Unless you have been living in a galaxy far far away or were being held a prisoner in a cave somewhere you are no doubt familiar with both the Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe franchises. These properties are currently owned by Disney and in 2015, they brought in $3.8 billion at the worldwide box office. Given that level of success one would guess that those franchises are here to stay and in a recent interview, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that and discussed the direction the franchises would take.
As of right now a new Star Wars film is slated to be released every year until 2020. You can get more details about those planned films here. The next film slated for release is Rogue One which will release in December of 2016 and will deviate from focusing on the Force or the Skywalkers. In fact it actually somewhat of a prequel taking place before Episode IV: A New Hope and will focus on the group that stole the plans for the original Death Star. When Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked if Star Wars would continue after the conclusion of the new trilogy in Episode IX he stated: “There will be more after that, I don’t know how many, I don’t know how often.”
When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, things have been in full swing for quite awhile. The MCU is currently in it’s “Phase 3” which will conclude after the two-part Avengers: Infinity War in 2019. In addition to Infinity War, Marvel has eight other films slated for release over the next four years. When Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked about the future of Marvel he said: “Marvel, you’re dealing with thousands and thousands of characters – that will go on forever.” Several new characters will be introduced over the next few years as some of the older ones take a step back…for now. The contracts for Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth will be expiring soon, so we will most likely begin to see less of those characters.
In the even you are a fan of these franchises, fear not because it certainly seems they won’t be going away anytime soon. Unless of course the zombie apocalypse starts or we face total atomic annihilation. Do you feel there are too many superhero movies anymore? Do you think a new Star Wars film every year is too much? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and check back for future updates.
