The Villain Avengers: Endgame Might Have Set Up For Phase 4

The Villain Avengers: Endgame Might Have Set Up For Phase 4

SPOILER WARNING: Marvel and Disney are all in on spoilers now, but I'd rather play it safe than sorry. Big spoilers for Avengers: Endgame to follow!

Avengers: Endgame was indeed the finale that we were all promised. The film closes the door on some pillars of the MCU, including Thanos, who's been the big bad of this whole franchise. With the Mad Titan seemingly gone for good, who else could possibly terrorize the Avengers for the foreseeable future? Well, I don't know about the final boss, but as far as Phase 4 is concerned, Endgame may have paved the road for a classic Avengers bad guy in the form of Kang the Conqueror.

As the millions of people worldwide who have seen Avengers: Endgame know, the entire second act of the film is devoted to time travel. In order to undo the Snap and bring back everyone who was lost, the Avengers take a trip through their history to find the Infinity Stones, bring them to the future and not completely break the laws of time and space in the process.

The time travel rules and implications in the blockbuster have been hotly debated since release. While time travel continues to be one of the most confusing elements of Avengers: Endgame, the mere appearance of time travel could signal that Kang is right around the corner.

The name Kang is likely to be unfamiliar to anyone who doesn't read the comics, but he's one of the more standout Avengers villains. Essentially, he is a warlord from the future who has mastered time travel technology and travels to different timelines in order to conquer them with his superior weaponry. He's basically taking a test with all the answers written on his hand.

Kang's time traveling antics have resulted in him crossing paths with the Avengers on more than one occasion. It usually boils down to Kang trying to manipulate the events of time in his favor, and the Avengers have to stop him. He's a master-level historian and strategist, and his futuristic technology is so advanced that even some of Earth's greatest minds can't fully comprehend it.

Kang has traveled through time so much that there are almost unlimited versions of himself, so he's practically impossible to truly kill. Sometimes these alternate versions have gone on to have their own identities and have been both allies and enemies of the Avengers, such as Kang's future self, Immortus, or his younger self, Nathaniel Richards.

As you probably gathered, time travel is Kang's thing, and we just had a major Marvel movie in which time travel was an integral element. So it's not beyond the realm of reason that all this messing around with space-time will bring in the Avengers villain whose one thing is that he time travels.

Like every movie that deals with timeline jumping, Avengers: Endgame makes sure to explain all the rules of its particular brand of time travel. Nothing you do in the past can affect your future, but if you make a big enough change, it'll cause an alternate reality to branch off. Maybe that alternate reality will be great, but it also has the potential to be dark -- especially if an Infinity Stone is taken off the board.

Captain America makes sure to put the Stones back in their rightful places at the end of the film, but that doesn't mean that the Avengers are off the hook. They made some serious screw-ups in the past that caused alternate timelines. For example, Loki escaped with the Tesseract in 2012, causing a pretty huge deviation. Additionally, 2014 Thanos and his army were killed, which means there's a timeline with no Thanos searching for the Infinity Stones.

Those are just two of the biggest examples we know of, but as Tony Stark says, when you mess with time, time tends to mess back. Maybe the Avengers' actions in the past have caught the attention of Kang, who has now set his sights on Earth.

It's not too hard to see the meddling in the timelines as a good entry point for Kang. Maybe in the MCU, Kang is more of a cosmic force policing time and looking to punish the Avengers for their actions. Or maybe messing with time has opened the door for Kang to do some conquering, and a new team of heroes must assemble to fix their mistakes. Thanks to Spider-Man: Far From Home, we know that there's a multiverse of options for Kang.

There are a few reasons why Kang being the villain of Phase 4 is significant. For starters, he technically debuted in a Fantastic Four comic. It was when he was posing as a pharaoh named Rama-Tut in ancient Egypt. He didn't start going by the name Kang until he showed up in an Avengers comic.

That made the issues of who owns his film rights a little complicated, but it doesn't matter anymore. Disney famously bought Fox, which means the studio can now use all the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters it wants. That means Kang is free to show up down the road.

Because Kang first showed up in a Fantastic Four comic, the villain might be a good way to bring the Fantastic Four into the fold. While we have zero clue how Marvel will incorporate its First Family into the MCU, one theory gaining steam involves the multiverse. Some people think the Fantastic Four will be from an alternate timeline, which could help connect them to Kang.

