The Star Wars juggernaut will continue in hyperspeed for the foreseeable future, with three new films added to Lucasfilm’s slate.
The studio is developing a trio of new films for the franchise and has tapped Disney vets James Mangold (Logan), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel) and Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian) to direct a project each. These films join three other movies in development in the Star Wars theatrical pipeline, which directors Taika Waititi, Patty Jenkins and Shawn Levy are set to direct.
The announcement was made at the Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 on Friday, a convention-style fan event held annually in different locations around the world.
The last Star Wars movie was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. In the interim, Lucasfilm has focused on its TV content for Disney+, including animated projects such as Visions and live-action shows Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The new films will flesh out more of the past, present and future of the Star Wars storyline. Mangold’s film will explore the story of the first Jedi to harness the force, while Obaid-Chinoy’s film will follow the continuing story of “Rey,” (pictured) the protagonist of the recent sequel trilogy. Meanwhile, fan-favorite director Filoni’s movie will focus on the New Republic and “close out the interconnected stories” from the ongoing TV projects.
In total, the 12 Star Wars movies released between 1977-2019 have grossed more than US$10 billion dollars at the global box office, making it the second-most profitable film franchise after the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Star Wars is known to broadly target a four-quadrant audience, Lucasfilm has been steadily adding more younger-skewing content to the universe to provide more kid-friendly entry points into the vast franchise.
Later this month, the CG-animated Young Jedi Adventures is slated to launch on Disney+ and Disney Junior, marking the franchise’s first-ever longform animated series to target preschoolers. And the upcoming series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is also looking to capture younger audiences with a coming-of-age premise, centered on four kids who are lost in the galaxy and try to find their way home with the help of a Jedi.