Earlier this year, Disney confirmed they’re doing non-trilogy spin-off movies based on individual characters from Star Wars, with two of them being written by Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) and Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes). Then we heard two of the spin-offs are an origin story of a young Han Solo and an adventure story with Boba Fett. Now Disney CFO Jay Rasulo offers an update.
During the “Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference” (Long enough title for ya?), Rasulo said one Star Wars trilogy film or “origin story film” would be released each year starting with Star Wars: Episode VII in 2015 and the first spin-off in 2016. We’re guessing the first spin-off will be that aforementioned Han Solo origin story, but the details are still a secret.
Also, if you’ve been clamoring for an officially-licensed “Han Solo in Carbonite” refrigerator, get ready for the upcoming Star Wars housewares line! GRRR, SYNERGY.
Lucasfilm had focused primarily on U.S.-based licensing programs and then on toys and a few other categories. But Disney plans to expand broaden it into housewares and other merchandise categories the way it’s increased the vast variety of products that feature Marvel’s superheroes. [Variety]
OH GOODY. MORE THINGS TO BUY.
Anyway, Disney is definitely falling back on this proven franchise after both John Carter and The Lone Ranger flopped:
The exec cautioned that after the disappointing box office performance of The Lone Ranger this summer, “there needs to be a cap on (budgets of) tentpole franchise movies.” “Going forward, we will see a cap on spending on those movies,” he said. [Variety]
How about a cap on running time? The Lone Ranger was 2 hours and 29 minutes long. Make your tentpole franchise movies no more than two hours long and see how much that helps your budget. Also, when you make this Han Solo origin story, please don’t give us the snotty Disney teen version of Han Solo. Sometimes we don’t need to know where the stuff we love comes from, especially if that stuff ever acted like the sassmouth brats on the Disney channel.
(Banner image elements courtesy Disney and LucasFilm.)