Also, Kang is a future descendant of Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic, so that's an interesting angle.

Oh, and Kang has connections to the X-Men, too! When he was a pharaoh, he tried to manipulate a young Apocalypse to be his heir. This guy has his fingers in pretty much every pie.

Kang also has ties to a different superhero team that people expect to show up in the MCU very soon. The Young Avengers are a team of superhero teenagers who have styled themselves like their favorite Avengers. One of these kids is Iron Lad, who also happens to be Nathaniel Richards, a young version of Kang who is trying to escape his destiny as a conquering A-hole.

Having Kang in the mix could be a way to help set up the Young Avengers down the road. However, the MCU's version doesn't necessarily have to use Iron Lad or Nathaniel Richards at all.

Admittedly, Kang is not set up in the way past MCU villains have been. There's no post-credit tease, so the door is open for almost any villain to take charge in Phase 4. However, given that Avengers: Endgame dived into the deep end of time travel, it makes sense that Kang would be the next villain up to bat. Not only is he one of the bigger Avengers villains still left, but he has ties to multiple hero teams and could help set up more movies down the road. Having a time traveling villain could make things more confusing, but it would also be a hell of a lot of fun.

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The Fate Of The Furious’ F. Gary Gray Is Tackling A Wild Video Game Movie

The Fate Of The Furious’ F. Gary Gray Is Tackling A Wild Video Game Movie

Video games have become the next big source of material for big screen adaptation, something which is somewhat surprising considering the difficulty that filmmakers have had transforming said games into movies so far. We recently saw the first trailer for the forthcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and on the heels of that comes news that director F. Gary Gray is now in development on a movie based on the Saints Row franchise.

The Saints Row games have covered four installments with the first game being released in 2006 and the fourth coming out in 2013. The storyline follows a street gang called the Third Street Saints as they battle rival gangs for control of terf, become a multimedia conglomerate, and eventually battle space aliens who have invaded the planet earth.

As you can tell by that description, the Saints Row games get a little... weird. Originally, the games were little more than Grand Theft Auto clones. You moved throughout an open world city completing missions, that usually involved committing crimes, in order to progress the story.

However, as the series progressed, it found a way to stand out from its competition by completely shifting its tone. While the basic game structure remained the same, missions and plots became more over the top and wild. The addition of, frequently mature, humor not found in Grand Theft Auto helped the series find a fan base all its own which has made Saints Row one of the more popular recent game franchises of the last few years.

If you require an example of the exact nature of Saints Row, let me direct you to part of the opening sequence of Saints Row IV, in which your character successfully disarms a nuclear weapon while riding the missile and Aerosmith's "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" plays in the background. No, this doesn't make any more sense if you've played the game.

According to Deadline, Greg Russo, who is also handling the script for the planned Mortal Kombat movie reboot is also writing the Saints Row movie.

While the Fast and Furious franchise may not have quite reached the level of camp that the Saints Row games embrace quite yet, those films have certainly become a little more insane themselves in recent years.

In The Fate of the Furious our heroes drive on ice while being chased by a submarine and The Rock diverts a torpedo with his bare hands. That's just the sort of thing you might expect to see in a Saints Row game.

And so, it's perfect to know that the director of The Fate of the Furious, F. Gary Gray, is looking at directing a Saints Row movie. The franchise basically requires over the top, slightly bonkers stunts and action, so Gray might be the perfect man to pull off such a film.

The joke has been that the only thing left for the Fast and Furious franchise to do is go to space. Considering the most recent Saints Row game did exactly that, we could essentially get a Fast and Furious in space movie without the actual film franchise having to get quite that extreme.

F. Gary Gray's most recent film Men in Black International is getting ready to debut in June. It sounds like Saints Row could be his next project.

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Insidious Star Thinks A Fifth Movie Could Happen

Insidious Star Thinks A Fifth Movie Could Happen

In the world of the movies, especially within the horror genre, there are those actors who are easily identified by their franchises. With actor Lin Shaye, the Insidious franchise has always been one of her calling cards in Hollywood, as even character death hasn’t stopped her from returning to the Jason Blum, James Wan and Leigh Whannell-run franchise for each entry it’s racked up.

