The Las Vegas Guardian Express have posted this piece looking into what could be the next Star Wars after Episode VII, the first of the spin-off films. The Guardian Express posits that the first release will be a stand-alone Han Solo story, and looks into the logic behind that.

With the disappointing results of “The Lone Ranger” last summer, Disney is now careful on the budgets and placing a budget cap on franchise movies, (Disney’s Chief Financial Officer Jay) Rasulo told the investors. The budget for the coming movies like the Star Wars Han Solo origin story for release in 2016 would be tighter, he hinted. Disney purchased Lucasfilm, the owner of the 35-year old Star Wars franchise for $4 billion last year with the hope that the company can still make money from the sci-fi movie franchise. Rasulo told investors that the Star Wars brand is like a palette where they can create unlimited possibility and that “the sky’s the limit.” He added that the main strategy is releasing the main film first but supporting it with various franchising activities.

A classic Brian Daley style Han Solo story wouldn’t require an enormous budget, the focus presumably being far more on the characters than the situations, so spin-off films, TV series and internet only projects could and should be made for far more reasonable budgets. Much like the way Lucasfilm (an independent company prior to the Disney acquisition remember) made the Prequels a decade ago.