Discussion Disney's "Gameplan" for the Spin-Offs

Since we don't have a single confirmed title for any of the spinoffs, we still have little idea what Disney's overall plan for the spinoffs is. Originally, people assumed that they would precisely copy the Marvel model and have each spinoff focus on a character that would appear in future main saga films, although comments from Kathleen Kennedy have indicated otherwise. Mostly, the general belief is that Disney will focus on a spinoff for important characters from the existing saga, most notably Han Solo and Boba Fett.

Personally, I think Disney should be thinking much bigger than that, and long term I believe they are.

I am almost dreading the thought of a Han Solo spinoff film, with Han Solo being played by some other younger actor telling a backstory that we don't need to hear. But you know what? A lot of people will line up to see a Han Solo movie regardless of how good an idea it is, and Disney is banking on that. The first few spinoff films are really going to play it safe. They are going to target nostalgia to draw people in, and in the process the masses will get used to the idea of Star Wars films outside of the main saga.

Once that happens, I want Disney to start opening things up a bit, and really widen their focus. What is it that makes Star Wars such an endlessly compelling universe? There's many ways to answer that question, but for me, it's the sheer variety of it. Star Wars succeeds better than any fictional universe out there at being all things to all people. If you want Sci-Fi, it's there. If you want fantasy, it's there. Crime drama, westerns, creature horror, war epic, so many genres are woven in to the main six Star Wars films, and indeed into the very universe itself. So Disney should focus less on giving individual characters their 90 minutes and instead focus on bringing the individual genres that make up the totality of "Star Wars" and giving each one it's own film. Want a Star Wars film that's made in the vein of a high-fantasy? Boom, here's your Old Republic flick, with thousands of ancient Jedi and Sith going at it. Want a Star Wars gangster movie that focuses on the inner workings of the Hutt-run underworld? You can have it. Want a political thriller centered around the seedy deals of the Galactic Senate? Don't hold your breath on that one, but my point is that anything is possible. Disney has the entirety of the Star Wars universe at its fingertips. If they're planning to give us a new movie every year, they are going to have to prove just how versatile Star Wars can be. It would be a shame if they squandered that just so they could go on chasing nostalgia.

 

The biggest reason for SW to avoid the Marvel model is simply that the SW scale is so much larger than Marvel's. Even if Marvel includes aliens and other dimensions, the main focus is always going to be earth and the wacky stuff going on there. SW has a whole galaxy to work with, where it is much more plausible that a big interesting adventure can go on without any other major characters in the series knowing anything about it. Marvel can only have so many plausible self-sustained stories before characters need to start running into each other.

 

It's not only KK's off the cuff comments that make me skeptical of a movie about the core characters but her words in actual official announcements. In the press release about Josh Trank she literally wrote "new slate of movies that reach beyond the core characters and storylines of Episodes I through IX." I think you're right about Disney playing it safe but I doubt they will do something like make a movie about Han, Obi-Wan, or Yoda.

 

My gut feeling is this: there will be a Boba Fett spinoff and a Han Solo spinoff, both based on stories developed for Underworld. I go into more detail on my site, but the gist is this:

1. they already have a heap of scripts and concept art that can easily be reworked for feature films
2. they were writing the backstories for Han, Chewie, Lando, the Falcon and Fett for the series
3. the Underworld concept, of following side-stories tangentially related to the saga, is in line with the spinoff concept

Given all that, I can't see them not making Fett and Solo spinoffs.

 

Yes, with the news that Underworld was going to include Han meeting Chewie and winning the Falcon, and Boba Fett stories, I'm sure we'll get those two spin-offs. Like you said, Han Burgundy, those are two popular characters who will get butts in the seats and the first spin-offs, being new and untested, need to do well. Also, as you said Artoo-Dion, they already have stories and concept art they can easily adapt. It's nice because we really still will be getting Underworld, just in a different format.

But I do hope that the Han and Boba movies do well and establish the spin-offs enough that they can start doing movies unrelated to existing characters. I'd love anything set way back in the day, I want a fighter pilot movie, etc. There are so many options and so many different genres they could tap. But I do think they will establish the spin-off brand first with popular, bankable characters.

 

I don't think they're going to do Han and Boba. To me that's one movie. It would be great to learn Han and Boba have a much older history than we assumed. And I don't think they would have to retcon anything to make it happen.

And also to have two spinoffs with the potential for no Jedi/Sith I highly doubt.

 

I do think they'll "play it safe" at first. I'm not crazy about a Han backstory and even less enthused about Boba Fett, but I'll go see them. I want them to be a success for the very reason you present: I want Disney to fully realize the storytelling potential the GFFA offers. I'm in love with the Saga, but I'm also in love with the Galaxy in all its variety and complexity. I hope Disney doesn't squander it on nostalgic (perceived) fan service.

Give me high fantasy, give me gangsters, give me military adventures, give me space westerns, heck, give me Pride and Prejudice or Downton Abbey on Alderaan or Naboo. I want it all.
And please don't tease about a political thriller, some of us want that more than anything.

