"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" crushed box office records and was well received by the moviegoing public. But while Disney and Lucasfilm have to be pleased with its $2 billion-plus worldwide performance, they must also remember that "The Force Awakens" is just the first entry in a new grand- scale "Star Wars" universe. Lucasfilm has two more saga films on the docket and a handful of planned spinoff films in its new "Star Wars Anthology" series. The good news is that the first standalone movie, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," is apparently great, at least according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Iger may be a bit biased when it comes to his judgment of a Disney property, but he sounds genuinely blown away with this new offering. He told Entertainment Weekly: "Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we've seen so far. This is the first of a set of planned stand-alone stories and we're already in preproduction on our next one, for release in May of 2018."
Iger is the same guy who signed off on delaying "Star Wars: Episode VIII" so that they have enough time to get it right. He could have applied the same thinking to "Rogue One," but he didn't. This supports the belief that Disney is pleased with director Gareth Edwards' ("Godzilla") work on the movie. Following the runaway success of "The Force Awakens," Disney has earned the benefit of the doubt from fans.
The "next one" Iger refers to here is the highly anticipated young Han Solo movie. Pre-production on the film has been underway for months as directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller ("The Lego Movie," "21 Jump Street") search for the perfect young actor to don the iconic vest and blaster. The last we heard, it had been narrowed down to about a dozen candidates.
Even if Iger is just blowing smoke, it's better than the alternative. How many times have we heard rumors of troubled productions derailing once promising movies (cough, "Fantastic Four," cough)? It sounds as if this first Anthology film has seen nothing but smooth sailing and that bodes well for the final product.
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" will arrive on Dec. 16.
