Josh Trank was doing well for a couple of years. His directorial debut, Chronicle, was a solid movie. Solid enough that he was named director of a gritty and much-needed Fantastic Four reboot. Then, the cherry-on-top was becoming the director of an unnamed Star Wars anthology film, which was highly rumored to be a Boba Fett movie.
However, his antics on the set of Fantastic Four led to him being removed from the film. Then he was removed from the Star Wars anthology project. It makes quite a lot of sense, considering Fantastic Four’s producer Simon Kinberg works at Fox as well as Lucasfilm. Kinberg supposedly directed the Fantastic Four re-shoots and is the director of the upcoming film X-Men: Dark Phoenix. One word from him and Trank was likely ancient history at Disney.
Now according to a report by Omega Underground, Disney and Lucasfilm are once again moving forward with the Boba Fett film. Simon Kinberg and longtime Star Wars-veteran Lawrence Kasdan are listed as producers of the project. The working title of which is supposedly, “Tin Man,” an obvious reference to the most famous bounty hunter in the galaxy.
The report states that the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter-starring Star Wars project has been lined up to shoot at Pinewood Studios in London, England. Recently, another report indicated that the Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off is also making plans at Pinewood. Disney is known for preparing for future films well ahead of time. So these new developments are easy to believe.
But what stories could they have in mind for the character? And just who could be behind the camera?
Simon Says…
Many fans know Star Wars had a rather healthy extended universe. Hundreds and hundreds of books speculated on what could have possibly taken place after Return of the Jedi. Quite a few have told stories about what came before. For the most part, they answer questions about characters that didn’t get enough screen-time. IG-88, Bossk, Plo Koon, and Lobot are just some of the already existing characters given new life in the Extended Universe.
But the most famous of which is Boba Fett.
The most badass bounty hunter in the galaxy fell into the Sarlaac Pit. Most assumed he became just another casualty of Luke and company’s daring escape. But many, many fans know for certain that Boba Fett escaped that pit. His jet-pack enabled him to have a daring escape of his own. Star Wars: The Force Awakens may not have implied the bounty hunter was lurking out there somewhere, but it didn’t need to for his story to live on.
Boba Fett is the perfect kind of character for Disney to build a franchise around. He’s got a marketable look with an “anti-heroic” attitude. But whether or not he survived the Sarlaac pit doesn’t matter. He had a life before his debut in The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: The Holiday Special. One that gave him a legendary reputation. Considering their penchant for fan service, this film could see where one Darth Vader learned about a young, gifted bounty hunter named Boba.
Who could Disney be prepping to take on such a project? Well, Simon Kinberg cut his directing teeth on the Fantastic Four film and the next X-Men installment. As a member of the Lucasfilm family, he could be Disney’s top choice to once again take over for Josh Trank. He has plenty of experience in the Star Wars universe as a writer and producer for Star Wars: Rebels. He was also rumored to be producing and writing Trank’s Boba Fett film.
In fact, he even named Empire Strikes Back as his favorite movie in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The movie where Boba Fett first appeared.
Kinberg’s favorite movie is Empire Strikes Back so taking the mutants to a galaxy far away was a thrill. “Frankly, part of what excited me about it was it was not just going to be an earth-bound movie,” says the first-time director. “It’s not as much in another galaxy as Star Wars but it’s the first time we’ve left Earth.”
Do you want to see a Boba Fett film? Would you want it to take place before A New Hope, sometime during the original trilogy, or afterwards?