaginatively named planet refused to acknowledge the obvious cowardice of their choice, preferring instead to attribute the decision to fiscal responsibility. “The costs of construction they cited were ridiculously overestimated, though I suppose we must keep in mind that this miniscule planet does not have our massive means of production,” added Admiral Conan Motti of the Imperial Starfleet.
Emissaries of the Emperor also caution any seditious elements within the Galactic Senate not to believe Earth’s exaggerated claims of there being a weakness in the Death Star design. “Any attacks made upon such a station — should one ever be built — would be a useless gesture,” added Motti.
It’s J.J. Abrams
After what J.J. did with Star Trek, I’m all in.
J.J. Abrams Set to Direct Next ‘Star Wars’ Film (Exclusive)
Published: January 24, 2013 @ 1:33 pm
By Lucas Shaw
J.J. Abrams will direct the next “Star Wars” film for Disney, taking stewardship of one of Hollywood’s most iconic and lucrative film franchises, an individual with knowledge of the production told TheWrap.
Ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm last year and announced it would make new “Star Wars” films, fans, members of the media and industry executives have speculated about which director would take the job. Abrams’ name always came up, but he told Entertainment Weekly in November that he wasn’t going to take the job.
He did say “Star Wars” was the first movie that “blew my mind” in terms of special effects.
Lucasfilm Chief Kathleen Kennedy has been courting Abrams, one of the most successful directors and producers in Hollywood – and a man beloved by fanboys. He runs one of the industry’s top production companies, Bad Robot, and created or co-created television franchises like “Lost,” “Fringe” and “Alias.” He has also directed film spectacles “Mission: Impossible III,” “Star Trek” and “Super 8.”
The lure of the Jedi was too strong, and it will no doubt complicate his relationship with Paramount, where Bad Robot is a top supplier. Abrams has been feverishly working on “Star Trek Into Darkness,” his second Star Trek film since he rebooted the franchise in 2009. “Into Darkness,” still in post-production, opens May 18.
Though he has several producing jobs in front of him, Abrams had been uncommitted as a director. He will have to jump right into “Star Wars,” which Disney has slated for a 2015 release. “Little Miss Sunshine” screenwriter Michael Arndt is penning the script.
Reached by TheWrap, Lynne Hale, spokeswoman for Lucasfilm, declined to comment immediately. Neither CAA, which represents Abrams, nor Bad Robot immediately responded to requests for comment.
Another stand-alone Star Wars film rumor
What’s the first stand alone STAR WARS film to be made?
Published at: Feb. 4, 2013, 9:40 p.m. CST Share On Facebook Twitter
Hey folks, Harry here… There’s a whole bunch of movement happening at the Magic Kingdom these days… Mayimbe was talking about Marvel’s HULK Plans and how they may affect the 3rd AVENGERS film… We’re focused upon the sequel trilogy we’ve been waiting for most of our entire lives. But the wild success of THE AVENGERS and the anticipated gargantuan STAR WARS with JJ Abrams directing.. it has reformatted alot of Disney’s plan. IMAGINEERING had been working up ideas for a grand expansion at DISNEYLAND that was to bring Frank L Baum’s OZ into a fully realized extension of the park, and while I’d love to go there… The word I’m hearing now is they’ve dropped that in lieu of a STAR WARS extension in California Adventure Park. OZ could happen, but only if Raimi’s film is a stunning success. But you’re not hear for the themepark buzz… or maybe you do care desperately like I do. But really, what’s Disney going to be doing with these STAND ALONE films…
Well, to start with they’re going to focus on established characters and do solo films, no, not necessarily Han Solo films, but well, **** it… The first Stand Alone film is going to center upon YODA. At this stage specifics are sparse, but Kathleen Kennedy is putting together a STAR WARS slate… I’m wildly curious for more details on the YODA film - would this be a young or old YODA tale?
Knowing that Lucasfilm is doing a series of stand alone character features… I wonder if Joe Johnston has pitched Kennedy his stand alone BOBA FETT film he was talking about after the release of Captain America. Hmmmmm… Now, let’s chase after YODA details… Where’s FRANK OZ? Giggle. Gotta love chasing STAR WARS stories! Oh - and I’ve also heard tale of a JABBA story that Lucas has floated to some of his buddies. But word is YODA is first.
I’d be totally into this if it starred the muppet Yoda and not the CGI yoda. The muppet Yoda was a much better actor. Seriously.
Confirmed - but not the Yoda part
Disney Confirms Stand-Alone Star Wars Films
Source: CNBC
February 5, 2013
Walt Disney Pictures CEO Bob Iger has confirmed rumors that the studio is looking at a series of Star Wars films that will see release independent of the new trilogy and that will focus on specific characters from the overall Star Wars universe.
“There has been speculation about some stand-alone films that are in development,” Iger tells CNBC. “I can confirm to you today that, in fact, we are working on a few stand-alone films. Larry Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are both working on films derived from great ‘Star Wars’ characters that are not part of the overall saga. We still plan to make Episodes 7, 8, and 9, roughly over a six-year period of time, starting in 2015. There are going to be a few other films released in that time, too.”
Iger goes on to say that Kasdan and Kingberg are serving in a consulting capacity on J.J. Abram’s Star Wars: Episode VII with Michael Arndt supplying the screenplay. Both writers are simultaneously working on new, as of yet unknown, Star Wars films.
The news arrives on the heels of yesterday’s rumor that claimed the first such film would follow the adventures of Yoda. While that rumor has not been confirmed, Iger’s comments suggest some truth to the reports.
You can watch Iger’s announcement in the player below, courtesy of CNBC:
follow the link for the announcement above.