When Disney proudly announced in October that they had acquired the entertainment juggernaut known as Lucasfilm, they didn’t do so just to continue the Star Wars saga with another trilogy of films, adding the brand to their lines of merchandise, theme parks and video games. They acquired it with every intention of reclaiming the sci-fi throne and once again making Star Wars a beloved worldwide pop culture phenomenon.
Releasing Star Wars Episode VII in 2015 (or 2016 if director J.J. Abrams has his way) is just the first step in a film franchise that’s in the planning stage of being something far more expansive than another pair of trilogies. Disney has learned from the successful Marvel Studios strategy of an interconnected universe spanning multiple films per year and that’s in the cards for their upcoming stories based a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Ain’t It Cool News’ Harry Knowles has the scoop that the very first standalone Star Wars film will be headlined by Yoda. There are no details on when it would take place in the saga’s timeline or what it could be about, only the basics that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy is developing the first non-episodic Star Wars feature and that it may be about the little green Jedi Master. Knowles also claims that George Lucas was tossing around the idea of a movie about Jabba, but that little statement throws the initial rumor deeper into questionable territory.
Firstly, Lucas has a small role in the Star Wars franchise going forward and isn’t the decision maker behind future films. A movie about the Hutt family and bounty hunters, namely Boba Fett, is something fans can get behind – and something director Joe Johnston told us in 2011 was something he was interested in developing. But a movie about Jabba? No. Yoda at least has some brand appeal as one of the recognizable figureheads of the Star Wars franchise.
While the idea of a movie focused on the oldest of the Jedi Order may seem odd considering the mixed response to Yoda’s CG action sequences in the prequel trilogy, some sort of spinoff or origin story does have at least one appealing aspect in how it can include characters who are otherwise no longer living. Samuel L. Jackson would love to play Mace Windu again so a standalone feature based earlier in the canonical timeline is the only way that can occur since it wouldn’t make sense for his Jedi spirit form to show up in Star Wars episodes 7-9.
What if that rumored Zack Snyder Seven Samurai-style Star Wars isn’t actually based after Return of the Jedi and includes a younger Yoda, perhaps in an epic adventure of him leading a team of Jedi to defend a planet and earning his rank as eventual Grand Master? And what if that project is one of the spinoffs Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are reportedly writing? Could all of these be one and the same or are Disney and Lucasfilm actually developing multiple standalone features along with Star Wars episodes 7-9 this very moment?
Of all the 100+ stories in the Star Wars extended universe, longtime fans still voice interest in properties such as the Knights of The Old Republic and Shadows of the Empire, not to mention the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight. And those are just some of the video games that could serve as standalone Star Wars tales! A Yoda film would at least explore the origins and history of the character, something that was never touched on in the series.
Loading ...Star Wars Episode 7 will hit theaters in 2015.
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Source: AICN
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It’s getting better and better!
I’d totally sign up for watching a movie centered around Yoda.
Hopefully this doesn’t mean that the Boba Fett and Seven Samurai-esque SW projects are out of the fold now, because I want to see those too.
I always said they shoulda made a YODA story where as a young YODA was 6’7″ and as he aged he got smaller and smaller. just sayin, it woulda been preety cool imo
You mean like Benjamin Button?
That is the ONLY sort of Yoda film that I would approve of. 6’7″ and lightning fast, with an eccentric hat and a soundtrack of funk music. That could be strangely appealing. But other than that, Yoda is best with whatever we don’t know yet remaining a mystery. His peak as a character was Empire/Jedi, and it’s only taken away from his mystique since.
This is stupid.
Indeed.
Can’t they just leave it alone?
They should first concentrate on making the next 3 movies.
Sweeeeeet! If this works they need to make a Darth Maul solo movie because Darth Maul’s the man!
With or without the robot legs?
Without them. those were some of the best stories with him learning to be a sith
Yoda is looking a little drunk in that first picture haha.
Hmmm, intersting, could be this
on another note, Rob, have you guys considered doing a ‘marvel characters we could see in Thor 2′ I am tired about having to explain who Beta-Ray Bill is, and I have a feeling many dont know who surtur is, and there are a couple characters who have been confirmed that could use some further background as well. Just a thought
Also, would love to see a shadows of the empire, or a dark forces/Jedi knight series of movies, that would be awesome!
