Rogue One (2016) [SW Anthology Series)

[fireproof78]

Once it does happen, whenever, there will be the same uproar in fandom of "how dare they lie to us and say the novels/comics were canon then say they aren't" that followed the announcement last year the EU was no longer canon. Which gets back to my original point that it is reckless and irresponsible of Disney to call them canon at the moment, when they have history as a guide to tell them what happens down that road. And really, I don't expect these declarations of canon and this LSG busting their humps to make sure everything is consistent is going to result in significantly higher sales than the EU had anyway. Or the tie-ins of any other franchise.

Not trying to be argumentative but I really didn't follow your point. So, I would appreciate some clarification as to your point regarding the EU.

Also, to try and be fair to Disney, GL never considered EU canon in the sense that it informed his story choices. He always described it as a different continuity (or sandbox) that focused on other parts of the story.

So, before Disney, you have George's story (which changed constantly) and the separate EU (which changed from time to time). Now, we have the Disney canon (which can change on their whim) and SW Legends (which can also change).

The only difference is that Disney is focused on controlling the current product to allow for consistency until they establish their branding and canon.

I can't really say that I blame them.

 

[Skywalker]

Agreed. And, like Lucas before them I don't really see Disney/LSG ever letting the new non-movie continuity inform their story choices, either. Everything else will follow the movies, there'll just be more control and consistency over it now than before.

 

[Ithekro]

Which might be the entire point of having the LSG working. So that tie-ins cannot contradict the Sequel Trilogy while it is still in production. Also to filter in ideas for the Anthology series of films.

I don't see why this is considered a bad thing. Disney wants to sell Star Wars. The movies are the largest probable profiting part of their investment. Yet they can make money off the other media as well. To give it that extra selling point, the LSG is there to keep things consistant, so that the other media don't try to tell the sequel stories before they are told, and to make everything seem like it all fits together nicely. While that isn't for everyone, the children that will be likely the largest group to want to see the new films will be there because of the tie in TV cartoons from The Clone Wars and Rebels. So having things consistant on just that front will help sell tickets later, as they drag their parents to see these movies. Their parents possibly being those that saw the Prequel trilogy first, or the slightly older ones that saw the Orignal trilogy as little kids.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not trying to be argumentative but I really didn't follow your point. So, I would appreciate some clarification as to your point regarding the EU.

Also, to try and be fair to Disney, GL never considered EU canon in the sense that it informed his story choices. He always described it as a different continuity (or sandbox) that focused on other parts of the story.

So, before Disney, you have George's story (which changed constantly) and the separate EU (which changed from time to time). Now, we have the Disney canon (which can change on their whim) and SW Legends (which can also change).

The only difference is that Disney is focused on controlling the current product to allow for consistency until they establish their branding and canon.

I can't really say that I blame them.

Regardless of the EU's official canonical status, there was a large percentage of fandom that held onto it as the official canon. Admittedly, this was borne out of the 1990s when there were no other SW productions, but nothing since the prequels started in 99 really dissuaded fandom of the notion. Then last year, when Disney announced the revised canon policy and that the EU was not part of it there was a large outcry of "I devoted twenty years of my life to the EU and now you waltz in and call it non-canon? How dare you? Your fucking mothers aren't canon. I can't believe we've been lied to for two decades."

Regardless of the efforts of this LSG, we're just going to get a repeat of this in years to come. People are already saying in this thread that the movies will come first, meaning that if one of the filmmakers wants to show X-Wings operating underwater, they will despite any mentions in the tie-ins they can't operate underwater. And what happens a decade from now when a new creative team comes in and decides they don't the tie-ins part of their canon? They'll wipe the slate, and once again fandom will be in outrage over these novels and comics being erased from canon just to appease the new creative team. Which is why I consider it irresponsible of Disney to call these new novels and comics canon. They're just setting themselves up for a repeat of last year.

Which might be the entire point of having the LSG working. So that tie-ins cannot contradict the Sequel Trilogy while it is still in production. Also to filter in ideas for the Anthology series of films.

