I want to stress Bleeding Cool have 100% confirmed that the following is accurate and that the open casting started today in the UK.

Today at CinemaCon, Disney announced that "Star Wars: Episode 7" would be coming in summer 2015, and that a brand new "Star Wars" movie will follow every summer, alternating between the new trilogy and the standalone offshoot films. Having paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm last fall, it's clear Disney wants to not only recoup that cost, but also start making some mad cash, and a new "Star Wars" movie each year -- combined with Marvel's ongoing, expanding cinematic universe -- is going to make the studio the pre-eminent powerhouse around town. And 2015 alone is going to be insane for Disney with both "The Avengers 2" and "Star Wars: Episode VII" dropping. Madness.

"He has been a great inspiration to me over the years," he continued. "He has been a great teacher to me and good friend and I would love nothing more than to hear more of his music from that universe." "If it were up to me I would say 'John, you must do it.'"

Asked whether members of the original Star Wars cast will appear in Episode VII and if he called them before the deal closed to keep them informed, Lucas says, “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.’ ” He pauses. “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.” Then he adds: “I won’t say whether the negotiations were successful or not.”

Disney is going to continue the Star Wars saga, producing movies set to hit theaters starting in 2015. Can you confirm whether you’ll reprise the role of Princess Leia? Yes. What do you think Princess Leia is like today? Elderly. She’s in an intergalactic old folks’ home [laughs]. I just think she would be just like she was before, only slower and less inclined to be up for the big battle. And still wearing the bagel buns? The bagel buns and the bikini, because probably she has sundowners syndrome. At sundown, she thinks that she’s 20-something. And she puts it on and gets institutionalized.

Yesterday, The Walt Disney Co. unveiled plans to make a number of spin-off movies set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — in addition to the post-Return of the Jedi trilogy that had already been announced. Entertainment Weekly has learned details on two of the spin-off projects: A young Han Solo saga, focusing on the wisecracking smuggler’s origin story, and a bounty hunter adventure with Boba Fett at the center of a rogue’s gallery of galactic scum. Several sources close to the projects confirmed this was the direction the development was taking, although each cautioned it’s still very early in the process and, well, the deal could always be altered futher. Lucasfilm and Disney declined to comment on the information. The Han Solo story would take place in the time period between Revenge of the Sith and the first Star Wars (now known as A New Hope), so although it’s possible Harrison Ford could appear as a framing device, the movie would require a new actor for the lead — one presumably much younger than even the 35-year-old Ford when he appeared in the 1977 original. The Boba Fett film would take place either between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, or between Empire and Jedi, where the bounty hunter was last seen plunging unceremoniously into a sarlacc pit. Exactly who would play him isn’t much of a complication – in the original trilogy, he never took off his helmet. And in the prequels, we learned he was the son of the original stormtrooper clone, played by Temuera Morrison, who’s still the right age for the part if his services were required. In addition to bringing back two fan-favorite characters as the leads of their own films, the Han Solo and Boba Fett projects would also allow Darth Vader, in full-on black death-metal gear, to return as a villain, since placing the spin-offs within the original trilogy would mean he is still alive and hissing. That timeline would also open the door for a return from visit with everyone’s favorite degenerate slug-like gangster, Jabba the Hutt.

J.J. Abrams is beaming from one franchise to another. The Star Trek Into Darkness director is set to helm the next installment of Star Wars, EW has confirmed. (The Wrap first reported the news.) “As a kid I was always a fan of special effects. Watching movies I was constantly trying to figure out how they did it, whatever the effect was. Star Wars was the first movie that blew my mind in that way; it didn’t matter how they did any of it because it was all so overwhelmingly and entirely great. It was funny and romantic and scary and compelling and the visual effects just served the characters and story. It galvanized for me; not for what wasexciting about how movies were made, but rather for what movies were capable of,” Abrams told EW back in November. (In the same interview, he also denied that he would be directing any Star Wars films.)

A day after THR reported that Michael Arndt has been working with Lucasfilm for several months on a treatment for the new Star Wars movie, Lucasfilm has confirmed that the Toy Story 3 scribe will write the screenplay for Episode VII.

Arndt had written a 40- to 50-page treatment that will bring the saga of the Skywalkers, the Force-imbued family comprising Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and twins Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa, to a close in a new trilogy. The story is said to focus on a new generation of heroes and would feature appearances by Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in older incarnations of their beloved characters from the original Star Wars trilogy.

Sources have said not to discount the possibility that a number of characters from previous Star Wars films could reappear — even the dead Jedis, who have a habit of showing up in spirit form.

The next step for Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy, who is overseeing the production of the new movies for Disney, is to hire a director. One name popping up consistently amongst insiders is Brad Bird, though insiders say no choice has been made and Bird already is working on another top-secret sci-fi project for the studio.

