We are all looking forward to the Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Even if you are not a fan of the saga you have to be a little excited to see what J.J. Abrams can do with it. Disney is betting that the movie is going to do great and leave you wanting more. So much so that the chairman and CEO of Disney, Bob Iger said that the company is producing more Star Wars movies. We already know a trilogy was in the works.
What we didn’t know was that they were doing a standalone Star Wars film. The movie will be called Rogue One and will be set within the Star Wars universe. That is where the similarities end for the standalone movie. Rogue One will be separate from what is happening in the trilogy. You won’t see Yoda or any of the other classic Star Wars characters. 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.
“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.” ~Disney
Disney wants filming to start this summer and released the film in December 2016. Disney wants that followed up with Episode VIII in theaters on May 26th, 2017. The Force Awakens is set to be released next year but we know very little about the story. All we know for sure is that it takes place after the fall of the Empire. It is after Episode VI. We also know the original Star Wars trilogy’s characters will play a role in the movie.