New Star Wars Stand-Alone Film Announced Directed by Gareth Edwards
Friday, May 23, 2014 by Island Dog | Discussion: Movies & TV & Books
Announced yesterday....
In addition to the episodes of a new Star Wars trilogy, Lucasfilm and Disney have begun development on multiple stand-alone movies that will offer new stories beyond the core Saga. Gareth Edwards will direct the first stand-alone film, with a screenplay by Gary Whitta. The film is due out December 16, 2016.
Gareth Edwards blazed into the filmmaking forefront with his acclaimed work on Monsters, a film he wrote, directed and served on as cinematographer and visual effects artist. The skill and vision readily apparent in Monsters earned him the high-profile spot directing this year's smash hit Godzilla.
"Ever since I saw Star Wars I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life -- join the Rebel Alliance! I could not be more excited and honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm," said Edwards.
Gary Whitta's screenwriting credits include 2010's The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington. He is also well known as a journalist and editor in the video game industry, as well as part of the BAFTA award-winning team on Telltale Games adaptation of The Walking Dead.
Whitta states, "From the moment I first saw the original movie as a wide-eyed kid, Star Wars has been the single most profound inspiration to my imagination and to my career as a writer. It is deeply special to me,so to be given the opportunity to contribute to its ongoing legacy, especially in collaboration with a film-maker as talented as Gareth, is literally a dream come true. I'm still pinching myself."
http://starwars.com/news/gareth-edwards-and-gary-whitta-onboard-for-star-wars-stand-alone-film.html
Reply #2 Friday, May 23, 2014 10:59 AM
Hoping it'll be as good as it has the potential of being!
Reply #3 Friday, May 23, 2014 11:17 AM
Off subject but it does amaze me as to what we are able to find time to be concerned about or is it that this is just what gets vocalized. The study of the human species and it's condition must be an interesting one. 
I know, I'll go back to sleep now, you know us old folks, never can get enough naps. 
Reply #4 Friday, May 23, 2014 1:14 PM
Wow, Gareth's resume is light...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2284484/
Not enough there to judge if his 'success' with Godzilla (which, let's face it, has a lot to do with the big guy's fame) is a fluke or shades of things to come...
Plus, he's also a visual effects guy, who directs. This could ge good or bad (i.e. a director can lose focus on the story 'cuz he gets distracted with some visual thing)...
We shall see if he can restore my faith in the movie part of the franchise. I have found the Clone Wars to be moderately entertaining, although I have only caught an episode here and there.
The treasure trove of material that has been 'flushed' out of the (movie) universe (some of the awesome characters created in various novels) was a mistake on Disney's part, but I get that they don't want to have to pay for the 'rights' to that characters. Not that Timothy Zahn or Mike Stackpole wouldn't have asked for that much (I would have expected a 'fair' percentage from both of them).
Reply #5 Friday, May 23, 2014 1:47 PM
Lucasfilm has always bought ALL rights to everything published under the Star Wars name. The novelists, etc. own nothing. There was even a huge scandal about this change in terms (in the 1980's I believe) when Lucas moved to flat fees for all derivative works, etc. This is why and when all of the original Star Wars authors were dumped by Lucasfilm and replaced.
Since then, there are authors who have made Lucas hundreds of millions of dollars who were paid only a few thousand dollars for their work. 
These kinds of practices were why no one who worked on the first trilogy ever worked with Lucas on anything again.
Since Disney has now bought out everything, the game has changed. They are bringing key people like Kasdan back with proper deals and money.
Reply #6 Friday, May 23, 2014 2:30 PM
I have found the Clone Wars to be moderately entertaining, although I have only caught an episode here and there.
i highly recommend watching 'em all the way through from beginning to end. it starts getting REALLY good around the second or third season. i just recently caught em on netflix - theyre probably still available.
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!
Reply #1 Friday, May 23, 2014 9:55 AM
They just want to use the Marvel model to rake in the cash...