Nathan Fillion should be Dash Rendar should they make Shadows
Nathan Fillion shouldn’t be in any Marvel project EVER… Just to spite every nerd with a Malcolm Reynolds man-crush who wants Fillion in EVERYTHING…
Nay. I don’t think that he should be in everything, but Dash Rendar could be perfect, since Dash is a replacement Han Solo to begin with. Plus, can you imagine how good the dialogue could be between Fillion and his droid sidekick Leebo?
@Cave-ish Man
Um, this wouldn’t be a Marvel project, but a Lucasfilm project
I’m not one of those people who fan-cast Fillion for every role, but this would be perfect for him. Simply b/c his role in Firefly/Serenity is more or less a Han Solo type character and Dash Rendar is pretty much another version of Solo.
Bring me all of the Star Wars you have…
Yes, this guy^^^^^^
This is idiotic, if we dont know Yoda’s origins, then theres a reason we dont know. Disney thinks they can make a better trilogy than Lucas himself the cocky bastards, there is no need for all this extra sh*t they’re coming up with. Lucas himself said once that he wasnt going to make a sequel trilogy because there was nothing to tell, the whole point of the saga was the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker. He hates all this other spin-off crap, he just approves it cause it means more money.
I think my grandma could make a better triology than the prequels and she’s been dead for 10 years.
I think Marvel could do a great job, and the SW universe has much more possibility to it than stories that start with tax-dodging and have an ending that everyone knows.
You obviously dont understand what im talking about, if you dont know whats going on and whats being said then dont bother to post your comment.
Shut it
George Lucas lost all credibility with his sh*t prequels.
Not really. If you read the stories for the prequels on paper, then they’re actually really good. The whole plot of how Darth Sidious rose to power, tricked the senate and the Jedi with the Clone Wars, and brought down the Republic is actually really well thought out. And before anyone mentions Jar Jar and Anakin “Yippee!” Skywalker, I’m not saying they are without they’re faults. But the main problem was that Lucas doesn’t work well with actors. Many actors (and I believe Lucas himself) have commented on this idea.
George Lucas is a storyteller, not a director.
Lucas didn’t tell the story because he’s an idiot! There are tons of material and backstory that can be told, countless movies, series, you name it! And there are countless fans out there who are whiling to receive any new material Disney wants to come up with! So you don’t want to see any of the new movies? Good deal, don’t see any of them, just don’t come up with stupid ideas why such story wasn’t told before, because that’s plain crap. SW is a rich universe and it deserves to be treated the proper way, and I think Lucas dropped the ball with it. Now it’s time to move on to new horizons. BRING IT!!!! Myself, and millions (if not billions) of fans worldwide are thirsty for new material!
Didn’t Lucas himself write 3 trilogies and intend to make them all? It seemed that he originally intended to take it further, and Lucas himself approached Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to do a new Star Wars film before he sold the rights.
No, not exactly. He did intend on doing nine films originally, and he had a few IDEAS for the third trilogy, but nothing solid. He started on a script for VII but never finished it ’cause he didnt like it. Why, im not sure. I guess its because he couldnt figure out how to incorporate lil Ani into the last three films.
No he didn’t , dude get your facts straight before you post.
So that’s different than “he wasnt going to make a sequel trilogy because there was nothing to tell”. Why would he write a script and approach those two actors for another movie if there was nothing left to tell?
actually, that is not 100% true.
Lucas originally said around the time of Empire’s original release that the saga would be 9 episodes. I believe that was in a Time Magazine article from around 1980.
He later changed it to a six Episode plan when prepping for the prequels and realized he was not a young man anymore.
A Yoda movie watch I don’t want. A waste of time and ressources it is. Cool Star Wars and not more (digital) Muppet Show I want.
Question to the starwars fans here, in the extented stories etc are there some dealing with the origins of the Sith/Jefi orders? The very beginnings? Always thought that would make for a very interesting story.
Ha Jedi.. Clearly typo, my bad.