So when Lin Shaye says that a fifth Insidious movie could happen, we’re inclined to believe her. And that’s exactly what she’s saying, as per a recent interview that had Shaye state the following:

I think there is another one, that they have a story for that and it is very different. The last one, for me to have realized the character’s past, present, and future of my character, was a gift. I don’t know if there’s a script being written, but I think there will be another Insidious movie.

Now while Lin Shaye is saying that another Insidious film is possible, it’s crucial to remember that there isn’t any official confirmation that Blum, Wan and Whannell have a script draft for such a film yet. Shaye herself even says this, as she clearly nails home the fact that the possibility is one that she believes in.

Having said that, seeing Lin Shaye's unwavering faith that the Insidious franchise, which saw her character Elise Rainier etched into the minds of many a modern horror fan, could be returning could be a good sign. She was last seen in 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key. The film delved more into the backstory of Elise’s childhood, showing just how deep her connection with the world of The Further truly was. It was also the highest grossing film in the series, when accounting for worldwide grosses.

So Lin Shaye’s remarks to Forbes just might be accurate, as producer Jason Blum and Universal are such good business partners that taking another stab at the Insidious world could prove profitable. Considering the budget for the series has held steady at $10 million, and each sequel has had no problem clearing the $100 million mark, that’s some easy money that the franchise could be earning.

With a standard two to three years gap between Insidious films, the world feels overdue for another round of spectral mayhem. Any minute now, Jason Blum and Universal could announce that James Wan and Leigh Whannell had a script for Insidious 5 sitting in their back pockets, just waiting to wow the world with a new and different adventure.

Maybe it’d be the continuing adventures of her fictional niece, Imogen Rainier, or perhaps that Sinister crossover that was once proposed might just get off the ground. Let’s not forget, she did say it’d be a pretty different film, and the rules are pretty clear on where Elise can and cannot be used in the Insidious franchise.

It’s all rumor and speculation for now, but as soon as something definite is announced in either direction, you can come back here to CinemaBlend and we’ll be reporting the cold hard facts.

Lin Shaye can currently be seen in Room For Rent, a thriller that’s available on VOD through Amazon Prime, Google Play, and YouTube for rental or purchase.

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Aladdin Star Reflects On Why The Movie's Diversity Criticisms Are Overblown

Aladdin Star Reflects On Why The Movie's Diversity Criticisms Are Overblown

Once upon a time, it was far from uncommon for characters from other cultural backgrounds to be transformed into white people when stories made the transition to the big screen. Alternatively, it was once considered no big deal to have white actors actually play people of other races (that idea has aged particularly well). However, today culturally sensitive casting is considered necessary, and it's called out when a production drops that ball.

Disney's new Aladdin dealt with some of that criticism itself. While the movie has a fairly diverse cast, in this case, that was exactly the problem. Specifically, Naomi Scott who plays Jasmine, is a British born actress of Indian decent, and some believed the role should have gone to an actress of Middle Eastern heritage.

However, Mena Massoud, who plays Aladdin, feels the controversy is overblown, because ultimately the story of Aladdin, being fictional, is a combination of several cultures. According to Massoud...

It’s a funny thing that’s happening online. The Middle Easterners want Aladdin to be a Middle Eastern story, and the Indians want Aladdin to be an Indian story. The truth is, it’s really a folk tale from the 1800s, and Agrabah is a fictional place that’s a culmination of India and Asia and the Middle East. In fact, in the original folk tale, Aladdin was actually of Chinese descent. So what we wanted to do with this was represent as many different cultures from that part of the world as possible.

It is true that while the story of Aladdin is a folk tale from the Middle East that goes back centuries. In that story, the character of Aladdin himself is said to be from China. To that end, even Mena Massoud's casting as the main character would be out of step. Clearly, the actor feels that the new movie's objective, to spotlight a diverse cast with backgrounds from numerous cultures, was a choice that worked, and was justified by the film's fairy tale setting.

Hell, the new Aladdin even has [Billy Magnussen](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1699909/the-live-adaptation-of-aladdin-is-adding-a-brand-new-character?pv=search) show up as an utterly unexplained white dude. It seems that wherever Agrabah is located, many different races are within a horseback ride of the castle.

Mena Massoud goes on to tell the New York Times that the new Aladdin had cultural advisors on set at all times because the production wanted to get those aspects of the story right; he never felt that anything in the movie wasn't being properly respectful, in fact, quite the opposite...

