6 Feb – After deciding for a new "Star Wars" trilogy and delaying the 3D re-release of the older films, Disney has announced that there would also be stand-alone films for the franchise made famous by George Lucas which are currently confirmed to be in the works. Last year, there were rumours that Lawrence Kasdan, who completed the screenplay for a planned "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back", will write for the second and third new "Star Wars" instalments with Simon Kinberg of "Sherlock Holmes", but it turns out that the duo will be writing for the stand-alone pieces within the "Star Wars" saga instead. "We are in fact working on a few stand-alone films," said Disney CEO Bob Iger in his recent interview with CNBC.
He added, "Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are both working on films derived from great "Star Wars" characters that are not part of the overall saga. So we plan to make "Star Wars" VII, VIII and IX over roughly a six-year period of time starting in 2015. But there are going to be a few other films released in that period of time too." J.J. Abrams ("Star Trek") had been brought on board to direct the first movie of the planned new "Star Wars" trilogy, but his involvement in the stand-alone films are yet to be seen. Furthermore, Ain't It Cool News reported that the stand-alone "Star Wars" movie plans to focus on Jedi Master Yoda. Iger did not confirm and deny the rumour, but he had no further comment for it.