"Nobody wants to be remembered as the guy who 'Shit the Bed' excuse the expression" as quoted by Justin Timberlake in Friends with Benefits [a far better movie than No Strings Attached]. This is why famous directors have been passing up the opportunity to take on Star Wars. I feel that Disney is going with an in-house director at the helm, but first I must regress into why Lucas sold everything to Disney [or how I feel everything went down].
John Carter is the reason behind the deal. Lucas has had a long standing relationship with Disney [See Star Tours at Disneyland] where in he was almost certain to giving Disney the keys to the franchise, however, there is also his long time friend Steven Spielberg over at DreamWorks who he also could have sold it to. Bring in John Carter.
Those who have read "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs [source material for John Carter] believe that this is the closest thing to Star Wars that pre-dates Star Wars. This movie was made as a challenge to Disney from Lucas not only to see if they can be faithful to the original source material, but also if they are able to make it their own in order to have Lucas trust them with his beloved franchise.
Enter 2010 when preliminary filming began on John Carter and its release in 2012. Yes, John Carter is considered to be a Box Office flop, but if you look at the numbers, it made its money back with an extra $32 million. While that may seem like a lot, it's pennies compared to the $250 million budget.
Now, if you've seen John Carter [chances are you didn't] it is noteworthy that the script is pretty good in accomplishing a complete story arc and being a well drafted screenplay. Where it failed was in marketing. John Carter was not a big enough name to attract a big audience, but Star Wars is.
Having been made in a 2 year time span, this leaves room for a Star Wars movie to be possible in May 2015 if they get cameras rolling no later than Summer 2013. I say May 2015 because previous Star Wars movies have been released mid May and Disney would most likely keep that date for Star Wars fans.
As for who would direct such a movie, my money is on Brad Bird. A good friend at Pixar, who made The Incredibles, and directed Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. He is still a relatively unknown name when it comes to Directors, but he is good at what he does. He is an in-house director for Disney where in they don't have to pay much for him to direct Star Wars, but has a great execution on finishing with great products and fan fair.
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