But what if the film doesn't survive? It's worth a lot to Disney.
TheWrap is confirming rumors that the second Star Wars Anthology film will focus on the origin of bounty hunter and sarlacc happy meal Boba Fett. The spinoff film is currently in need of a new director, after Josh Trank recently exited.
Trank, who directed Chronicle and the new Fantastic Four reboot, left the untitled Star Wars project on Friday afternoon, claiming that it was his decision. However, TheWrap claims in their article that Disney initiated the departure over concerns regarding what many have perceived as "erratic behavior" during the production of Fantastic Four, which was produced by Star Wars writer/producer Simon Kinberg.
"After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm," said Trank, "I'm making a personal decision to move forward on a different path. I’ve put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities." Trank previously said a nasty flu was the reason he missed the Star Wars Celebration in April, although TheWrap claims that Disney asked him not to attend.
Boba Fett first appeared in the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special in an animated segment as a mysterious figure who betrays Luke Skywalker (after saving him, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 from a giant monster), only to be revealed as a bounty hunter working for Darth Vader. The character first appeared in live action in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, where Fett (Jermey Bulloch) tracked the Millennium Falcon to Cloud City, where Vader captured its passengers and tortures Han Solo. Wanting to collect a bounty on Solo, Fett confronts Vader about whether Solo will survive the carbon freeze process Vader intends to use on Skywalker. Vader promises that the Empire will compensate Fett if Solo dies, and after Solo is determined to be alive following the process, Vader turns him over to Fett.
Fett met his apparent end in 1983's Return of the Jedi, at Jabba the Hutt's palace where Solo's rescuers are captured, and traveled on Jabba's sail barge to a sarlacc pit, where the prisoners were to be executed. After the prisoners mounted an escape, Fett attempted to intervene, and ended up in a brief battle with Luke Skywalker, but Solo accidentally ignited Fett's rocket pack, sending the bounty hunter falling into the Sarlacc's mouth.
In 2002, Boba Fett received hints of an origin in the prequel film Attack of the Clones, where a young Boba Fett (Daniel Logan) is revealed to be a child clone of Jango Fett, who raised Boba as his son. Boba helped Jango escape from Obi-Wan Kenobi, but later witnessed Jango's decapitation at the hands of Jedi Master Mace Windu.
The first Star Wars Anthology film, Rogue One, is expected to be released on December 16, 2016.