Now if you had said Jeffi, I would have been like…COOL!
yes there are. currently the only stories told in that area is Dawn of the Jedi and Lost Tribe of the Sith. there is also the story of Darth Bane who reformed the sith to make it one master and one apprentice only. hope that helps any
Emotion lead to anger…anger leads to the dark side…darkside leads to me walking up to the peeps at Disney and going Medieval on their butts.
This is so stupid, why not throw in Jar Jar Binks and dedicated it to remedial grammar 101!
A Jar Jar tv show! Now we’re talking!
Yoda is my favorite Star Wars character. I mean, I just loved that epic fight between him and Sidious from Episode III, it gave me more excitement than Obi-Wan vs. Vader.
But giving him his own movie? I guess I could see that, but Yoda has always walked the path of a pure Jedi and being one with the Force. I’m sure he’s had his share of adventures, but there isn’t much conflict or concern within his journey of becoming a Jedi Master
there is a story about Yoda’s life that was partially told in the history of star wars where he was an apprentice, led a crusade and killed seven sith at one time by himself
This is stupid. Once Yoda picked up a light saber and started jumping around like a mental CGI frog his character was ruined forever. I prefer to remember Yoda from the originals as the wise old mentor who gave out strong and powerful advice and thought us that the force is all around us, that power, size and strength don’t matter.
Oh man, how they ruined poor Yoda and everything he stood for in those prequels. Lets just move on with Ep 7 and forget about past characters yeah, most of them, like Yoda have been ruined anyway. A small role for Luke, Han, Leia and a cameo from Chewie, or possibly Lando in the new movie should be enough. But new characters and a new storyline by better writers than Lucas is what I’m looking forward to the most.
definitely! I think every star wars fan has always wondered how yoda became the most powerful and wise jedi ever .It would be great to see a young or 500 year old yoda at his peak showing us what the force can really do.doing a movie set after the return of the jedi with or without original characters would drain the previous trilogies there’s no real mystery in the future.If you want to do a totally new story that somehow ties in with the luke and vader saga without luke or vader would be detached no matter how great the special effects are.Maybe emphasize on leia’s journey to becoming a jedi is about all you can do in a post ROJ movie.The past ties in more easily with the present and leaves much more creative room, hence Give us YODA…
Most painful scene in any movie ever was Yoda fighting.
Not just because all the geekboys in the cinema were peeing themselves laughing but the absolute cheesiness of it all.
But there are def enough nerds out there that would love it they would be mad not to do it.
I (as well as friends in the theatre with me) thought the Yoda fight scene was awesome, and I heard cheers in the cinema not laughs. If they did a Yoda movie I’d be looking forward to seeing him fight again.
Yeah, the movie theatre I watched Yoda fighting, everyone was cheering, because he kicked so much buttocks. I heard no one laughing anywhere.
There was laughing in the theater that I was in. Granted, it was positive laughing. But I was not laughing. It was disconcerting to me, seeing the esoteric Jedi Master turn into Sonic the Hedgehog. It is fair that his character get his action/kicks, I will certainly admit that, but I don’t have to like it. Yoda was best in Empire, and every time they go into more detail about his younger days, it can’t help but reduce his mystique. I’m a big one for mystique; it was one of the most interesting aspects of the original films, the fact that all sorts of things were alluded to in passing, leaving mysteries.
Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from. You kind of lose a little bit of the respect you had for him when you see him bouncing around like that. He was a different character than from Empire, that’s for sure.
In some ways, revealing his background might be seen as the same thing as the midi-chlorians ruining the Force. That was one of the things I didn’t like from the prequels – turning the mysterious power into plain biology. I don’t think a Yoda movie would be on the same level (depending on how they do it), but I can see how some would see it like that.
To death good-idea beating this is. Reserves I have.
Star Wars is ruined, which allows me to see how bad it was in the first place (that and the people who take it too seriously) but if there is anything left to exploit, er, develop in it, Yoda’s backstory is one of the best avenues to explore. I mean, a good avenue to explore, it is – ha ha ha ha ha!
Sorry if my enthusiasm seems forced.
