Standalone Star Wars Films Planned By Disney

Like many Star Wars fans, I'm simultaneously excited and filled with dread at the thought of more Star Wars films coming now that Disney has acquired Lucasfilm. I'm excited that new movies are coming, but I'm worried the movies might not fit with expectations. An story is making the rounds that Disney is developing standalone Star Wars films based around individual characters.

This is similar to what the X-Men franchise did with the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. The tip on the standalone films comes from Disney CEO Bob Iger. He said that Disney was working on a "few stand-alone films." He didn't offer any specifics, but rumors suggest that the first standalone film would focus on Yoda.

Work on the standalone movie is said to be progressing alongside the new Star Wars trilogy. The first installment of that new trilogy will be directed by JJ Abrams, and is due out in 2015. The standalone films are reportedly expected between 2015 and 2021 and are being written by Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg.

The first Star Wars film we can expect from Disney will be written by Michael Ardnt, who wrote Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine. Iger noted that Disney plans to make Star Wars 7, 8, and 9 over a roughly 6-year. He said there would be a few other films released during that period. Star Wars fans may or may not know that Kasdan worked on the scripts for the original trilogy including The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

[via BBC]