Disney Plans to Release a Star Wars Movie Every Year
When Disney bought LucasFilm to get their hands on the Star Wars franchise, it became obviously clear that they were doing this because they wanted to create further movies. After all, they were unlikely to recoup that $4 billion by just working with the existing material and property. To make money they would have to set about creating a whole new series of films and licensed products that would entrance fans and make them flock to the cinema.
We already know that there are at least five films that Disney is working on. The highly anticipated The Force Awakens is the first instalment in a brand new sequel trilogy, while the company has already confirmed two standalone anthology movies that will tell stories outside of the main series. The first of these will be Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that will tell the tale of the spies who stole the Death Star plans and an untitled Han Solo film.
However, that isn’t the end of the matter. According to Wired, Disney plans on releasing a new film in the franchise every single year. This means there will not only be sequels made in the future but plenty of other standalone yet interconnected films, much in the same way that Disney operates the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with individual TV shows and movies all being linked together.
The large fan following and huge collection of additional content that Star Wars has gives Disney plenty of opportunity to release lots more films. While LucasFilm has already made clear that the novels, comics and short stories that made up the Expanded Universe were no longer “official” canon, filmmakers could still use the material to come up with their own ideas.
The new era of Star Wars movie begins on December 18 with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This will be followed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on December 16, 2016. Star Wars: Episode VIII is currently scheduled for a May 26, 2017 release.