Taking a page out of the Marvel playbook, Disney is planning to expand the Star Wars universe with additional spin off films to go with the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII, Disney announced."We are in development of a few standalone films that are not part of the Star Wars saga," Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, revealed during a call to investors "There are now creative entities working on developing scripts for what would be those standalone films."
Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter of "The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and co-writer of "Return of the Jedi" while the other will be penned by Simon Kinberg, writer of "Sherlock Holmes" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith."
When exploring the acquisition of Lucasfilm the "idea of producing new standalone films came up and we discussed, not in great detail some of the possibilities," Iger said during the call. "Those possibilities are becoming more real with creative entities creating the scripts."
The movies will be separate from the upcoming Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, on which Kasdan and Kinberg are also consulting, and are expected to be released sometime after Episode VII, according to the Star Wars website. "Each standalone film will focus on a specific character, and two spin off films are currently confirmed," the website stated.