I don't see why this is considered a bad thing. Disney wants to sell Star Wars. The movies are the largest probable profiting part of their investment. Yet they can make money off the other media as well. To give it that extra selling point, the LSG is there to keep things consistant, so that the other media don't try to tell the sequel stories before they are told, and to make everything seem like it all fits together nicely. While that isn't for everyone, the children that will be likely the largest group to want to see the new films will be there because of the tie in TV cartoons from The Clone Wars and Rebels. So having things consistant on just that front will help sell tickets later, as they drag their parents to see these movies. Their parents possibly being those that saw the Prequel trilogy first, or the slightly older ones that saw the Orignal trilogy as little kids.

I don't get why an independent "story group" has to be hired for this purpose. In Abrams Star Trek, Orci is responsible for reviewing the tie-in material to make sure it doesn't cover any material they intend to cover in the movies and nothing gets released without his signed approval. Couldn't Disney just get one of the top producers of their SW movies to handle this for them? IE, someone who was already on the payroll anyway?

 

[kirk55555]

I don't know why people hate continuity among tie ins. The old EU was, overall, 1000x better than any of the movies, even the Original Trilogy. I loved the OT, but the Star Wars EU made me a diehard SW fan. If you don't like the expanded stuff, ignore it. There are obviously enogh people that like it to make it profitable, so its no use complaining about it. A lot of people enjoy the stuff, and its not ruining anything for people that don't.

Personally, I still count the old EU as my official canon. The upcoming movies and new books are an awesome looking alternate universe to me. I'm super excited for them, but they won't be replacing the old EU as what I consider to be THE Star Wars universe. That doesn't mean I don't recognize that the new stuff is the official universe or that I won't enjoy the new stuff immensely, it just means I still count the old EU as the reason I love Star Wars. I'll count the new stuff as canon with its universe until it isn't, and at this point I'll always have my Star Wars universe, so it won't be as big a deal.

Just because someone might reboot something again in a decade or two doesn't mean they shouldn't make a consistent universe. A canon including books and other stuff not in films is just a generally awesome idea, and if you don't like it or thing its just going to be rebooted, you can easily ignore it.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Good old Canon/EU/Legends arguments...

 

[Ithekro]

The LSG people already worked there. Four people. As far as I can tell they didn't hire new people for that job, they promoted people in the company that had been there for a decade or so that basically know everything and gave them the task of keeping things straight. There were the people that kept up the official websites and the like. The ones that already had to know everything Star Wars as they would be the ones answering Star Wars question from fan letters, to the internet, to people in the offices.

These were not new hires, they were older employees that knew Star Wars very well.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucasfilm_Story_Group

 

[fireproof78]

Regardless of the EU's official canonical status, there was a large percentage of fandom that held onto it as the official canon. Admittedly, this was borne out of the 1990s when there were no other SW productions, but nothing since the prequels started in 99 really dissuaded fandom of the notion. Then last year, when Disney announced the revised canon policy and that the EU was not part of it there was a large outcry of "I devoted twenty years of my life to the EU and now you waltz in and call it non-canon? How dare you? Your fucking mothers aren't canon. I can't believe we've been lied to for two decades."

Regardless of the efforts of this LSG, we're just going to get a repeat of this in years to come. People are already saying in this thread that the movies will come first, meaning that if one of the filmmakers wants to show X-Wings operating underwater, they will despite any mentions in the tie-ins they can't operate underwater. And what happens a decade from now when a new creative team comes in and decides they don't the tie-ins part of their canon? They'll wipe the slate, and once again fandom will be in outrage over these novels and comics being erased from canon just to appease the new creative team. Which is why I consider it irresponsible of Disney to call these new novels and comics canon. They're just setting themselves up for a repeat of last year.

Not necessarily so, given how much micromanagement LFL has been doing over the filming process, and all the tie in material. If Disney has Marvel plotting out their films until 2019 (or whenever) why not Star Wars?

Also, given the stricter parameters that both the films and spin off materials are under, there is not going to be this proliferation of books, comics, etc. that there was before and after the prequels. The books and comics kind of glut the market, and if you didn't like one, well you can move on down the line.

