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Lucasfilm Will Decide On New Star Wars Films Based On The Success Or Failure Of Rogue One

By Corey Smith

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Rogue One is more important to the future of the Star Wars universe than many of us previously thought. Lucasfilm will be closely watching its performance at the box office this December.

Rogue One is the most important Star Wars film to come out since A New Hope in 1977. Not in terms on plot development, or whether or not stars like Felicity Jones end up one day becoming the next Jennifer Lawrence or Angelina Jolie. Rogue One is the most important Star Wars film since A New Hope because it has the potential to determine the Star Wars universe takes over the several years.

Everyone knew there was a lot riding on the success or failure of Rogue One on December 18th, and now we appear to have unofficial proof of just how high the stakes are thanks to Entertainment Weekly. EW is reporting that in early 2017, Lucasfilm brass will get together to determine which films to green light. Rogue One was a bit of risk for Lucasfilm, considering it lacks the marquee Star Wars characters we all know and love. Even the one character we all recognize from the trailer, Darth Vader, might end up simply being an extended cameo.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Unlike The Force Awakens which had enough familiar faces to bridge the gap between the new crew and the old, Rogue One is almost entirely comprised of new faces. Sure your hardcore Star Wars fan might know Mon Mothma, but most viewers will not. Rogue One will be a good barometer of audiences appetites for films that don’t necessarily connect to the trilogy films overall narrative. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy commented on their strategy going forward.

"That’s a conversation going on right now, too. I have to honestly tell you, could we [do nothing but standalones]? Sure. But I don’t know. We are looking at all of that.”"

That’s a lot of pressure riding on the shoulders of Jyn and crew. And despite the standalones initially being George Lucas’ idea, they remain unproven. If Rogue One is a success however, we might see stories that venture even further from the narrative tree that is the core trilogy films according to Kiri Hart, head of story development for Lucasfilm.

"Rogue One felt like a great beginning for because they know about the Death Star plans. Theyknow the things that happened in A New Hope. So it had those familiar elements, those anchor points, but it also was about a completely new set of characters. So it felt like a really good template for the kinds of things that we feel these movies can do.”"

Indeed. Rogue One does have enough familiar elements to draw in casual fans, but also should hopefully send us off in entirely new directions.

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