Another day, another Star Wars related story, though this one comes with much firmer confirmation.
It looks as if the second 'spin-off' movie for the Star Wars franchise (the current plan being to have a 'core' chapter approximately every two years and on the alternate years having movies that explore other parts or specific characters within that universe far, far away) will focus on a young Han Solo in adventures set before we first meet him on Tatooine. And the team chosen to helm that (as yet un-named) entry are Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Regular cinema-goers will know that that is the team behind The Lego Movie - the hugely successful but vastly different movie that struck a chord with critics and fans alike.
Lawrence Kasdan - famous for writing The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi and this year's The Force Awakens - has been hired to pen the script with his son Jon Kasdan. As is typical in Hollywood, very little else is known, but a release date of May 25, 2018 has already been allocated - exactly forty-one years after the original film made its debut.
“This is the first film we’ve worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with,” Lord and Miller noted in their official statement. “We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us. This is a dream come true for us. And not the kind of dream where you’re late for work and all your clothes are made of pudding, but the kind of dream where you get to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you’ve loved since before you can remember having dreams at all.”
Though Ford will be reprising Solo for The Force Awakens, there will be inevitable recasting for the young Han. In recent months there has been much talk of Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World) being a favourite to play a younger Indiana Jones, so it's certain that someone in Hollywood will be considering him for the role, even if it ultimately goes elsewhere.
Of course, there's still much to be decided and while pre-production will likely begin in the next year, there are three films (if we include this year's entry) ahead of it that are destined to have shot first.
Like Han Solo, himself....
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