[Rumor] Lucasfilm gearing another Star Wars trilogy in 3D?!

[Oskuro]

I found this through an Spanish news outlet, from MarketSaw:

Jim here. Here is a strong rumor that should whet your appetites! (or sour them if you have had too much of the franchise). I have been hearing rumblings... extremely quiet at first, but now heating up significantly and from a trusted source - that George Lucas is preparing to unleash another STAR WARS trilogy upon us, this time in stereoscopic 3D. This is NOT the TV series, these are brand spankin' new 3D STAR WARS movies.

Yes, the pending 2D to 3D conversions of his six existing STAR WARS properties are still a go as 3D theaters are approaching 3000 (5000 is the number Lucas wants). No word on when this work will be completed.

But here is the shocker: Lucas will be producing and NOT directing these new episodes apparently! Could Steven Spielberg be tapped to direct a STAR WARS movie after all? Yes according to a trusted source of mine! Further, Francis Ford Coppola was mentioned too as a possible director for a future film!

A lot depends on the success of AVATAR this winter - if it takes off like everyone is expecting it to, then you will most likely see three additional STAR WARS movies added.

What an interesting competitive box office landscape that would make over the next 6 to 10 years! James Cameron's AVATAR world vs. George Lucas' STAR WARS world. I could see Lucas getting a little jealous over a successful launch of AVATAR - jealous because it is a fully articulated universe, like his. And if he doesn't act on it - his franchise may well be relegated to a back seat as potentially the records will start falling to Pandora. Heck STAR WARS is still not 3D yet and what better way to try to maintain a lock on bragging rights than to launch into three more in native stereoscopic 3D.

How seriously should you consider these rumors? Well it is coming from a source that SHOULD KNOW. This source is absolutely connected. So odds are it is seriously being talked about at Lucasfilm. Right now. Will it happen? AVATAR will have to hit and hit big and then all the stars have to align properly - all I can do is pass on the info.

Personally I WANT this to happen dearly. I REALLY want to see what the STAR WARS universe looks like in Spielberg's hands *AND* in stereoscopic 3D. You would too, wouldn't you?

Didn't find any mention, sorry if it was already posted.

So, a rumor so far. Seems like Lucasfilm doesn't want the board to close down PSW

[The Romulan Republic]

Can't say I'm thrilled with the idea of new films. I don't hate the prequels, but they just weren't, over all, OT quality. The Clone Wars film was garbage. The Clone Wars series is good (for a TV children's show anyway), but I don't trust that Lucas is up to it any more. Maybe if its true that he'll just produce while bringing in new directors (and writers, God willing).

But maybe the movies would be decent and contradict a large part of the dumber EU material. That said, I'll believe it when I see it.

[Ritterin Sophia]

See I told you all SuperShadow was right, you should all apologize for casting aspersions about the legitimacy of this young mans ravings insights of what his BFF Georgie is going to do.

I wouldn't mind seeing more Star Wars, whilst a bit off I did still enjoy the prequals. I'm hoping he doesn't do a sequal that will clash too badly with the established EU, but it's his sandbox so I won't begrudge him that choice.

[SCRawl]

It's a rumour. I wouldn't give it better odds than 100:1 of actually being true. I'm quite sure that I don't want to see any more SW movies: the saga is complete. There's no story of any significance left to tell.

[Havok]

This sounds like a whole lot of fanboy fapping to me. Also, doesn't 3D suck? I mean, yeah yeah leaps and bounds in technology and all, but I haven't really heard anything about it that puts it in any more of a positive light then it has been in the past. I'm also assuming this is going to be a cartoon?

And what is Avatar that James Cameron is making?

[Napoleon the Clown]

This sounds like a whole lot of fanboy fapping to me. Also, doesn't 3D suck? I mean, yeah yeah leaps and bounds in technology and all, but I haven't really heard anything about it that puts it in any more of a positive light then it has been in the past. I'm also assuming this is going to be a cartoon?

And what is Avatar that James Cameron is making?

I saw Coraline in 3D and it was rather well done. They didn't have the image jump-out to the absurd degree so many movies do it too. It did actually add to the movie, overall.


That being said, until Lucas himself confirms this, I'm gonna call bullshit. He's never expressed interest in continuing the story beyond RotJ.

[Ford Prefect]

And what is Avatar that James Cameron is making?

It's an epic film with absolute shitloads of CG (in THREE DEE) about clashing cultures and environmentalism. In search of unobtanium (I shit you not), human interests begin colonising Planet Australia the moon Pandora, a world where the very air you breathe is a noxious fume and everything alive wants to kill humans. The come into contact with a series of huge blue alien guys (the Na'vi) who don't take kindly to the proposed mining. In order to enact cultural change, the humans begin a program to create what are known as 'Avatars', what I assume are artificially created Na'vi bodies controlled by transferred human consciousnesses, who infiltrate Na'vi society. The main character, Jake Sully, falls for a huge blue alien chick (played by Zoe Saldana, so who can blame him?) and there's an aesop about not being dickheads.

Much of Spacebattles already hates it profusely, so this should tell you everythign you need to know.

[Bounty]

Also, doesn't 3D suck?

Like any technology, it depends on how it's used. Many 3D films are essentially 2D ones with a few jump-at-the-screen effects thrown in to justify having the goggles; but there have been a few movies that incorporated 3D in their design from the start and the result can be quite pretty.

As for a new trilogy, ignoring for a second the fact that this is a third-hand report, I'd be interested. If Lucas produces but leaves the practical matters to people a bit more divorced from the whole Star Wars mythos, it could turn out to be at the very least entertaining.

