Briefly: While we’re all twiddling our thumbs until December 18th, Disney is certainly not standing still. The studio today officially revealed and dated the first Star Wars spinoff, and also announced the release date for Episode VIII.
Bob Iger announced the news at today’s Disney shareholders meeting. Here’s what was revealed, straight from StarWars.com:
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.
In addition, 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.
I have to say that I’m beyond excited for both of these films. I was a big fan of last year’s Godzilla, and can’t wait to see what Gareth Edwards can do when he’s taken to space (and who doesn’t love Felicity Jones). On the flipside, both Brick and Looper from Rian Johnson are films I’ve watched a multitude of times, and as many issues as Looper had, it was still quite the incredible, thought provoking production. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do with a (probably much) bigger budget, and a vastly larger universe.
So, in case you forgot, Rogue One is coming on December 16th, 2016, while Episode VIII will drop on May 26, 2017. That’s a lot of Star Wars.
Photo: StarWars.com