 

We all realise the wealth of potential there is within the SW universe. I'm sure that Disney and the rest of the team do as well. But the fact is that Disney have to make sure the foundations are right for the future of the SW franchise, so for that reason I can't see them doing a spin off based on minor characters like Dengar or Dexter Jettster, but will instead focus on films that feature characters that are more well known, like Yoda, Vader & Han Solo for instance. Personally I think the Boba film will feature another character, maybe Han, as I don't think Boba Fett has the draw to be the main character in a movie on his own.

 

I do hope there will come a day, in which we get a solo star wars film which stars/focuses on a completely new original character.

 

I will agree with this. I'd like to see another era of Star Wars on the big screen. Especially one they could put a Roman numeral after.

 

A film about Obi-Wan Kenobi starring Ewan McGregor would be cool. I am less inclined to be eager to see any Han Solo or Boba Fett films. Whatever characters TPTB decide to make films about, I will see them, but I am hesitant to think the films will be a slam dunk "great thing".

 

Very much agreed with you, Han Burgandy. They have such a huge canvas to play in and explore that I feel like a series of films based on younger versions of popular characters that we already know just feels like a lot of wasted potential.

Give me new genres, new artistic styles, new ideas that might have been touched on in the main saga and explore them deeper. I'd hate to see Disney settle for Han Solo: Origins when they can do so much more than that.

 

The thing is, they've got plenty of time to experiment, but they need some "safe bets" in the meantime just to make good on their investment.

 

You think Disney needs to think bigger and longer term then Marvel? A studio that has produced some of the biggest movies of all time (including the biggest, I believe?) and which has their releases planned out for the next 10 years.

 

Longer than that. Kevin Feige said Marvel Studios had their releases planned out past 2028.

 

In terms of the concepts for their movies, yes. Marvel's approach works for them because it directly mirrors what made their comic universe successful. The Marvel Universe wasn't originally a universe so much as it was a group of separate comic series that eventually got mashed together in big "team up" arcs like Avengers. The movies have followed pretty much the same model, and to great success. Star Wars is a different beast. It was created as a fully featured universe from the beginning, much closer to Tolkiens Middle Earth than Marvel or DC. The seminal work of Star Wars is not an individual character piece like Amazing Spider Man or Incredible Hulk, It's "Star Wars".

The highlight of the Marvel Universe has always been the big, larger than life characters, the superheroes and super villains. Star Wars has that too, but the real "star" of the show has always been the universe that George created, the mythology of the Jedi and Sith, the gangsters and scoundrels, the iconography of the Empire and the Rebellion, the memorable worlds and creatures. So the spinoff films should really work to highlight the endless potential that the Star Wars universe holds, and make films about broader topics than merely the origin story of an individual character.

 

In the 1960's, when Stan Lee started creating the Marvel U we know today, it absolutely was a shared universe right frm the start. And Star Wars is in an individual character piece, the creator has said so - its the story of Luke (and then with the PT, Anakin).

How do you think you get to see more of the universe? By getting more stories (ike origin stories) of individual charaters.

 

My first thought was "Animated Clone Wars Sequel" because the TV show never told us what happened to Asoka.

The abrupt cancellation of the series suggests the possibility of larger intentions for those storylines.

Disney loves their animated films, after all, and these can be done totally independently of the live-action stuff.

 

If it were up to me, the first spinoff would be centered on Darth Vader immediately after ROTS. And it would be about him adjusting to the suit and hunting down the Jedi who survived Order 66 with the same unforgiving approach and bone-chilling one-liners that made him such a great villain in ESB.

 

I don't want to see any origins honestly. As much as I like the prequels it isn't the same when you know the outcome of the characters involved ahead of time.


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Movie unfortunately are the least likely place to see those brand new original characters. Television is the place for that now.

Feature films are the place for less risky and built in fan base characters and stories.

That doesn't mean they won't. It just means they're less likely to do it for the features.

 

The idea of a Boba Fett movie or a Han Solo movie just doesn't excite me. I would expect a "spin-off" to be more like Star Wars Rebels or Star Wars: 1313 or the Knights of the Old Republic with mostly new main characters, and have some kind of important connection to what's going on in the new trilogy. Other ideas like a post-Revenge of the Sith, pre-A New Hope Darth Vader movie just seem to cover ground that should have been covered in the Prequels.

 

I completely agree with the OP.

That said, if the schedule we've seen is true, we're looking at 2021 before it would even be possible for Disney to branch out more. That's a long time away. I have a hard enough time imagining that I'll be *alive* then. lol.

In all seriousness, though, there are only so many years left that Disney can play on the nostalgia card. Those of us that have been around since '77 are getting older. Soon, we will not be even close to the market that Disney wants to capture. They will branch out from the OT characters. They'll have to if they want Star Wars to survive.

 

I think the first two spinoffs will be like 1313... which centred on Boba Fett and had the Millennium Falcon in it, too.

 

Disney's game plan, if this report is to be believed.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1312499/bo...temuera-morrison-in-2016-star-wars-7-spinoff/