The big news out of Saturday's D23 Expo was that Colin Trevorrow, fresh off of directing Jurassic World all the way to what will soon be the second biggest domestic box-office haul of all time, will direct Star Wars Episode IX.Whether this landed as good news or not likely depended on whether you saw Jurassic World as a popcorn-y thrill ride through the familiar terrain of one of your favorite blockbusters, or as a clunky, clumsy, art-less mess. (Unless you're one of those weird people with moderate, non-strident opinions' What's that like')My Sundance Class of 2012 comrade will journey from Jurassic World to Star Friggin' Wars. Work, @ColinTrevorrow! http://t.co/hw1H3MuvGA' Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 15, 2015One of the most fascinating things about Trevorrow's rise to blockbuster prominence is that this all rose out of a modest, likable little indie movie called Safety Not Guaranteed.Starring Jake Johnson, Mark Duplass, and Aubrey Plaza, the film was well-reviewed (Roger Ebert called it ambitious and touching), it made a good little bit of money for an indie, won a couple of awards for its screenwriter Derek Connolly, but never really crossed over into the mainstream the way some breakout indies do.When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2012, it occasioned some bidding competition from Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Company before settling at Film District, but nothing that would justify calling it a bidding 'war.'It was one of about a dozen or more movies that emerged from Sundance 2012 with good buzz, but it was far from the headliner.That slot was probably held by Beasts of the Southern Wild, the true crossover of that year's festival, making three times as much as Safety at the box-office and ultimately nabbing Oscar nominations for screenplay, actress, directing, and Best Picture.But now, three and a half years later, Beasts director Benh Zeitlin'Oscar nomination affixed to his resum'is still working on his follow-up film, while Trevorrow has ensconce himself in the heart of big-studio blockbuster filmmaking.And he's not the only alumnus of Sundance's class of 2012 to have caught the eye of the major studios.Rashida Jones and Will McCormack co-wrote that year's Sundance romantic comedy attractionCeleste and Jesse Forever, another film that did solidly okay but wasn't exactly igniting movie houses ablaze.Three years later, Jones and McCormack appeared on stage at D23 as the screenwriters of Pixar's hugely anticipated Toy Story 4.Before Selma made her one of the most sought-after filmmakers in the business, Ava DuVernay showed up to Sundance in 2012 with her intimate romantic drama Middle of Nowhere.DuVernay would win the directing award at the festival, then spend the next few months trying to get Middle of Nowhere seen (it never played on more than 25 screens across America in its two-month theatrical run), and the next two years trying to get Selma made.Earlier this summer, the blockbuster film community was abuzz that Marvel was going to hire DuVernay to direct 2018's Black Panther, which would have made her the first person of color and first woman to direct a film within the ultra-lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe.It was never confirmed, and weeks later DuVernay shot those rumors down, saying that she and Marvel had 'different ideas about what the story would be.'That Marvel and DuVernay had conversations about the project highlights what's become a demonstrable trend: major studios are finding their talent amid the up-and-coming Sundance class.In fact, second only to the 2012 Sundance alums for blockbuster success might be the 2012 SXSW film festival class, which that year gathered together 21 Jump Street's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller(currently writing/directing Warner Bros. The Flash movie AND the Han Solo Star Wars anthology film),Cabin in the Woods' Drew Goddard (screenwriter on Fox's The Martian; once rumored to direct a Sony/Marvel Sinister Six movie), and Sinister's Scott Derrickson, who will be directing next year's Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Doctor Strange.The world of blockbuster filmmaking is only getting bigger.Whether that translates to swallowing up indie talents as it grows or giving a platform for directors to make the leap from a small canvas to a massive one may be in the eye of the beholder.Either way, it seems that the path to blockbuster success has definitely opened up a new detour through Park City.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Tom Hardy makes a crazy transformation playing identical twins in this new gangster movie
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