For months, Disney has mentioned an uncertainty regarding whether "Star Wars Episode 7" would be released in 2015. The company confirmed the launch for that year and unveiled its intentions with the coveted franchise.
According to numerous reports, fans can expect a "Star Wars" movie every single year starting with "Episode 7." More importantly, "Episode 8" and "9" are due in 2017 and 2019 if the plan works according to Disney's announcement. In between major installments, fans will be treated with spin-off entries in the saga.
The original and prequel trilogies featured the release of entries every three years. "Episode 4: A New Hope" was launched in 1977 and its sequel "Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back" came in 1980. The final entry in the original trilogy, "Episode 6: Return of the Jedi" came in 1983. In Lucasfilm released "Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" and "Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" and "Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith" came in 2002 and 2005 respectively.
Disney has had success launching Marvel films. The company released "The Avengers" in 2012 and is slated to release "Thor 2" and "Iron Man 3" in 2013. 2014 will see the release of "Captain America 2" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" while 2015 is the year that Disney will launch "The Avengers 2" and "Ant-Man."
There has been no confirmation on cast or story but franchise creator George Lucas revealed in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that the original trilogy cast members would be making a return. "We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison -- or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, 'Look, this is what's going on," said Lucas. "Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them. I won't say whether the negotiations were successful or not."