Personally, I care little for the canonical status of any work. Disney is world building on a larger, coherent scale, that not even Lucas could envision. The risk that they run in to is not some team down the road contradicting something (that's bound to happen) but that they reference something and the general audience isn't going to know about and will miss a major plot point. There comes a point of being too self-referential. Halo 4 suffered in a similar manner.

 

[ATimson]

Not necessarily so, given how much micromanagement LFL has been doing over the filming process, and all the tie in material. If Disney has Marvel plotting out their films until 2019 (or whenever) why not Star Wars?

Announced through 2019, though supposedly they have plans through 2028.

But that really seems like it's going to be all broad strokes, and not details. If they were bound to details, we wouldn't be seeing Spider-man in Civil War.

Personally, I care little for the canonical status of any work. Disney is world building on a larger, coherent scale, that not even Lucas could envision. The risk that they run in to is not some team down the road contradicting something (that's bound to happen) but that they reference something and the general audience isn't going to know about and will miss a major plot point. There comes a point of being too self-referential. Halo 4 suffered in a similar manner.

As someone who reads the tie-ins: I found Halo 4 a lot more enjoyable than Halo: Reach, because the former worked with the material instead of contradicting it left right and center.

Referencing something I don't know won't take me out of the work. Contradicting something I do know will.

Disney has said that the books, from now on, are just as important as the movies. It's the only reason I'm still reading them. If they turn around and break the continuity of them, that's it for me.

 

[fireproof78]

Not necessarily so, given how much micromanagement LFL has been doing over the filming process, and all the tie in material. If Disney has Marvel plotting out their films until 2019 (or whenever) why not Star Wars?

Announced through 2019, though supposedly they have plans through 2028.

But that really seems like it's going to be all broad strokes, and not details. If they were bound to details, we wouldn't be seeing Spider-man in Civil War.

Personally, I care little for the canonical status of any work. Disney is world building on a larger, coherent scale, that not even Lucas could envision. The risk that they run in to is not some team down the road contradicting something (that's bound to happen) but that they reference something and the general audience isn't going to know about and will miss a major plot point. There comes a point of being too self-referential. Halo 4 suffered in a similar manner.

As someone who reads the tie-ins: I found Halo 4 a lot more enjoyable than Halo: Reach, because the former worked with the material instead of contradicting it left right and center.

Referencing something I don't know won't take me out of the work. Contradicting something I do know will.

Disney has said that the books, from now on, are just as important as the movies. It's the only reason I'm still reading them. If they turn around and break the continuity of them, that's it for me.

I guess that is where it is difference is for me. But, I'm also used to the fact that SW universe was broken in to two different continuities-the Lucas level and the EU level. I never treated the books as "canon" any more than I did the comics or video game materials. That separation occurred fairly on.

If Disney breaks the trend, then it will likely be when they announce a new category that allows the writers more freedom, and less concerned with the continuity and tie ins to movies and TV shows. And, again, as a fan, I have no problem with that at all. Disney can do whatever they want with the franchise.

I agree about Reach, having been familiar with the novel and the Flood novel that chronicles the events of the first game. However, I spent much of my time after finishing Halo 4 talking with a friend of mine who had read all the books asking him a lot of questions. That's the breaker for me as well-I don't mind reading books, but to understand all the different terms and events in a video game is very frustrating to me. I mean, at least the Dune novel gave me a concordance. Couldn't the Halo 4 player manual give me that?

 

[DarthTom]

Josh Trank quits as director but others feel that he was actually fired by Disney

Humm, I wonder what the back story is here? Some descirbe him as, 'erratic," and then there was this incident:

Among those bumps: Trank has several small dogs who were left in a rented house in New Orleans while the film was shooting there. According to sources, as much as $100,000 worth of damage was done to the property. A source says the production considers any destruction of the property to be Trank's responsibility.
Citing Trank’s work on the 2012 found-footage superhero movie Chronicle, an insider says: “No question there’s talent there. You can’t do Chronicle by accident.” But Trank seemed “like one of these kids who comes to the NBA with all the talent and none of the character-based skills to handle it. There’s equipment he doesn’t yet have.”

