‘Star Wars 8′ Gets 2017 Release Date, Spinoff ‘Rogue One’

[The Ultimate Nullifier]

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There are new Star Wars movies coming. Bob Iger just announced two more projects during Disney’s shareholder meeting today: Star Wars 8 will bow May 26, 2017 and be written and directed by Looper‘s Rian Johnson. And the first of the stand-alone spinoff movies based on Star Wars, Star Wars: Rogue One, begins shooting this summer with Felicity Jones officially starring.

AARP 14th Annual "Movies For Grownups" Awards GalaRogue One‘s storyline is by Industrial Light + Magic’s John Knoll and is one of the stand-alone spinoffs Disney and Lucasfilm have indicated will be part of the expanded Star Wars universe. Gareth Edwards is already aboard to direct, and Chris Weitz is handling the rewrite of Gary Whitta’s original script. A December 16, 2016 release date has been set aside.

Jones, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking’s wife in The Theory Of Everything, was first tipped to be the frontrunner for the lead role in this last month.

Today’s news means there will be three Star Wars films between now and 2017. JJ Abrams’ Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is due out this December 18 and is the first pic in the franchise since George Lucas’ Revenge Of The Sith in 2005.

Back in June, Deadline told you first that Johnson was aboard to write and direct Star Wars VIII and Star Wars IX.

[The Ultimate Nullifier]

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‘Star Wars: Rogue One’s’ ‘Halo’-esque Concept Art Sparks More Questions

Although the announcement Thursday of “Rogue One” likely led fans to assume the first “Star Wars” standalone film will center on X-Wing pilots, reports trickling out of the Disney investor presentation may suggest otherwise.

It turns out concept art was revealed for director Gareth Edwards’ film, described by Disney news blog Stitch Kingdom describes as: “Dozens of figures in fatigues appeared to be storming something with a strange helicopterish vehicle (open on the sides) in the background, releasing more troops.”

“It screamed ‘Halo’ to me,” the writer says, noting that the art was “very dark and done in greens, so it evoked the idea that it was being done under the cloak of night.”

That vide0-game franchise probably isn’t the first thing “Star Wars” fans think of when they hear “Rogue One.” The term instead evokes Rogue Squadron, the elite group of starfighter pilots established by Luke Skywalker, Arhul Narra and Wedge Antilles. Of course, the squadron’s leader has been traditionally referred to as “Rogue leader,” but “Rogue One” isn’t too far removed.

However, the Stitch Kingdom would seem to suggest a special-forces scenario rather than X-Wing pilots, elite or otherwise.

Slashfilm’s Peter Sciretta did his own sleuthing, even asking Los Angeles Times reporter Daniel Miller whether the art depicted orange jumpsuit-wearing pilots or possibly the bounty hunters early rumors had suggested. His answer? “Neither. They were masked but not whimsical looking like those bounty hunters (I realize whimsy & mercenaries don’t go together).”

Starring Felicity Jones, “Star Wars: Rogue One” opens Dec. 16, 2016.