'Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens' Release Date, Cast & Trailer: 'Rogue One' Spinoff Details Confirmed!
"Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens" will be released in December, and fans will have even more news to celebrate about as Screen Rant has reported that a spinoff movie has been confirmed and will be titled "Rogue One" with "The Theory of Everything" actress Felicity Jones officially landing the lead role.
"Rogue One" is the first "Star Wars" spinoff from Lucasfilm and Disney and is set to open in theaters on December 16, 2016. According to the website, Disney execs are planning that the films will be released on an annual basis with the standalone characters focused in between the core episode installments... which holds true considering that "Episode VIII" is expected to be in theaters by May 2017.
Slash Film reported that the concept art for "Rogue One" has been unveiled and it looked a lot like the "Halo" franchise, however, due to the no-electronics policy in the unveiling, there were no leaks online, with the announcements made only for shareholders, which made it almost impossible to describe to those who weren't there.
However, Slash Film managed to get a few descriptions for the concept art, and it was said to be a gritty, "dark / gray image" done mostly in greens, giving off the vibe that it's set "under the cloak of night."
Stitch Kingdom also stated that it "evoked concept art of a video game" and "screams 'Halo'".
According to the official Star Wars website, "Rogue One" will be directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Chris Weitz. The website also noted that the story for the film is the brain child of Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor John Knoll, who is also going to executive produce the film along with Simone Emanuel of "The Dark Knight Rises" and Jason McGatlin from "War of the Worlds."
Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To will be on board to produce, with John Swartz as co-producer. "Star Wars: Rogue One" is set to start filming in London this summer.
More details of "Rogue One" will be released later on, but there have been news for "Episode VIII," with Rian Johnson set to write and direct the film, which is set after the events of Episode VII. Johnson is among the most talented filmmakers of today, with "Looper" and "The Brothers Bloom" under his belt. He also directed three episodes of the critically-acclaimed series, "Breaking Bad" including "Ozymandias," which was named the best episode in the series.