They had a team of cultural advisers on set. And no, to answer your question. It’s the most represented and the most respect, culturally, that I’ve ever felt in my career. My first professional gig was on a show called Nikita, and I played Al Qaeda No. 2. At that time I had to take those roles because I just wanted to get my foot in.

Certainly, playing the lead in the live-action Aladdin is a step up from playing random terrorist characters. It's unfortunate that such roles are often all that exist for actors of Middle Eastern decent.

People are certainly going to have differing opinions on how best to handle casting on movies like this. Mena Massoud's perspective won't work for everybody, but most will likely agree that Aladdin is a valuable step forward in many ways, even if it isn't perfect.

And perhaps Aladdin will also help be a step forward to fix the larger issue. Certainly, as it turns out, wide audiences have no problem seeing movie casts like the one Aladdin put together. The film broke the box office with an impressive $116 million at the domestic box office over the long Memorial Day Weekend. The movie has already grossed over $250 million globally.

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10 Best Jake Gyllenhaal Movies, Ranked

10 Best Jake Gyllenhaal Movies, Ranked

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of Hollywood's top talents, and after a brief marathon of his movies it isn't hard to see why. He's played many different types of characters throughout his career, and in all honesty he's good in just about every single one of them. At least, he is in these 10 movies, which are among the 10 best that the actor has offered audiences over the years.

As the world waits to see Jake Gyllenhaal play Mysterio in the upcoming sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home, I've put together a list of the 10 best films he's put out into the universe for your reading pleasure. These are the top 10 films to enjoy for those who want to see a good Jake Gyllenhaal movie featuring the actor at his best, even if the story or other actors didn't quite live up to the hype. Take a look and find these movies in the universe ASAP.

1. End Of Watch

The top Jake Gyllenhaal movie on this list, End Of Watch earns its spot for the gritty story of two LAPD officers just trying to survive the crime ridden streets. There's action, there's tension, and there are tear-jerking and terrifying moments. This movie is Jake Gyllenhaal at his best, and he looks completely in his element from start to finish. Others may believe there are better options out there, but I really feel they'd be wrong in regards to Gyllenhaal performances.

2. Donnie Darko

No disrespect to everything he's done after, but Jake Gyllenhaal's Donnie Darko remains one of his best to date. It features a much different performance than the characters Gyllenhaal would become later in life. It may not be the most groundbreaking performance the actor has ever given Hollywood, but it is the one that really set him on a path to be one of Hollywood's premiere names. Without it, there's no telling where the actor would be today. Plus, the movie itself still holds up.

3. Brokeback Mountain

No one should need a list to know Brokeback Mountain is one of Jake Gyllenhaal's best. Those who have gone this long without seeing it are making a mistake, and missing out one of the best performances of Heath Ledger's career to boot. For Gyllenhaal it's really on another level than any other role he's taken since, and absolutely one every movie lover should experience at least once. It's insane so many people passed on making this movie!

4. Zodiac

This Jake Gyllenhaal movie isn't more optimistic than many of the others on the list, but at least his character is more of the hero in this harrowing story of one of the most enigmatic serial killers in America's history. Of the selections on this list, Zodiac is the one that best highlights Jake Gyllenhaal's ability to portray an obsessed character, which is often an element in his roles. See this one immediately.

5. Nightcrawler

Here's another Jake Gyllenhaal movie where the actor turns on the crazy, although his character in Nightcrawler is far more insane and sadistic than funny. Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom, a man determined to make a living as a tragedy cameraman in Los Angeles. The film and Gyllenhaal is bonkers from start to finish, but it doesn't really hit peak freaky until that scene where he's laughing watching television and looking around and reacting to no one in particular.

6. Okja

One of Jake Gyllenhaal's most underrated roles in a while, Okja features the actor taking that crazy angle he does so well and spinning it into the eccentric television host Dr. Johnny Wilcox. Johnny Wilcox is not the type of character one sees often in a Jake Gyllenhaal movie, let alone a character that he would be the actor to play. It's hilarious, and a high point in a movie that can get pretty damn depressing as it goes on.

7. Southpaw

In a ranked list detailing the best boxing films of all time, Southpaw probably wouldn't be super high. That said, this Jake Gyllenhaal movie has earned its spot here for the way the actor portrays loss, and for how absolutely jacked he got for this movie. He's never in bad shape, of course, but this performance had to have sold a few people on him playing Batman someday.

