Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (USE SPOILER TAGS!)

[R3P0]

Word is now coming out that the Final Cut of the film has been delivered

There is an undeniable air of optimism surrounding J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The return of practical effects and the crews’ respect for the franchise, not to mention an incredible marketing push, have done plenty to quell any unease about a new entry in the series. As the final months before its release tick by, the growing anticipation for the film is nearing critical mass.

With the excitement of The Force Awakens‘ impending release, it’s easy to forget the rumored troubles from early in the film’s production. At the time, there were rumblings that most of the creators behind the film were at odds with Disney CEO Robert Iger regarding the film’s release date. News of Harrison Ford’s injury on the set only fueled speculation that Episode VII would inevitably be delayed.

We now know that isn’t the case and regardless of any disagreements about the release date, Abrams is happy with his current relationship with Disney. The Star Wars director joined Apple designer Jony Ive in a talk moderated by Brian Grazer for Vanity Fair (Via Indiewire) and discussed his working relationship with the Mouse House.

Abrams confirmed that he does have the final cut of the film, but noted that there’s a clause in his contract that would allow Disney to ultimately take control of the project. That clause is not at all unexpected, given the amount of money Disney has put into the film and the Star Wars acquisition. However, he maintains that “they let us make the movie we wanted to make,” and goes so far as to call Iger an “incredible collaborator,” who “mandates nothing” on the project.

“I cannot say enough about how [Robert] Iger and Alan Horn have understood this thing that is now part of the Disney company. And they’re not trying to Disney-fy it. They’re not doing anything other than, I think, an incredibly smart thing, which is letting Kathleen Kennedy — who is a remarkable person and producer — run and lead Lucasfilm to a place where I think it wants to go.”

As with any high-profile project, there’s fear the studio won’t trust its creators and will step in to alter the course of the project. Time and again, studio meddling has led to disastrous changes to a film (though there are examples of the opposite, as well). Thankfully, at least according to Abrams, that is not the case for Star Wars. Putting faith in the obviously talented team behind the upcoming film is a smart move by Disney and should only further increase the sense of optimism surrounding The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18th, 2015, followed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on December 16th, 2016, Star Wars: Episode VIII on May 26th, 2017, and the Han Solo Star Wars Anthology film on May 25th, 2018. Star Wars: Episode IX is expected to reach theaters in 2019, followed by the third Star Wars Anthology film in 2020.

[Det. Bullock]

Originally Posted by R3P0

Word is now coming out that the Final Cut of the film has been delivered

Reading all that, I always wondered if JJ wanted the film delayed because he wanted to bring his TV pals to rewrite the script, it's incredible how may news sites always seem to avoid saying anything against Lindelof, Orci and Kurtzman.

[Moviefan2k4]

Well, one thing that makes me happy about the marketing for the film, is they haven't spoiled it like crazy with tons of revealing footage. That said, I hope they include a few moments with Luke, Han, and Leia in the final trailer...and I'm also curious to see Drew Struzan's cast poster.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by R3P0

Word is now coming out that the Final Cut of the film has been delivered

Where does it say that the final cut has been delivered?

[The_Deacon]

The site followingthenerd.com is reporting that the runtime will be 136 minutes, and the UK rating is 12A. (that is tbc)

http://www.followingthenerd.com/movi....qKQVTra1.dpbs

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Det. Bullock

Reading all that, I always wondered if JJ wanted the film delayed because he wanted to bring his TV pals to rewrite the script, it's incredible how may news sites always seem to avoid saying anything against Lindelof, Orci and Kurtzman.

It's amazing how many people bring them up out of nowhere.

[Det. Bullock]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

It's amazing how many people bring them up out of nowhere.

Well, they tend to come out of nowhere, my worst fear when they announced JJ Abrams would be the director was the possibility of him bringing those three on board, I'm surely glad that's not happened.

[trevanian]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

It's amazing how many people bring them up out of nowhere.

Not when you consider how Orci keeps injecting himself into discussions. On one trek site, he still pops up occasionally to badmouth folks -- usually with one word or one sentence snipes, not with actual content -- who dare to point out flaws in the scripts involving his contributions.

[trevanian]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Okay, there are some. Thanks to aiman's cap above a few more come to mind from the space scenes in Phantom Menace, like when the shiny Naboo cruiser flies past Tatooine's twin suns (though ironically enough they're computer generated flares anyway, as are any in Eps II and III which were shot flat anyway). But I'm struggling to recall any from the OT, and the point stands: it's not necessarily a chronic affliction just because something's shot anamorphic to begin with.

