Not only is this not the first time that we’ve heard rumors of Microsoft’s next generation console follow-up to the Xbox 360, known only as the Xbox 720 or code name “Durango” at the moment, but it’s not the first time we’ve heard about a possible 2013 holiday season release window.

According to sources, Microsoft is planning to release their new console come this time next year, and the company is still trying to decide whether to announce it officially at the next E3 convention, or do their own special announcement event.

Since the news broke a month ago that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion and was developing Star Wars: Episode VII for a 2015 release, British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn has been, despite constant denials, one of the frontrunners for the highly-coveted directing gig. At the recent London premiere of Seven Psychopaths actor Jason Flemyng, a close friend and collaborator of Vaughn’s since the director was producing Guy Ritchie’s quotable gangster pictures, let something very interesting slip during an interview with DIY TV, according to their Twitter feed:

Okay, they said “Star Wars IV”. That could be a modest little joke on Flemyng’s part or maybe the interviewer misinterpreted something her said. Obviously a remake of A New Hope is not even on any sane person’s mind and never will be. In any case, DIY TV later took to their Twitter to correct their previous snafu.

Yesterday, our magnificent man with the news eelyajekiM reported that next summer’s Superman reboot Man of Steel may play a vital role in leading into the long-awaited 2015 release of Justice League. If that’s the case, then Warner Bros. has decided to take a page from the Marvel Studios’ playbook and use their solo superhero films to build up to the team-up epic, a formula that proved to be a surefire winner when you look at the grosses for The Avengers.

Anyone who’s been following the development and production of Man of Steel and its dovetailing with the release of The Avengers could have guessed by now that the new Superman, played by Henry Cavill, would naturally be leading the League when they make their big screen bow in three summers, around the same time The Avengers 2 hits movie screens. What wasn’t so obvious was who the studio would pick to play Batman seeing as how the Christopher Nolan-directed Dark Knight trilogy has concluded and Christian Bale doesn’t appear to be willing to be a team player in the Justice League since Nolan won’t be involved.

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The great thing about owning Star Wars (if you happen to have a few billion dollars hiding in your gigantic couch cushions, as Disney did), is that you don’t have to wait around to see if one movie will do well enough to warrant a sequel and eventual franchise. It’s already one of the most established franchises in history, a guaranteed cash cow. And they plan on jumping all over that fact like a frat boy would a freshly microwaved burrito…hopefully to our collective delight, and not our condemnation.

We’ve already found out that Oscar winning Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt will write the first planned movie, Star Wars Episode VII, for its 2015 release. But now comes word that the company is already looking at two more writers to take on the next two installments, Star Wars Episode VIII (or IIX? Have we ever gotten this high with a Roman numeral movie franchise?) and Star Wars Episode IX.

Fans of George Lucas’s original Star Wars trilogy have seemed to remain cautiously optimistic (while quietly terrified) about Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm and their plans to make the trilogy they thought would never ever happen just a couple of weeks ago.

This cautious optimism likely stems from Disney’s acquisition of Marvel and the movies that have been released since, including The Avengers, which has given them just enough hope that Star Wars Episode VII can bring the franchise back from that darkest and most depressing of places that Lucas’s prequel trilogy delivered it to. Bring it back from the dead.

Speaking of bringing things back from the dead, a new rumor has surfaced that Disney may be pondering bringing a one Mr. Darth Vader, who *Spoiler Alert* perished at the end of Return of the Jedi, back for the new trilogy.