8. Jarhead

Jarhead puts Jake Gyllenhaal in the shoes of former real life marine Anthony Swofford. For those who haven't seen it, this isn't the typical war movie, as it details one soldier's journey during Operation Desert Storm. This Jake Gyllenhaal movie captures a side of modern warfare from a unique perspective not often shown, and is only elevated in the respect that Gyllenhaal's performance is heightened by director Sam Mendes and a great supporting cast.

9. Brothers

There are a fair amount of feel-good Jake Gyllenhaal movies for audiences to enjoy, but I need to point out this film is not one of them. In Brothers, Gyllenhaal plays the supportive brother Tommy to Tobey Maguire's Sam, who has been overseas. Though he only plays a supporting role, Jake Gyllenhaal knocks it out of the park as Tommy, who only wants the best for his brother in a situation that gets increasingly out of control before anyone realizes it.

10. The Day After Tomorrow

The Day After Tomorrow is one of the biggest guilty pleasure Jake Gyllenhaal movies on the market. The decisions the characters make throughout this disaster film are ridiculous, and it's overall a very subpar blockbuster film. With that said, there are laughs for those willing to "weather the storm." My personal favorite Gyllenhaal moment is when his character Sam Hall nearly drowns in a flood because he won't get off the payphone with his dad.

Now, Jake Gyllenhaal has made a lot more movies than the ten that appear on this list, and it wouldn't be surprising if someone's favorite movie was left off this list. What are your favorites? We'd love to hear from you in the comments below!

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Green Book Just Passed An Impressive Box Office Milestone

Green Book Just Passed An Impressive Box Office Milestone

The Best Picture winner at this year’s Academy Awards Ceremony Green Book came out all the way back in the middle of November, but it is still playing in theaters nearly four months later. Not only that, but Green Book is enjoying a resurgence at the box office, riding a wave from its Oscar wins. Now, Green Book has another accolade to add to its list of accomplishments, passing the $200 million milestone.

The dramedy from director Peter Farrelly has crossed $200 million at the worldwide box office, and through Wednesday sits at $204.2 million according to The Hollywood Reporter. That breaks down to $77.3 million domestic and a sizable international haul of $126.9 million. That’s a heck of an accomplishment for a film that debuted in wide release in ninth place in North America and never cracked the top 3 at the box office domestically.

Green Book’s rise in success is due to two factors: a great debut in China as well as strong holds in other overseas markets and renewed interest in North America. The film opened in China on March 1 beating expectations to the tune of $17.1 and going on to $25 million by Wednesday. It now stands as the most successful Best Picture winner in China behind only Titanic.

How much is the title of Best Picture worth to a movie’s bottom line? It turns out it can be quite a lot actually, at least as far as Green Book is concerned. Over this past weekend, the first weekend since February’s Oscar ceremony and Green Book’s 16th in release, the film earned $4.7 million in North America, a number that was good enough for the 5 spot at the box office.

The Oscar bump is real and that weekend haul was over a 100% increase from the previous week. That was in part due to the renewed interest in the film, which saw it expand its theater count by 1,388 according to Box Office Mojo to 2,641.

For comparison, last year’s Best Picture winner The Shape of Water, only earned $2.3 million the weekend after the Oscars. To find a film that performed better than Green Book in the post-Oscars frame you’d have to go back to 2011 when The King’s Speech made $6.2 million following the Academy Awards.

It is an impressive run for a movie that only cost $23 million to make, and was dogged by controversy its entire awards season run. It does make you wonder if the backlash to Green Book’s Best Picture win actually did it a favor at the box office. Best Picture winners naturally receive a bump as audiences want to see the movie that earned the golden statue, but the backlash may have also made some others curious and feel like they had to see what all the fuss was about.

Whatever the case, Green Book has proven to be a worldwide hit that has had serious legs at the box office and caught its second wind after its big Best Picture win.

Green Book is now playing. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see the movies that will be vying for their own statues at next year’s awards.