I've always found another irony in that modern filmmakers love using anamorphic for that flary 'old school' look that it has, when the reality is that 'old school' filmmakers usually avoided flares at all costs (Dean Semler talks about it on the Mad Max 2 commentary). But not all of them did, natch. Senor Spielbergo's use of flares on CE3K is probably what imprinted that look onto JJ's young mind to begin with (it's his fault! ) and then Jan de Bont's photography for Die Hard introduced it to another generation.

Traditional optical composited bluescreen elements didn't lend themselves to lens flare (which makes the awesome shot of the FALCON roaring out of the flaring sun to save Luke in the first one even more cool; Edlund built a special rig to get the desired look), which is why you didn't get stuff like what Muren wanted, with glints on cockpits.

Trumbull projects like CE3K, BLADE RUNNER and his part of the first TREK didn't use bluescreen, so you didn't have to live with the limitations that existed pretty much till FIREFOX (not that that was anything like a roaring success either.)

[Geoff D]

The bluescreen played its part but there was also the use of spherical large format (whether VistaVision or 65mm) to capture said VFX shots and plates to begin with, so even when you got flaring it was distinctly spherical rather than the horizontal flares seen on the anamorphic stuff, which the effect I was referencing above with the 'old school' comment.

Spherical flaring and other in-camera artefacts like the cross hatching you get from nets and the distinct look of star filters are things that never seem to bother an audience, then again if they were used as often and as aggressively as JJ did with the flaring on his anamorphic Star Trek shows I guess people would be sick of them too.

[trevanian]

Well, the overly heavy diffusion on closeups in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN made me feel like Jerry Finnerman (STAR TREK, MOONLIGHTING) was shooting the movie, so whether that is vaseline on the lens or nets, it is a look that never seemed appropriate to me.

But it bothers me the way a shot that misses depth of field does, and so is more forgivable than the Abrams lens flare thing, which is obnoxious in a way that always gives me flashbacks to any kid playing with a zooms lens, as it seems just as amateurish and wrongheaded; BLADE RUNNER and DIE HARD pushed lens flares as hard as they ever needed to be pushed in an artistic way.

[aiman04]

I wonder where are the Force ghosts of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens?

[Jumpman]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

Well, one thing that makes me happy about the marketing for the film, is they haven't spoiled it like crazy with tons of revealing footage. That said, I hope they include a few moments with Luke, Han, and Leia in the final trailer...and I'm also curious to see Drew Struzan's cast poster.

Give it time. It's Disney. They will.

[PLG1962]

Question for those who will be rewatching the films before Episode VII comes out how do you plan on watching them

1-6
4-6 then 1-3

Ive read else where a different way to re-watch them but its keep it at this

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by PLG1962

Question for those who will be rewatching the films before Episode VII comes out how do you plan on watching them

1-6
4-6 then 1-3

Ive read else where a different way to re-watch them but its keep it at this

4-6 only i have the despecialized editions

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by PLG1962

Question for those who will be rewatching the films before Episode VII comes out how do you plan on watching them

1-6
4-6 then 1-3

Ive read else where a different way to re-watch them but its keep it at this

For newcomers I recommend 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3 first, then just before 7 I would watch them again from 1 to 6.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by PLG1962

Question for those who will be rewatching the films before Episode VII comes out how do you plan on watching them

1-6
4-6 then 1-3

Ive read else where a different way to re-watch them but its keep it at this

Me and my bro are in the middle of re-watching the Prequel trilogy and incorporating the Clone Wars series between II and III (neither of us has watched any of Clone Wars before this point). Currently we're at the end of Season 1 of Clone Wars.

Then we're going to watch the despecialized OT afterwards.

[jedilips]

Originally Posted by R3P0

4-6 only i have the despecialized editions

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by trevanian

Not when you consider how Orci keeps injecting himself into discussions. On one trek site, he still pops up occasionally to badmouth folks -- usually with one word or one sentence snipes, not with actual content -- who dare to point out flaws in the scripts involving his contributions.

I've been reading TrekMovie since 2008, no he does not, unless you're counting him correcting lies and disinformation. He lost his temper ONCE and the haters have beaten that dead horse until it's goo.

[crazyBLUE]