The original Star Wars franchise, brainchild of legendary filmmaker Georg Lucas, has become synonymous with American culture at this point, and frankly has been for quite some time. Since the first film, Episode IV: A New Hope, hit theaters in 1977, the original franchise has grossed over 10 billion dollars worldwide with a total of 9 films, averaging out to nearly 400 million dollars every time a Star Wars film is released. The Star Wars universe has expanded beyond the original franchise however, this success has led to a number of few additional spinoff films in recent years, that have been equally as commercially successful. Disney has now announced plans to expand that universe a little further with the announcement of a fourth spinoff film to the original Star Wars franchise that is sure to excite the countless number of fans.
Making the announcement on Disney Investor Day 2020, Disney announced their plans to release Rogue Squadron, additionally announcing that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will sit in the director’s chair. Set to release in 2021, the upcoming film will seemingly take an interestingly different perspective on the Star Wars series, set to take place well into the future of the original franchise’s ninth film released in 2019 and focus on a unique set of characters. In LucasFilm’s announcement of the film, they highlighted that the film will “introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.”
This release of the upcoming film will also mark the first Star Wars film to be directed by a woman, and they could not have made a better selection given the success she has seen as director of the Wonder Woman reboot series. With the film set to release in December 2023 it should be relatively safe from the constraints COVID-19 has placed upon the movie industry, one would hope. The wait will likely be worth it for fans ultimately, as you would be hard pressed to find anything unsuccessful related to the franchise, ranging from books to video games. While patiently awaiting for Rogue Squadron to hit theaters, quarantine should leave them plenty of time to revisit the number of Star Wars films already released in the meantime.
