..je persiste ...vu chez theforce.net :YourMom01 points us to Digital Spy for some interesting tidbits about the rumors surrounding the sequel trilogy:
Lucasfilm recently denied plans to film more films in the Star Wars franchise, and George Lucas himself has always denied such plans. Perhaps the agreements allegedly signed by the effects company see the beginning of a change of policy.
EOnline has a great story on the subject today as well. Here's a clip - head there for the complete story!
But the franchise lay dormant the rest of the decade--the closest Lucas came to doing a sequel was green-lighting a series of best-selling books by sci-fi author Timothy Zahn in the early '90s.
Things were looking grim until 1997, when Lucas revived interest in the space opera with spiffed-up versions of the original trilogy--1977's Star Wars (now rechristened Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope), 1980's The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars: Episode V--The Empire Strikes Back), and 1983's Return of the Jedi (Star Wars: Episode VI--Return of the Jedi).
Following those successful rereleases, Lucas went to work on the prequels. But in a 1998 interview with Vanity Fair, the writer-director denied ever having any plans to make nine Star Wars movies.
"When you see it in six parts, you'll understand," Lucas said at the time. "It really ends at part six."
Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace came out in 1999 and Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones followed in 2002. While both films took a critical drubbing, they more than made up for it at the box office, earning a more than $1.5 billion combined worldwide.
Lucas plans on issuing a four-disc DVD box set of the original trilogy on Sept. 21 followed by the last prequel (or sixth Star Wars movie, depending on how you count 'em), Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith, is scheduled to open theatrically on May 19, 2005. And that will be it.
Unless you believe the rumors.