 

[Reverend]

Josh Trank quits as director but others feel that he was actually fired by Disney

Humm, I wonder what the back story is here? Some descirbe him as, 'erratic," and then there was this incident:

Among those bumps: Trank has several small dogs who were left in a rented house in New Orleans while the film was shooting there. According to sources, as much as $100,000 worth of damage was done to the property. A source says the production considers any destruction of the property to be Trank's responsibility.
Citing Trank’s work on the 2012 found-footage superhero movie Chronicle, an insider says: “No question there’s talent there. You can’t do Chronicle by accident.” But Trank seemed “like one of these kids who comes to the NBA with all the talent and none of the character-based skills to handle it. There’s equipment he doesn’t yet have.”

Never saw 'Chronicle' but what little I've seen of 'Fantastic Four' looks dull and utterly derivative, so I can't say I'm sorry to see him go. Even less so if the above reports of his behaviour are accurate. Disney has plenty of professionals who would kill for this gig and it's understandable that they might not want to trust a several hundred dollar budget to someone like this.

 

[JD]

I think you missed a word in there.

 

[Mach5]

http://www.slashfilm.com/rumor-ewan-mcgregor-star-wars-obi-wan-trilogy/

Last Fall, Cinelix reported three Obi-Wan movies were in the works for McGregor, but that they’d all be independent of each other. Now it’s the Schmoes’ belief it’s more of a trilogy and there’s a possibility these films could be in addition to the Anthology films as well as Episodes. Could it mean a time we get two Star Wars movies a year?

Three movies? Nah, not buying it. A single standalone Obi-Wan film with Ewan staring? Sure, plausible enough. If I had to pick between this and a Boba Fett movie, I'd go with Kenobi without much thought. Ewan indeed was, as the article suggests, "one of the universal bright spots in the Prequel Trilogy", and it would be awesome seeing him in that role again.

I think this would work well as a smaller, less ambitious, more character based feature... But I doubt Disney would go for that.

 

[FPAlpha]

http://www.slashfilm.com/rumor-ewan-mcgregor-star-wars-obi-wan-trilogy/

Last Fall, Cinelix reported three Obi-Wan movies were in the works for McGregor, but that they’d all be independent of each other. Now it’s the Schmoes’ belief it’s more of a trilogy and there’s a possibility these films could be in addition to the Anthology films as well as Episodes. Could it mean a time we get two Star Wars movies a year?

Three movies? Nah, not buying it. A single standalone Obi-Wan film with Ewan staring? Sure, plausible enough. If I had to pick between this and a Boba Fett movie, I'd go with Kenobi without much thought. Ewan indeed was, as the article suggests, "one of the universal bright spots in the Prequel Trilogy", and it would be awesome seeing him in that role again.

I think this would work well as a smaller, less ambitious, more character based feature... But I doubt Disney would go for that.

Who knows?

I think it'll be a while before these get rolling because i believe Disney will want to see how the anthology movies are doing.

If they feel they can get away with a more character focused movie (whatever that may entail) they will do it, it's just a matter of assemling the right people in a team to do it.

 

[davejames]

As far as the other standalone goes, the latest is that both Jon Favreau and Matthew Vaughn are being considered as the director to replace Trank. And either one would be a huge upgrade in my opinion.

And it also sounds like it's going to less a "Boba Fett movie" and more a movie that focuses on the rivalry between Han and Boba Fett, which could be fun.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I really like Jon Favreau but of the two I would prefer that Matthew Vaughn direct.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

a movie that focuses on the rivalry between Han and Boba Fett, which could be fun.

Wait, they have a rivalry?

 

[Dick Whitman]

a movie that focuses on the rivalry between Han and Boba Fett, which could be fun.

Wait, they have a rivalry?

In the actual movies, they really don't. Han was just a bounty Fett collected. There is no sense that they have any previous history. It was just another job which he got payed for.

There are tons of rumors surfacing. Today I am seeing an new young Obi-Wan trilogy staring Ewan posted all over Facebook. But no facts to back it up.

 

[Mr Light]

A single Ewan McGregor movie? Awesome. But there's not enough story for a trilogy.