10 Things You Need To Know About The Star Wars Spin-Off Movies
7. The Directors Are More Offbeat Choices
To reboot the Episode-centric main series, Disney have gone with an interesting, if definitely safe, choice - J.J. Abrams, a life-long Star Wars fan who's already overseen the successful reboot of another nostalgic sci-fi franchise with a notoriously picky fanbase. Likewise, Episode VIII (and, at the very least, the story for Episode IX) will be handled by Rian Johnson, a less geek-proven name, but thanks to Looper an established genre voice. Things are much more adventurous in the spin-off arena, with the first two set to be directed by Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank. Both of the directors have blockbuster reboots to their name (last year's Godzilla and the upcoming The Fantastic Four respectively), but given the immediacy of their hiring (Edwards was approached when Gojira was still smashing up cinemas and Trank was brought on a year before his big budget extravaganza debuts), it seems like they're being hired more on promise - these are the men behind two of the most exciting indie sci-fi in recent years (Monsters and Chronicle). More offbeat choices (not since Irvin Kershner has there been such an unexpected director behind a Star Wars movie) suggest a broadening of the type of movies the saga entails, with genres other than epic fantasy being riffed on. About time.
6. They Won't Tie Into The Sequel Trilogy
The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and excitement around other upcoming crossover properties, shows the near-future of blockbuster cinema is all about inter-connected franchising. But while Star Wars is adopting a heavy release schedule, that doesn't mean it's jumping on this particular bandwagon; they may be in the same galaxy as the Sequel Trilogy, but according to producer Kathleen Kennedy the stand-alone movies will be just that. Given that they're origin stories, it isn't too surprising these movies won't occur concurrently with the new timeline, although the insistence that there won't be much in the way of narrative overlap (think Guardians Of The Galaxy's Infinity Stone) is at the same time surprising and reassuring. As a multi-media property, Star Wars has always been something you could pick and choose content from (there's no overarching narrative to pressure you into reading every single book, comic etc.), which this decision looks set to continue. Look at Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars cartoon, made to tie into the release of Revenge Of The Sith - while its story accentuated that movie's opening, it was far from required viewing. There'll no doubt be references and linked elements between the films (as has potentially begun already in Star Wars: Rebels), but don't go into the spin-offs expecting a MCU-level crossover experience.