Arndt, repped by Verve, is described as a huge Star Wars fan and well-versed in the lore of the mythology. He won an Oscar for his script for Little Miss Sunshine and was nominated for his work on Toy Story 3, helping make the Pixar movie the most emotional of the three. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire.

Well, we know that, whatever the plot of Episode 7, George Lucas won't have a heavy hand in the day-to-day creation of it. He's apparently written the treatments for the films, but he won't produce or direct—an excellent opportunity for another visionary to jettison Jar Jar Binks out of an airlock permanently.

As for the plot, Star Wars superfans have a theory on what they'll be seeing next. But I have a surprise for them: They're wrong. If you're a fan, you're definitely gonna want to read on.

First of all, you should know that there is an official canon concerning the Star Wars universe. Those stories cover the years after rebel victory (i.e., after Return of the Jedi). It's written in a series of books called the Thrawn Trilogy, by author Timothy Zahn. Die-hard Star Wars fans know the trilogy well, and they say that a big-screen adaptation of the first book, Heir to the Empire, would make the most logical Episode 7.

"Of all the speculation out there about the content of this new trilogy, that's the single most concrete idea," says Eric Geller of the fan site TheForce.net. "It's almost inevitable that the story will take place in the same time frame as those books."

So what happens in "those books?"

Well, Luke Skywalker meets a real would-be assassin lady named Mara Jade, who was trained to avenge the Emperor by crushing Luke's pretty blond head. Instead, Jade falls for Luke and, a subsequent graphic novel, the two marry. Skywalker also has to deal with the fact that he's the only Jedi left, at least, for now, and he goes about trying to fix that.

Princess Leia and Han Solo also play heavily into the Thrawn Trilogy, popping out a pair of twins (of course) among other things. As for the name Thrawn, well, that refers to a grand admiral with imperial sympathies who takes over as the leader of the vanquished enemy faction.

So is that the basis for Episode 7 or not? I've heard directly from LucasFilm and other sources close to the picture, and they say: Definitely not.

"It's an original story," a LucasFilm source tells me.

In other words, forget the Star Wars novels. Forget the graphic novels. Forget everything you think you know about what happens to Luke Skywalker. According to my sources, Episode 7 will literally be nothing you've ever seen or read before from the Star Wars universe.

I also hear from several sources that, no matter what you may hear to the contrary, no director has been officially attached to the project.

Meanwhile, there isn't much news regarding the other big Star Wars projects currently in development.

A spoofy cartoon TV series, Detours, was announced in August, spearheaded by Seth Green and the other creators of Robot Chicken. No release dates or networks were revealed, but Disney has said that it envisions some sort of Star Wars presence on its Disney XD channel. I wouldn't be surprised if Detours landed there.

Lastly, there's the live action series, which has been bubbling around since 2008 and which is supposed to take place between Episodes 3 and 4, when Luke Skywalker is growing up.

As I reported earlier, Lucasfilm was still talking in enthusiastic terms about Star Wars: Underworld less than a year ago. At that time, the show had a lot of scripts in the can but no financing. But if there's one thing that Disney has, it's money. Still, insiders tell me it's too soon to expect any announcements on either series.

The force is strong with Mickey Mouse.

In one of the most momentous entertainment industry acquisitions of the last 30 years, the Walt Disney Company announced on Tuesday that it is purchasing Lucasfilm in a stock and cash deal valued at $4.05 billion. The sale includes plans for Star Wars: Episode VII, which is in early development, aiming for release in 2015. Walt Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger announced in a shareholder conference call that the studio also intending to release Episode VIII and Episode IX. “Our longterm plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years,” he added, noting that the deal came with “an extensive and detailed treatment for the next three movies.”

“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said Star Wars creator and Lucasfilm CEO George Lucas in a statement. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime.” Iger said Lucas began considering retirement four or five years ago, and the two began informally discussing Disney acquiring Lucasfilm a year and a half ago, although they only got serious more recently.

Veteran producer Kathleen Kennedy, who recently became co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the studio’s president, reporting to Disney studios chairman Alan Horn. She will executive produce the future Star Wars films, with Lucas serving as a creative consultant. In a video released by Disney (and embedded below), Lucas says he and Kennedy have already been working on future Star Wars films with unspecified writers. “We have a large group of ideas and characters and books and all kinds of things,” Lucas said. “We could go on making Star Wars for the next 100 years.”

The deal also includes plans to incorporate Star Wars into Disney’s TV, parks, and games businesses, as well as acquisition of Lucas’ companies like Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, and Skywalker Ranch. Standing distribution deals with Fox and Paramount will play a factor for Disney in monetizing the previous six Star Wars films and last four Indiana Jones films, respectively.

The purchase marks a clear desire by Disney to expand further into the tent-pole feature film business, with Pixar Animation Studios and Marvel Studios moving into the Mouse House over the last decade.