The original Star Wars trilogy and the prequel trilogy are done and over with. Even though a remake of either trilogy would be cool, I think that a completely new Star Wars story is waiting to be told. There's so much material out there; the Star Wars universe is massive. A new movie could take place thousands of years before the Battle of Yavin or thousands of years after.
Just do a quick Google search of Star Wars stories that have nothing to do with the films. There's so many and a lot of them have nothing to do with the Rebellion era or the Clone Wars, which would be a breath of fresh air in what's becoming a stale environment.
To start with we have the Tales of the Jedi story arcs with Ulic Qel-Droma, Exar Kun, and Nomi Sunrider. In these story arcs alone there are two epic conflicts: the Great Hyperspace War between the Republic and the Sith Empire under Naga Sadow and the Sith War with Exar Kun and the fallen Ulic Qel-Droma. There's literally enough there to create a whole new, epic trilogy.
Then, there's Knights of the Old Republic of video game fame. Though there's argument against a film adaptation of a video game where players control the main character's choices, the plot of the Mandalorian Wars and the the subsequent conflict against Darth Malak and his cronies would make a fantastic Star Wars movie.
And the whole Revan story arc from the game isn't even the entirety of this chapter. There's the whole comic part starring the inept Padawan, Zayne Carrick, and the beginning of the Mandalorian Wars. I can't even get started on the potential from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and the whole Sith Triumvirate and the Jedi Exile. All of these different tales have yet to be told and are just aching to transition to the silver screen.
I also cannot fail to mention the upcoming MMORPG, The Old Republic in development by BioWare. But that storyline is still unknown to most of us and I'm sure the experts at BioWare can deliver an experience that would be even better than a movie.There's plenty of material in Star Wars' past, but also the same amount, if not more so, in its future. Though I am jumping away from what the films have already covered, the Dark Empire saga is worth mentioning. In this one, Palpatine returns by possessing a host of his own clones and re-assumes control of the Imperial Remnant. Luke joins him and does a brief stint as the Emperor's apprentice before being redeemed by Leia.
Of course, the possibility of this sort of film is even lower than the others. For one, it's much too similar to the original trilogy (though this might not be a bad thing) and for two, the original actors have gotten much older than their characters. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are past their Luke and Leia age and I'm sure Harrison Ford has much more on his mind than reprising Han Solo. George Lucas could always recast the roles, but it would be difficult, especially for the old-school crowd, to grasp such a heresy.
A new movie could cover the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and the grand war that engulfed the galaxy and forever changed it. But that also runs into the "original-actors-original-characters" problem. A faction of Star Wars fans also consider the whole Yuuzhan Vong affair an affront to the Star Wars universe, considering the Vong to be too Trekky.
Admittedly though, a Yuuzhan Vong movie would be pretty sweet if done right. Planets and systems we love are destroyed. The basics of what is considered Star Wars is challenged. The Force is explored in a way that expands beyond the light side and the dark side. And some original characters die (gasp), albeit in a super-heroic way (If you are dying to know who, go to Wookieepedia and search "Destruction of Sernpidal").
Finally (since it's getting late and I'm sort of sleepy), there's the Legacy series which takes place approximately 137 years after the Battle of Yavin. It's sort of like Star Wars revisited. A lot of the familiar elements are there: there's a Skywalker, there's Jedi, there's an Empire, there's a princess, there's Sith. But they are done in such a way that they are almost completely different from anything else that's come before in the Star Wars universe.
From every idea I've presented on this site, I favor the Legacy story the most for a film adaptation, because it's Star Wars, but rebooted, in a way that it doesn't eliminate anything that's come before it. It's the fresh air that the franchise needs.
Come on, Georgie. Star Wars is far from dead and it could do a lot better than an animated show on Cartoon Network. We all know you're sitting on a nice pile of cash and I'm sure there'd be plenty of producers willing to invest in a new Star Wars film. You have enough material that the work is almost done for you.
The film industry, no, the world needs a new Star Wars film. You have the technology and the resources to make a Star Wars like never before. Humble the industry with a project people will love and revive the fandom of the '70s. Maybe what people want isn't something new, but a revisit of something amazing from the old days. The new Star Trek movie did great. I'm willing to bet a new Star Wars will do even better.
P.S. I know it seems like I'm a fan over the edge. I love Star Wars and as a friend has pointed out, not a day goes by without some kind of Star Wars reference. Another friend once said that I've forgotten more about Star Wars than most people know. It's simply that I love Star Wars. Ever since I popped that old VHS into the player when I was six, I have been hooked. But people, you can be as knowledgeable as George Lucas himself (if not more so). Thanks to the Internet, the power is yours. Wookieepedia is the font of all knowledge Star Wars and is probably as big as Wikipedia itself. I'm just on that site way too much.
i always thought Truce at Bakura would make a good fan-film at least, like you said, having the core actors back would be unfeasible. with that being said, i'd still love to see anything star wars related on the screen
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With regards to a new star wars movie i can say only one thing:
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Much like Blake here, I too am a dire hard star wars fan. I feel that we as a star wars culture must acknowledge the will of the living force and move away from George and the rest of Lucasfilm... They had their time and they had their movies. Blake has pointed out several interesting story arcs all of which admittedly use Lucas's ideas and world, but had absolutely no input from him other than a big fat signature in order to reap royalties. The only star wars lucas has attempted to fire out recently has been the dismal new clone wars series. While I admit, it can be seen as a welcome shot in the arm to an era normally left unexplored, lucas left the dire hards back in the 80's when he made Return of the Jedi (EWOKS!!!). I'm not saying I don't respect lucas, I'm just saying that a man who once preached that he wanted to do films as art has become the most commercial man possible (also note: Kingdom of crystal skull... Lucas you bastard).
The remedy for this star wars stagnation is thus: Young Guns. A new studio with new ideas and new stories to tell need to come forward and unite. Once united we can only hope a weakness can be found in the juggernaut that is the star wars media monster. New characters need to be fleshed out and new saga's are ready to be lived out. The source material that Blake has mentioned here is a good start, but one need only do searches of star wars "fan-fic" on google to see that there are numerous writers and creators ready to lock S-foils in attack position.