You get a Star Wars film! And you get a Star Wars film! And you…well, you get the point.
Today at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that a new Star Wars film will be released each summer starting in 2015.
Episode VII will come first, followed by a standalone film in 2016. This alternating “episode-standalone” schedule will continue until, presumably, Episode IX is released (it felt really really really weird to type Episode IX as an actual thing that will happen, by the way). Bob Iger confirmed upcoming standalone films back in February, but this is the first we’ve heard of this aggressive release schedule. No note of how many standalone films will be produced, or if they will continue after the Sequel Trilogy ends.
We’re recording a new episode of Tosche Station tonight, so be sure to look out for a new episode with all of our thinky thoughts.
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I’m a little worried about having a new Star Wars film every single year for the forseeable future. I’ll love it if they’re well done, but I’m just worried that the quality will deteriorate as we start approaching “Star Wars XVIII”.
If a two-hour film every year is enough to deem an IP as over-saturated, Star Wars has been over-saturated for years with a weekly television show, multiple books, comics, theme park rides, games, Lego specials, toys, lunch boxes, audio dramas, role playing games, clothing, smartphone cases, bluetooth headsets, candy, notebooks, bumper stickers, Angry Birds tie-ins, Hallmark ornaments, Oragami sets, posters, and lightsaber desk lamps.
I’m not worried at all. Disney’s other mega-property Marvel seems to do just fine with two films, multiple television shows, books, and hundreds of comics per year. Star Wars is a big universe with a lot of stories to tell. It’ll be fine.