[Dooey Jo]

Last I heard, people claimed Lucas wanted to turn the old ones into 3D. Perhaps that rumour morphed into this one. Then again, it would be interesting to see how Spielberg would make a Star Wars film. I trust there would be even more annoying kids?

[Bounty]

The 3D conversion is mentioned in the rumour article.

I would think it's more likely that someone at Lucasarts floated the idea of a new 3D trilogy as an option and this guy just ran with it. Lucas would be insane not to consider every option with the franchise, even if he'll never end up doing the bulk of them.

[Gramzamber]

Much of Spacebattles already hates it profusely, so this should tell you everythign you need to know.

If it turns out to be some tat about human military power and science being beaten by the Power of Nature I'll be the first one nerd raging! Rarrr!

[Oskuro]

I like the 3d technology, although I agree it's been used poorly. But think of it, Star Wars style space battles with fighters zooming by, massive ships firing their broadsides, and R2D2 beeping irreverently would be awesome in 3D.

Lightsaber battles, not so much.

[Darth Fanboy]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were new Star Wars films, they wouldn't the the big budget stories or trilogies written by Lucas though, but probably Clone Wars animated movies or perhaps a tie in with the live action show perhaps. Animated Clone Wars could be put into 3D easily I would guess.

[Rommie2006]

Knights of the Old Republic timeline would be good.

[Stofsk]

Knights of the Old Republic timeline would be good.

While I agree, it's not everyone's cup of tea.

[Vympel]

If it turns out to be some tat about human military power and science being beaten by the Power of Nature I'll be the first one nerd raging! Rarrr!

The trailer makes it obvious that it's going to be along those lines, IMO. This won't necessarily make it a bad film, but it will be a hurdle I'll have to 'get over' in order to really like it. If it's mind numbingly stupid and contrived, I'll reject the film out of hand.

[Old Plympto]

Rumor has apparently been debunked by AICN.

Shocker! Lucasfilm says this rumored new Star Wars trilogy filmed in 3-D is a buncha malarkey!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. The nice folks at MarketSaw ran a hardcore rumor today, claiming a source has told them that Lucas is planning a new Star Wars Trilogy to be shot in 3-D... And that he wasn't directing, but there was rumor of Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola finally getting to make their Star Wars movies.

Yeah, so if that didn't smell already check the wording of the article...

"Well it is coming from a source that SHOULD KNOW. This source is absolutely connected. So odds are it is seriously being talked about at Lucasfilm. Right now. Will it happen? AVATAR will have to hit and hit big and then all the stars have to align properly - all I can do is pass on the info."

That's repeated a few times in the article, saying that Avatar has to be a success for the 3-D screens to be there or there will never be new Star Wars movies ever! So you better make sure Avatar does super good!

Sounds to me like their source is someone at Fox trying to get some people to believe that by buying a ticket to Avatar they're ensuring new Star Wars movies to me.

That said, stranger shit has happened, so I contacted Laura Wuhlhammer of Lucasfilm's Public Relations department and asked her about the rumor. This is the first response:

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your email. Lucasfilm is not currently working on a 3D version of the Star Wars movies.

Best,
Laura

Wait... that reads like a denial of them actively working on retrofitting the Original Trilogy to 3-D. So I wanted to make damn sure what she was saying, be positive she wasn't snaking around the question, so I wrote back a clarifying email, distinguishing the OT and PT 3-D-ification vs. a whole new set of Star Wars movies.

Hi Eric,

We do not have any Star Wars theatrical movies planned.

Thanks,
Laura

That's more like it.

Now, I will say that Lucasfilm would be the last place to confirm a rumor as true... even if it is (they did that a lot back in the day... I remember them denying Ewan McGregor was cast as Obi-Wan for the entire month leading up to their announcement), but this story already stinks of untruth (especially with Coppola's name being thrown in there... read this), so I think it's pretty safe to call BS on this one... especially with Lucas so engulfed in the live action TV show at the moment.

I think the part about Lucas waiting for 3-D screens is true, but so he can restart the 3-D versions of the first 6 movies and send them out as huge rereleases not to start a brand new trilogy. I've seen the test footage of the opening of A New Hope in 3-D and it's really great. Would love to see him to follow through on that.

We have some feelers out to more informal sources who might be more inclined to confirm any truth to this rumor than a PR person, but I expect we'll turn up nada. If we do find anything else interesting we'll update this article.

-Quint

[Oskuro]

Woah, shocking! (not)

What really has me wondering is how do they plan on making the old footage 3d? The FX sequences can be re-rendered, but the live actors can't be re-shot in stereo, is there some CGI trickery to fake it, or are they going to go for the cardboard cutout style of 3d?

[Ritterin Sophia]

So wait, a movie with an extremely contrived plot (Nature beats Man) has to do well in order for new Star Wars movies to be made? WTF?!

[CDiehl]

So wait, a movie with an extremely contrived plot (Nature beats Man) has to do well in order for new Star Wars movies to be made? WTF?!

Even if the new 3d movie story was true, I really doubt Lucas needs someone else's movie to do well before he proceeds. If he wants to make a new Star Wars movie, 3d or not, he'll do it. Who'd tell him he can't?

[Abacus]

All he has to do is turn the Thrawn book trilogy into movies and I will be happy.

[Sea Skimmer]

I’ve hated every single 3D film I ever saw, it doesn’t look right at all. Avatar is supposed to use a new camera system to make the 3D images which will probably work better, but I’m not holding my breath.