In a fascinating window into Disney’s thought process on their latest Lucasfilm/Star Wars acquisition, Variety has run a treasure trove of a story about Disney and a property they view as “evergreen.”
During a conference call presentation of Disney’s assets at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, Jay Rasulo, chief financial officer of the Walt Disney Company, said, “The sky is the limit” when it comes to merchandizing the products. Brushing off concerns that kids today may not be as knowledgeable about the Star Warsuniverse, the CFO pointed to strong toy sales that maintain Star Wars as a top-tier toy license. “This is not a new franchise for kids.”
While describing the unbelievable resource that Star Warsrepresents for supersizing and noting its “incredible flexibility,” Rasulo stated something else that should raise any Jedi fan’s eyebrows: “Origin story film.” According to Variety, the Disney executive said that the films being released each year around the new “trilogy,” beginning in 2015, would be “origin stories.”
Not really that much of a surprise considering once defunct rumors are buzzing again. Last February, it was gossiped that there would be a Han Solo origin film, which could possibly start its own trilogy. Lawrence Kasdan was even rumored to be writing the script for the project (as the esteemed screenwriter behind Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark). While denied, it looks very intriguing now, as does the story that Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) wanted to direct a Boba Fett film. Indeed, he worked on creating Fett’s image in Empireand has since worked with Disney on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Ultimately, this appears to be a way of turning Star Wars into the multi-annual franchise event that Marvel Studios has become. It’s a brave new world for franchising possibilities and things really do look evergreen (or at least dollar green) for that galaxy far, far away.