Entertainment Weekly reports that a Boba Fett movie and a spin-off involving a young Han Solo will be the focus of the two
Star Wars stand-alone spin-offs that Walt Disney Pictures confirmed were happening on Tuesday. The Boba Fett movie will be set between the events of
A New Hope and
The Empire Strike Back and would follow the intergalactic bounty hunter, probably (and this is speculation on our part) on a mission for Jabba The Hutt. The Han Solo movie takes place in the time between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy and will require a brand new actor to step into the shoes of the loveable renegade pilot. It may or may not be based on an early Star Wars novel, 1979's "Han Solo at Star's End," set two years before the events of the 1977 film. No more specific plot details have been released yet or word of who might direct either movie, but clearly Joe Johnston, the Visual Effects Supervisor on the original Star Wars and who came up with the concept of Boba Fett in the first place, has pitched to George Lucas for years to let him make a movie about the character, will inevitably get the job of spearheading the bounty hunter movie. Even without considering that above, his credentials to direct are solid - he most recently helmed
Captain America: The First Avenger and has
The Wolfman, Jurassic Park III, Jumanji and
Rocketeer on his CV. Lawrence Kasdan (
The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Simon Kinberg (
X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Sherlock Holmes) are writing the screenplays (though nobody seems to know which is writing which) and the tentative release date for the spin-offs will probably be 2016, a year after J.J. Abrams'
Star Wars: Episode VII is set to hit cinemas. It may be the case that one of the spin-offs has to wait until 2018 for the gap between Episode VIII and Episode IX. Previous rumours suggested a stand-alone Yoda film was in the works but this report seems to squash that.