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Upcoming Star Wars Movies: List Of Titles And Release Dates

Upcoming Star Wars Movies: List Of Titles And Release Dates

Following the release of the prequel trilogy, the Star Wars franchise stayed mostly dormant on the big screen for years... but now we may never see a dormant period for the franchise ever again. The brand was revitalized when the Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm back in 2012, and nothing has been the same since the release of J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December 2015. That billion dollar blockbuster kicked off a string of stories created by the studio, one coming out every year since, and it appears that the future will see many opportunities for inventive storytellers to play in this particular sandbox. And while the latest trio of saga features may soon be coming to an end, there is still a lot of new stuff being developed - including new trilogies and so-called Star Wars Stories.

But what exactly are these projects that are currently in the works? How long do we have to wait for them? We've built this guide to specifically answer all of those questions and more, so read on and discover everything that we know so far about the Star Wars films that are in the pipeline.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

The hotly-anticipated Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker has undergone some significant behind the scenes shakeups. Initially the script for the film was written by Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson, and Colin Trevorrow was attached to direct... but that was before the death of Carrie Fisher. That tragic event unfortunately forced the filmmakers to scrap what they had been working on, and it was decided that Trevorrow would step away from the helm. Lucasfilm then hired Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams to replace him, and he then co-wrote a new script from the end of the sequel trilogy with Chris Terrio.

As is the case with all developing Star Wars projects, details about the plot and events we can expect to unfold are being kept under extreme wraps - though we certainly can infer a few things from where Star Wars: The Last Jedi ended. In their battle against the First Order, The Resistance nearly faced defeat in the last adventure, but thanks to an inspirational appearance from the legendary Luke Skywalker everything changed. Rey is now very much on her way towards full Jedi status, and Kylo Ren is the new leader of the fascist galactic system following the death of Supreme Leader Snoke. It's also been confirmed that the thought-dead Emperor Palpatine will have a certain amount of influence on the way things go down, but that's basically only because of the laugh that can be heard at the end of the film's debut trailer.

New generation stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie-Tran, Domhnall Gleeson and Lupita Nyong'o are all reprising their respective roles, and we'll also be seeing the return of Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, and Carrie Fisher (whose performance will be created with the use of archive footage and visual effects). New additions to the franchise include characters played by Keri Russell, Richard E. Grant, Naomi Ackie. Get the latest on Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker HERE.

Release Date: December 20, 2019

The Benioff-Weiss Star Wars Trilogy

As J.J. Abrams prepares to conclude the sequel trilogy and the legendary Star Wars saga, two new trilogies will be starting up to further expand the beloved sci-fi universe. The first of these will be the brainchild of Game of Thrones producer/writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss - who are working on the new set of blockbusters now that their hugely popular HBO series has come to an end. Nothing has been revealed in regards to what kind of story we can expect to be told in this set of features, or even what period of the vast timeline will be explored, but at the very least we do know when we will be seeing the first installment.

It has been confirmed by Disney and Lucasfilm that the debut chapter of the Benioff-Weiss Star Wars Trilogy will be the first to hit theaters following the release of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. That being said, we're still going to have to wait a minute for it, as the production of features in this franchise will be slowing down in the coming years. Not only will we no longer be seeing annual Star Wars movies, but the first of this particular branch won't be released until December 2022. From that point forward films from the universe will only be released biennially - and it hasn't been made clear if the franchise will be going back and forth between the two developing trilogies, or if one will get to play out entirely before the start of the next. Speaking of which...

First Film Release Date: December 16, 2022

Rian Johnson's Star Wars Trilogy

As mentioned above, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker won't be using the script that was originally written by Rian Johnson, but franchise is far from done with him. Prior to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Lucasfilm announced that their collaboration with Johnson will continue with the development of an entire new trilogy of movies. Like the case with the Benioff-Weiss Star Wars Trilogy, it is entirely unclear at this time what this set of blockbusters will be about, when it will be set in regards to the Star Wars stories that we know, if/how it will connect to the classic films, or if it will include characters with whom we are already familiar. What we do know is that we will surely be hearing a lot more about these movies in the years to come.

When it comes to the release date, that is another major mystery. As noted below, Disney/Lucasfilm have carved out three release dates for future Star Wars movies between now and the end of 2026. And as mentioned above, what's unclear is if the plan is to have fans experience a new movie from each trilogy every other year, or if Rian Johnson's next contributions won't start until after the Benioff-Weiss films are done. It may be a minute before we have final confirmation about this, but you can be sure we'll have all of the latest details for you as they arrive here on CinemaBlend.

First Film Release Date: Unknown

December 16, 2022

December 20, 2024

December 18, 2026

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