Chris Pratt sought for Indy role and Wiig and McCarthy in talks for Ghostbusters

Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade (also known as the Indiana Jones trilogy) are arguably the finest works of director Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park) and Harrison Ford (Blade Runner, Star Wars, The Fugitive) but the recent fourth instalment, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, left a sour taste to the franchise. You’d think that’d deter both the filmmakers as well as the fans from making a fifth but Disney’s Lucasfilm purchase gave them the chance to remilk both Star Wars and Indy.

Disney appear to be looking into a reboot method with Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lego Movie, Parks and Recreation) taking the fedora-donning lead role. The sequel may follow the route of Mad Max: Fury Road, a direct sequel with a recast star. The ever busy Spielberg could be returning as it’d be hard to imagine anyone besides him at the helm.

Ivan Reitman’s original Ghostbusters is one of the few true immortal cult classics but the cast’s (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis) surviving or still working members weren’t likely to return for a reboot. The responsibility for the new castings falls to Bridesmaids director Paul Feig who’s recruited a pair from his previous work. Oscar nominees Kristen Wiig (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Skeleton Twins) and Melissa McCarthy (St Vincent, The Heat) will be flanked by Saturday Night Live alumni Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.

Meet the new team below.

Ghostbusters – July 22nd 2016

Indiana Jones 5 – 2017?

Star Trek 3 beams up new writers and Disney sign deal for Indiana Jones

I’m still unsure who exactly will be calling the shots on Star Trek 3. The Into Darkness sequel will only have previous director JJ Abrams involvement in producing so the role of director is up for grabs. The current leaders for the job are Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rupert Wyatt and Attack the Block’s Joe Cornish but some new writers have been beamed up to the Enterprise. Patrick McKay and John D. Payne are debut writers who’ll join the man of the moment Roberto Orci, who wrote no less than Fringe, Star Trek: Into Darkness and Sleepy Hollow.

Meanwhile, The Mouse House, aka Disney Studios, have negotiated a huge deal with Paramount. After bringing in Star Wars into their walls, they’ve snapped up Lucasfilm’s other major accomplishment: Indian Jones. Steven Spielberg’s brilliant series really took a disappointing turn in 2008 with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but Disney are confident that they, obviously with the help of Spielberg and Harrison Ford, will bring the genre defining Indy back to his adventurous roots, as oppose the the sci-fi elements introduced five years ago.

Star Trek 3 – 2016

Indiana Jones 5 – 2016/17?

Star Wars spin-off films maybe origin stories

This Star Wars themed discussion isn’t as long as it should have been but a lot of today’s work was lost.

Disney’s chief financial officer, Jay Rasulo, has confirmed that Star Wars spin-off films, which we’ve anticipated since Disney $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm, will be origin stories. This puts more fuel into Disney’s aim to release a Star Wars film every year starting in two years time. JJ Abrams will reboot the stalled franchise with Episode’s VII, VIII and IX in 2015, 17 and 19 respectively and it looks as if we’ll be getting the origin stories of other characters in the years in between. The current question now on everyone’s minds is which characters will be the subject of these origins.

“There’s incredible flexibility. It’s an unbelievable palette to create from,” Rasulo explains at a statement. “The overall strategy is to put out a great film first,” he says as he defends accusations that much of the new series’ existence is for money through merchandising.

Anyway, back to who could be the focus of these spin-offs. Yoda is the current favourite. There’s plenty of possible storylines to do with Yoda’s youth and whether he was ever tempted by The Dark Side but I don’t think he’s a credible enough character for his one standalone film. The other contenders are Boba Fett (in a story telling his transition from Dad lacking child at the fight pit to the world’s most feared bounty hunter) and Darth Maul. The only prequel I’d be interested in is a buddy comedy with Han Solo (a CG airbrushed Harrison Ford or Ryan Gosling) and Chewbacca (only make him motion capture if a practical effect really doesn’t look convincing). Another spin-off I would watch is Mace Windu. He’s presumed dead when Darth Sidious throws him out of the window of his 100 story up apartment but we never see him fall, or land, so he could have landed on one of the millions of cars that fill up the multi-levelled traffic on the city-planet of Coruscant.

