Sci-Fi Storm

Disney’s Bob Iger confirmed during a conference call that Disney, with it’s acquisition of Lucasfilm today, have already for treatments for three new Star Wars films, with the first planned for a 2015 release (a little aggressive I think) and the next two at two- to three-year intervals – and possibly more beyond that. But Iger also says they plan to make use of the franchise in other areas, including their theme parks (Disney/SW fans have been wanting a Star Wars “land” expansion for years), games, and other initiatives. Speculation is that some television will be involved as well, although it still seems unlikely that that live action series that everyone was all a-Twitter about thinking they had already filmed it will be made, unless Disney has figured out something…

He didn’t elaborate on the treatments for the movies, but everyone seems to think this is the fabled “sequel trilogy”. A bit of history – back after the original Star Wars became a blockbuster hit, and the second run was modified to include “Episode IV” in the opening crawl, Lucas explained that he had plans for nine (to as many as twelve!) stories, and since the original was actually the fourth story he titled it as such. He then said that after making episodes V and VI, then visit the first three, and after that he would see.

Over time, however, Lucas began to disavow that he ever had plans beyond Episode VI, and that anything after that would be “made up”. However, his desire to not revisit the idea seemed like him being tired of the process of planning and filming a whole trilogy, which he said takes about 9 years of his life, as well as the poor feedback he got from doing the prequels. And he insisted no one else would make them either. It could be that since he won’t be directly involved now (he’d be credited at least as a “creative consultant”, but that could be an honorary credit) he handed over his treatments for them to develop more.

Now the BIG question – who will take the reins? The first word that came to my mind? Whedon. Joss is already at Disney playing in the Marvel universe…

Confirming an earlier rumor, Bryan Singer will return to the director’s chair for the upcoming sequel to X-Men: First Class, titled X-Men: Days Of Future Past, with Singer signing the deal with Fox to take over from Matthew Vaughn.

Singer directed the first two X-Men movies to launch the franchise, and helped with First Class by producing and writing the treatment.

WHOA!!!!

In a blockbuster deal just announced, Disney will acquire LucasFilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock. Kathleen Kennedy, currently the co-chair of LucasFilm, will become the President and report to Walt Disney Studios chief Alan Horn.

The deal appears to be in line with George Lucas announcing earlier this year that he wanted to step away from LucasFilm and go back to “hobby movies”. Lucas said as part of the announcement, “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come.”

It is also being reported that there will be a new Star Wars film, to be released in 2015! No details, and it seems a little soon for something no one has heard of yet, but George Lucas has been mulling various ideas for a while…
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