The Sandbox...

Making sand castles in the magic kingdom...

And so the universe expands...

I'm sure many of you saw Ain't It Cool News broke a story yesterday that the first standalone Star Wars film would be about Yoda (the DCA Star Wars Land stuff is bogus, though.  Not happening.  Trust me, as Han Solo would say).  Earlier today, Bob Iger in an interview with CNBC confirmed what has been speculated for months, when he admitted that Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were working on stories for standalone films.  He didn't say what they were, and said Kathleen Kennedy would have to be the one to announce that.

But this added fuel to the fire that the story about Zack Snyder was true.  Well, Snyder wasn't exactly truthful.  He wasn't lying when he/his agent mentioned that he wasn't doing a Seven Jedi film in his future.  There is no signed deal.  Only pitches.  You see that is what is happening right now.  See I got an e-mail from a Bothan this morning.  And she said that Kennedy's office has been rather busy for the past couple of months since she became head of Lucasfilm.  Many writers and directors have been getting phone calls.  Not just about Episode VII, but about Star Wars in general.

As in, what is their dream project to do with Star Wars.  Kathleen Kennedy has had many secret meetings with the talent in Hollywood with some of the towns most gifted people telling her what they'd like to do.  Some have received a "thank you, we'll be in touch", while others have been given the chance to develop their pitch into something more substantive.  Kasdan and Kingerg, as well as working on their own stories will be advising on these.  And now, with Abrams moving forward with the new tentpole film, he will advise as well.

The Bearded One's sandbox was a big one and we always wanted him to allow others to play in it.  Now it turns out we will have a lot of people playing in that sand over the next few years.  Not all of these projects will make it to filming of course.  Some will make it, while others languish and die in development hell.  But dream that many young film makers has of making a film in the Star Wars universe is more than a possibility.  It's now a pitch waiting to be told.  All they have to do is get/make that call from/to Kathleen Kennedy.

And it might happen...