Last night, a bombshell of a story landed on our desks: Gareth Edwards is directing the first
[[ http godzilla-director-gareth-edwards-helm-first-star-wars-spin-off-film-43138.html new www.cinemablend.com ]] Star Wars spinoff, and it's set for release on December 16th, 2016. Fitting in with Disney's ultimate franchise plan, this spinoff of an undisclosed character's story will be the first in a line of independent stories told in the odd years between the proper franchise's installments. However, the success of one plan was thought to have caused the failure of another, as Edwards was also assumed to be returning to the Godzilla franchise he successfully rebooted last weekend. Surely, something would have to give, would it not?
Apparently The Hollywood Reporter has reported that the answer to that question is, no. In fact, in the eyes of Legendary Pictures' CEO Thomas Tull, this announcement changes nothing at all. As it turns out, a break from the franchise was always part of the plan:
[[ http godzilla-director-gareth-edwards-helm-first-star-wars-spin-off-film-43138.html new www.cinemablend.com ]] "Gareth's filmmaking talent makes him one of his generation's most creative and visionary directors. The plan has always been for Gareth to direct a different film before we started on another Godzilla, but who knew it would be a Star Wars installment? We have a great plan in store for Godzilla fans and I am looking forward to seeing Gareth’s imprint on the Star Wars universe."
[[ http godzilla-director-gareth-edwards-helm-first-star-wars-spin-off-film-43138.html new www.cinemablend.com ]]
It's comforting to know that with Godzilla moving forward, it will move forward with the director who started the ball in motion. This doesn't seem like too taxing of a schedule, as it's assumed that Godzilla 2 doesn't even have a script yet and the Star Wars standalone film has a set date of 12/16/16. Keeping that in mind, it is assumed that the script to the mystery spinoff project is being polished at the moment, with Gareth Edwards beginning pre-production by the end of the year, at the latest. Filming and post-production will take up 2015, and more than likely the first few months of 2016; at which point a Godzilla 2 script will probably deliver itself to his doorstep for perusal, putting the film on track for a possible 2018-19 release date. Could the Star Wars movie involve this dude?
Speculation aside, Gareth Edwards and Legendary Pictures need to take their time for Godzilla 2 to work as well as the first picture did. This new project in the director's queue might be just the thing to help give all involved the time needed to craft a well tuned script that trumps the original. Here's hoping not only that Boba Fett's story is the one that Edwards focuses on telling, but also that Frank Darabont is brought on full time to write the Godzilla sequel, as his rewrites on the first film undoubtedly helped sell the true dramatic weight of the film. Also, if anyone knows a thing or two about emotionally devastating monsters, it's surely Frank Darabont.
