Since 2015, there has been a new “Star Wars” film every year, and this year is no different. After ‘The Force Awakens’ broke records, followed by ‘Rogue One’ and ‘The Last Jedi’ both breaking $1 billion at the box office, it was assumed that for the rest of our natural lives, we’d have at least one story from the galaxy far, far away in theaters each year. However, 2018 saw the release of ‘Solo’ and its disastrous box office, which has the folks at Disney and Lucasfilm taking a step back and reassessing.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Disney boss Bob Iger talked the future of the “Star Wars” film franchise, specifically how there isn’t much of a future, at least not immediately.
“We have not announced any specific plans for movies [after ‘Episode IX’],” Iger said. “There are movies in development, but we have not announced them.”
That could be seen as optimistic for fans of the franchise that were excited by the prospect of a new “Star Wars” film each year. However, as the Disney exec explains, the reason they haven’t announced anything yet is probably that those films are still pretty far off, meaning there’s no 2020 film on the horizon, and perhaps beyond.
“We will take a pause, some time, and reset,” he said, “because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other ‘Stars Wars’ movies, but there will be a bit of a hiatus.”
“Hiatus” is an interesting choice of words. We’ve heard that the planned spin-off films were put on hold after the financial issues surrounding ‘Solo.’ But many just assumed that the new trilogy being heralded by Rian Johnson could fill the void. We also know that the two guys behind “Game of Thrones” are in the process of developing a new series of films themselves, but they won’t begin working on them until after their HBO commitment is through (later this year).
So, how long is the hiatus? At this point, it’s safe to say that there aren’t any “Star Wars” films for 2020, with the only new live-action franchise material hitting Disney+. But it’s also likely that we’re talking no “Star Wars” in 2021. Just with how these films work, with the massive amount of pre-production and whatnot, the ‘Thrones’ guys won’t be ready by at least 2022, and it’s likely that Rian Johnson is in a similar camp, as he is still working on his upcoming film “Knives Out” before tackling another franchise film.
But as we said, those thinking they’ll be without “Star Wars” content for a couple of years are mistaken, as Disney+ will become your new friend very quickly. There are currently two live-action series and multiple animated projects on tap for the streaming service, so there’s plenty of “Star Wars” on the horizon. You just won’t have to wait in line to see it.