The first spin-off film in this new generation of Disney Star Wars has officially been given a title. Star Wars: Rogue One is a spin-off film which will come out in December 2016 between episodes Seven and Eight. Though the plot of the story is not known, what we do know is the Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) is directing and Oscar Nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy) is rewriting Gary Whitta’s (The Book of Eli) initial script. At a shareholders meeting Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger also announced Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) will star in the film when in shoots in London sometime in the middle of this year.
Iger Also confirmed that Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick) will write and direct Star Wars Episode 8 which is set to be released on the 26th of May, 2017. For those keeping score at home that is Forty years and one day after the initial release of Star Wars: A New Hope. This release date is strange considering it will be so close to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (5/5/2017) which both Lucas-film and Marvel are owned by Disney.
!!!SPECULATION TIME!!!
So for months and months the rumour coming out of Hollywood was that this spin-off film would involve a group of bounty hunters attempting to steal the plans to the original Death Star. What is interesting is the name of this spin-off, ROGUE ONE. Any Star Wars fan knows when you here “Rogue” you think of “Squadron”, or some type of number. So will this movie be about a punch of pilots in X-Wings or could it be a combination of rumour and fact?
Though it was widely known already, but Rian Johnson is now confirmed as the writer/director of Star Wars Episode 8. This is strange that Iger would announce this, for over a year now Johnson has even been interviewed and answered SOME questions about the film. Johnson was always honest and never denied his involvement. Maybe it was just to get the shareholders excited, but either way it’s tremendously exciting to get this news about the Star Wars universe!
Article By Daniel Clements
Twitter: @clemo_24
