It looks like Lucasfilm’s Disney sibling Marvel Studios is rubbing off on it.  Beginning with the first Marvel Studios film, ‘Iron Man’ the studio has been rewarding audiences who sit through the end credits with a bonus clip, usually quite brief, but in a lot of cases, ones that tease upcoming films.  The practice has been so well-received that other franchise films have begun aping the idea and planting their own seeds for things that come, either midway through the credits or at the very end or even both.

Now comes word that ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ the seventh film in the overall ‘Star Wars’ series, will include a post-credits teaser for next year’s ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ the first “anthology” movie– a film set within the Star Wars Universe, but not directly tied to the main storyline.

This will be a first for ‘Star Wars,’ obviously, since it is a relatively new practice.  But it is also the first time two SW films will be released within a year of one another, which makes this the first time this has ever been possible.

Of course some are already wary of ‘The Force Awakens’ the first film in the franchise that hasn’t been heavily crafted by series creator George Lucas.  J.J. Abrams, who took over the franchise, previously found success with rebooting Paramount’s ‘Star Trek’ films.  But while the action-based approach he took on them may have won over mainstream movie-goers, some longtime ‘Trek’ fans were put off, feeling that the tone deviated too greatly from the established works in this universe.  So ‘Wars’ fans have been a bit concerned with how these new films will come across and if they will recapture the magic of the originals or if they will repeat the blunders of the prequels, the creation of which Lucas did play a commanding role and which are largely ignored by die-hard fans.

The original films are essentially timeless, but a post-credit sequence could certainly be seen as a fad.  Could that hurt the timeless appeal of the series?

So there are two ways to look at it.  One, it could be a great thing that helps keep the momentum rolling from one ‘Star Wars’ to the next.  Or it can be viewed as a trendy movie that will ultimately hurt the experience of watching THIS film and enjoying it on its own merits, divorced from outside projects that don’t directly tie into it.

What do you think?  Do you like the idea of a post-credit scene to tease the next film?  Or is this trendy bandwagon-hopping on Lucasfilm’s part that may diminish the timeless feel of the franchise?  Comment below!

Source: /Film