In December, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released and it has currently earned $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office. For almost five years now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has earned billions upon billions and Captain America: Civil War is being released in May and likely to do the same. Now, Disney chairman Bob Iger has revealed that there are more Star Wars movies on the way and Marvel movies will continue on “forever.”
This shouldn’t be entirely shocking as the franchises do nothing but bring in hordes of money, and Disney knows what they are doing. Still, it was thought that there would be only two more Star Wars films in the saga after The Force Awakens and Rogue One , but that can now be squashed.
Disney chairman Bob Iger spoke with Newsbeat and has revealed a partial portion of the plan for the future of Star Wars .
“There are five Star Wars films – four more with Episode VII: The Force Awakens – that are in varying stages of development and production. There will be more after that, I don’t know how many, I don’t know how often.”
So, the schedule isn’t exactly known, but there are more movies coming. Currently, here is the schedule for what’s on the schedule in the Star Wars universe.
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Dec. 16, 2016
- Star Wars Episode VII I – Dec. 15, 2017
- Star Wars Episode IX – May 24, 2019
- Young Han Solo spin-off – TBD
- Boba Fett spin-off – Announced, but in limbo
So, the first four are in production in one way or another. The Boba Fett spin-off is up in the air right now, but who knows what may happen. Iger has confirmed there are more coming, so it could be put back on the schedule or other brand new films could spring up.
Now, those films will obviously be very successful, but there is a much bigger universe of films that already has a lot more in store. Bob Iger has also said that Disney has no intention of stopping with the Marvel movies and that there is really no end in sight.
“Marvel, you’re dealing with thousands and thousands of characters – that will go on forever.”
Next up is Civil War in May, but the schedule of upcoming films already goes all the way into 2019. Marvel has an absolutely gigantic vault of material to choose from with the comics, and as more are written, more material becomes usable.
Here is the current schedule of Marvel movies as provided by Collider :
2016
May 6: Captain America: Civil War November 4: Doctor Strange
2017
May 5: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 July 7: Marvel Studios co-produced Spider-Man film (Sony) November 3: Thor: Ragnarok
2018
February 16: Black Panther May 4: Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 July 6: Ant-Man and the Wasp
2019
March 8: Captain Marvel May 3: Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2 July 12: Inhumans
That’s a lot of movies to be released over the course of the next four years, and that’s just Marvel alone. Add on top of that list the Star Wars films and then the whole host of live-action and animated movies coming from Disney and Pixar and well…that’s a ton of movies.
Still, Iger doesn’t believe that audiences are getting tired or fed up with so many films. He certainly doesn’t feel as if the comic book movie fans are done with seeing their favorite heroes and villains come to life on the big screen.
“No, I don’t think they’re getting weary, but I think we keep raising the bar in terms of telling stories that bring them back, that excite them, that make it feel new and that is what we do for a living.”
Disney knows what they are doing and they’ve got a lot of good things going for them right now with both the Marvel and Star Wars franchises. Honestly, it would be senseless to stop, and that’s why Bob Iger revealed they aren’t going to do so. Maybe there is hope for that Star Wars /Marvel crossover that Stan Lee recently hinted at.
[Image via IMPAwards]