Disney seem to have a year by year strategy. Their plan per year is one Star Wars, two Marvels (2013: Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, 2014: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, 2015: The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man), one or two Pixar animations (e.g Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory) as well as one of Disney’s own animations (like Tangled) and an annual big budget live-action (for example recent flops like John Carter and The Lone Ranger plus hits like Tron: Legacy and Pirates of the Caribbean).

Fox once tried to set up their own Origin franchise with the X-Men in 2009 but X-Men Origins: Wolverine is still regarded as the worst in the series so they returned to proper stories like First Class, The Wolverine (which are both prequels and spin-offs not origin stories) and Days of Future Past.

The fact is, spin offs are never great. Granted, The Wolverine and Puss in Boots are perfectly fine and The Scorpion King isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be but there’s been Elektra, Catwoman and Evan Almighty.

Disney do have faith in these origins stories however 4 time Oscar nominee and Empire Strikes, Return of the Jedi and Rasiders of the Lost Ark writer Lawrence Kasdan and X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes scribe Simon Kinberg.

Star Wars: Episode VII is out Christmas 2015

Star Wars Origins: Yoda could be out Summer or Christmas 2016

John Williams to score Star Wars 7 while Dave Filoni unveils Rebels

Sorry this isn’t the continued Pixar Theory I’d promised yesterday but some unexpected adventuring prevented me from doing a large post but there’s definitely some exciting news for all Star Wars fan John Williams will be named by most the undoubtedly greatest film composer of all time. Here are some his his highlights from: Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Superman, E.T, Warhorse and perhaps his most famous Rebel Blockade or Imperial March from Star Wars. He will now return to Star Wars, as he did with the Phantom Menace in 1999, with a new JJ Abrams (Star Trek, Lost, Super 8) trilogy that will start with Episode VII in 2015. Williams, now 81, will compose new themes for the science fiction reboot but will certainly bring his trademark Rebel Blockade title tune in. While it’s not a shock to see Williams returning to the franchise seeing as he hasn’t missed a Star Wars film yet (not counting 2008’s animated disappointment The Clone Wars), it’s sad to see JJ Abrams’ long term Bad Robot collaborator Michael Giachinno not working on the new project. At least Giacchino can say the film’s score is definitely in safe hands. “I look forward to returning to a galaxy far, far away,” said Williams while announcing the news to the fans at Star Wars Celebration Europe. “I actually feel like I never left it. I hope I can contribute something in the new films that will be worthy of your continued attention.” Last thing. Dave Filoni has came out about Disney’s new attempt at cracking Star Wars. When Disney bought Lucasfilm earlier this year, one of they’re first moves was taking the successful animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars off the screen. After five seasons it was abruptly cancelled but series director Dave Filoni will return for Star Wars: Rebels. While Clone Wars was set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, seeing the Clones finding their eventual domination of the galaxy with the Jedi, Rebels will bridge the gap between Revenge of the Sith and the original A New Hope. So we’ll find the galaxy post Order 66 and all but few of the Jedi living, Mace Windu and others are slaughtered by the clones under the Emperors order with Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda becoming hermits on Tatooine and Dagobah respectively and are unlikely to appear, and those who resist the Empire’s grasp must form the Rebel Alliance and get a foothold in the galaxy. Who will appear though. Anakin’s former apprentice Ahsoka could be returning but she’s not in Revenge of the Sith so’s there’s no way of knowing if she survived Order 66.  I don’t think Rebels could miss the opportunity to miss out Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Vader or Emperor cameos. The show will switch from Cartoon Network to Disney Channel and Disney XD. Filoni has released some interesting new concept art and title cards for his new animated show. Star Wars Episode VII is out Summer 2015 Star Wars: Rebels premiers 2014 on Disney Channel and the series continues on Disney XD