Disney and Lucasfilm Confirm Those Standalone 'Star Wars' Movies

I guess Ain't It Cool was on to something with their rumor about a Yoda standalone Star Wars movie after all. Disney/Lucasfilm released a statement on Tuesday not only confirming that the studio was working on a standalone movie but that they were actually working on two of them. Disney will be giving Star Wars the Marvel Cinematic Universe treatment too, as they expect to start releasing these standalone Star Wars films after Star Wars: Episode VII, mixing them into the same six-year span the Sequel Trilogy will hit theaters during.

This is all still a bit surreal. Just a few months ago, we were living in a world where there would never again be a new Star Wars movie. There were just six of them, and the Complete Saga blu-ray set would forever be the only Star Wars movies in my collection. Now? We're not only getting three new Star Wars movies about the Skywalkers but there's a whole bunch of standalone Star Wars movies on the way? This still blows my mind.

With Disney announcing that "each standalone film will focus on a specific character," who does everyone want to see? AICN has already thrown Yoda's tiny hat into the ring. I love what the Clone Wars is doing with Darth Maul this season, but a film about the Sith lord's past would not only be a blockbuster but would sell merchandise like crazy. Boba Fett has to get his own movie right? Let's see him fight his way out of the Sarlacc.

Check out the full Disney/Lucasfilm press release about the standalone Star Wars movies after the jump.

The Star Wars cinematic galaxy is about to experience a Big Bang. Lucasfilm is officially announcing new spinoff films that will expand the mythos and depths of the Star Wars universe in previously unexplored ways.  

One of the standalone films will be written by 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. 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. Each standalone film will focus on a specific character, and two spinoff films are currently confirmed.  

In a call to investors, Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, revealed while the original focus was on the highly-anticipated sequel trilogy, the idea of spinoff films was bandied about early and the additional films are now becoming a reality. "We are in development of a few standalone films," he said, "that are not part of the Star Wars saga...there are now creative entities working on developing scripts for what would be those standalone films."