This property has only so many options left to it in the state it’s in. We don’t know if Disney will do a Yoda movie: we don’t know how they handle Star Wars at all, yet. The Clone Wars show recycled dialogue, settings, and plots from the films so thoroughly that it suggested all future SW projects would do the same (with characters whose fates we already know, no less) even though it produced a few good original stories.
Disney’s caught between a rock and hard place here; they’ll be trapped by old conventions, called gimmicky for anything new, but worst of all they may have only bought a bunch of logos that have virtually no dramatic potential left in them.
But that’s where the hardcore fans keep the Jedi fire from going out of the universe.
Not sure if I’d be up for a Hutt film, even if it did have Fett in it, as in The Clone Wars I find the other Hutts really quite annoying.
A Yoda movie would work pretty well, but otherwise it would be nice to see new elements introduced rather than rehashing old characters over and over again.
Lucas shoe horned the Fetts into the prequels and it was for no apparent reason other than people liked Boba. But whilst he was great as a faceless bounty hunter, seeing him as a little kid felt to me like it was random and pointless to the narrative.
I’m not one for defending the prequels, but having Jango and Boba in the prequels filled in the backstory of why Boba hate the Jedi so much.
Jabba the Hutt – A Year to Save my Life
‘Watch Jabba as he struggles with obesity, his food addiction, fighting his inner demons and coming to terms with a troubled past, watch as Jabba tries to find the strength to use a treadmill and enter a pod race’
This Summer comes a film about hope…….redemption and burning off calories……..in a time of great sorrow…….in a galaxy bar far away
Bravo!
*applauds*
I would like to see something entirely new, something minimally connected to the rest of the movies. new characters, new story in a new part of the star wars universe, with the prequel trilogy wrapped up and so much of what happened after Return already in print, now would be a good time to put that era to bed and head off in a new direction. and I have no doubt Abrams could pull it off…
wish this snyder movie was happening
I like it!! Bring me all the Stsr Wars movies that they can think of, and I’ll watch every one of them. I really like the idea of stand alone movies, for all the cool characters, (not Jabba though). Disney is on the right track!
True dat man!
I never thought I’d say this, but here goes: I’m liking what Disney is doing!
+1
It would be awesome to see a Yoda movie. And to see how he earned the rank of, Grand Master. Also, his Force powers/abilities are numerous and we have only seen a small portion of those abilities on film. It would be sweet to witness Yoda’s extraordinary power on the big screen!
Going into the Old Republic to bring stories from that era is a great idea, but not if they are going to do KOTOR. That story has already been told…mostly…and told decently.
My buddy, who works for ILM, hates superheroes and superhero movies. He wants an all new, Jedi Knight free, Star Wars story with no connecting tissue to the first six movies. All new characters set in the same universe.
I tend to agree with him. I’d be interested in a Star Wars 7 with no Jedi Knights.
Though I would like to see the return of the Millennium Falcon somehow…..
Mistake.
I like Yoda, but to put up with him for an entire film? I think he’d get annoying in all honesty.
For me, I think part of what I didn’t like about Yoda suiting up is I still felt like he was too old to be jumping around, at least in a cartooney lightsaber duel sense. But maybe with him being younger it would work. Potentially if his character is completely different. Maybe he could be arrogant or a hothead and slowly his arc forms until he gains the wisdom of a Jedi Master.
Plus, I’d like to know what race he comes from, and how he can live so darn long!
Id pass on this… pure cgi main character no thank you
here are a few stories i would like to see told (and yes they are in order as the series show):
the Darth Bane Trilogy (Path of Destruction, Rule of Two, Dynasty of Evil)
Knights of the Old Republic
republic and Imperial Commando series
the force unleashed
the thrawn trilogy (heir to the empire,dark force rising,the last command)
the callista trilogy (children of the jedi, darksaber, planet of twilight)
the new rebellion
the hand of thrawn duology
The New Jedi Order series (the death of chewbacca — Vector Prime)
Legacy of the Force series (the deaths of Mara Jade and Jacen Solo)
Millenium Falcon storyline
Fate of the Jedi series
The Fall of Jacen Solo would be awesome. Just sayin’
So basically you want to see the prequels made again?
A lot more to the legacy force series.