Lucasfilm are going to be very busy with Star Wars films for the next few years; In addition to December's Star Wars: Rogue One, Episode 8 and 9 already have release dates for 2017 and 2019 respectively, and a young Han Solo film will be sandwiched in-between them.
There will of course be plenty more Star Wars in the new decade too, and at a recent investors conference (via Slash Film) Disney CEO Bog Iger gave an update on the future of the franchise:
"I had a meeting yesterday with Kathy Kennedy and we mapped out — well, we reviewed — the ‘Star Wars’ plans that we have ’til 2020. We have movies in development for ‘Star Wars’ ’til then, and we started talking about what we’re going to do in 2021 and beyond".
The CEO also confirmed that a third Star Wars anthology film - heavily rumoured to be a Boba Fett spin-off - is in the works for 2020, and Lucasfilm have already hired a writer for the project.
Iger also downplayed the expectations for Rogue One, describing it as "an experiment of sorts" before adding that "we never felt it would do the level that Force Awakens did". He also goes on to say that "the level of interest [in ‘Rogue One’] is as high as it was for Force Awakens", and while there's no way to quantify that I'm not sure that's accurate.
The fact that The Force Awakens was the first Star Wars movie in 10 years was a big factor in the hype for that movie, and while a movie with the Star Wars name attached to it will always bring a certain level of excitement I doubt that it matches the hype for JJ Abrams' 2015 film. We'll find out if that's reflected in Rogue One's box office in December.
Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to open in UK and US cinemas on December 16, 2016. Directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: Episode 8 opens in cinemas on December 15, 2017.
Images: Disney
