Date: August 26, 2004
Source: E! Online
Posted by: Robert Sanchez
Star Wars fans are buzzing over a great disturbance in the Force emanating not from a galaxy far, far away, but from Skywalker Ranch, the home offices of George Lucas in Northern California.
A person claming to be a mole from inside the Lucasfilm empire writes on the fan site TheForce.net that there are clues suggesting Jedi mastermind Lucas might be gearing up for what could be a sequel trilogy to his blockbuster franchise, despite previous statements to the contrary.
The self-styled spy reports that employees at Lucas' special-effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, have signed non-disclosure agreements that legally prevents them from discussing anything associated with Episodes VII, VIII and IX.
Since they're not being made, why the [non-disclosure agreements]?" the purported insider writes.Joshua Griffin of TheForce.net thinks he might know the answer. "There's absolutely no reason to do that unless they have something to disclose," he says. "Obviously, there is some movement on episodes on VII, VII and IX. It's obviously something to do with special effects."
Ergo new movies.
"We're thinking it's either a TV series or a theatrical release," says Griffin. "They would definitely not do this for a comic book. Somebody at Dark Horse [Comics] would sign it. This is something you're going to see this with your eyes in the near future."
A rep for Lucasfilm stuck to the company line and nixed the possibility of any more films.
"The rumors are absolutely untrue," says company spokeswoman Lynn Fox, adding that no non-disclosure was ever signed pertaining to future episodes.
"Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith is our last and final installment," says Fox of the prequel due out next year. She also is adamant that Lucas would not pass the franchise on to another director.
Speaking for Force freaks, however, Griffin is holding out hope. He says he has received additional evidence supporting preliminary work on a new trilogy. For instance, he says, an Australian source with ILM connections says Lucas has indicated a desire to shoot the supposed sequels Down Under, where he also worked on the three prequels.
For those hiding on Dagobah for the last two decades, Lucas first expressed interest in adding to the Star Wars saga back in 1983, when Return of the Jedi came out. He said he planned on doing nine films in all, with three prequels and three post-Jedi follow-ups continuing the adventures of Han, Luke, Leia, et al.
But the franchise lay dormant the rest of the decade--the closest Lucas came to doing a sequel was green-lighting a series of best-selling books by sci-fi author Timothy Zahn in the early '90s.
Things were looking grim until 1997, when Lucas revived interest in the space opera with spiffed-up versions of the original trilogy--1977's Star Wars (now rechristened Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope), 1980's The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars: Episode V--The Empire Strikes Back), and 1983's Return of the Jedi (Star Wars: Episode VI--Return of the Jedi).
Following those successful rereleases, Lucas went to work on the prequels. But in a 1998 interview with Vanity Fair, the writer-director denied ever having any plans to make nine Star Wars movies.
"When you see it in six parts, you'll understand," Lucas said at the time. "It really ends at part six."
Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace came out in 1999 and Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones followed in 2002. While both films took a critical drubbing, they more than made up for it at the box office, earning a more than $1.5 billion combined worldwide.
Lucas plans on issuing a four-disc DVD box set of the original trilogy on Sept. 21 followed by the last prequel (or sixth Star Wars movie, depending on how you count 'em), Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith, is scheduled to open theatrically on May 19, 2005. And that will be it.
Unless you believe the rumors.
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