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

[tigertron]

That could just have been George Lucas' way of doing things. Who knows when the title will be announced.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Anyone here a fan of Thomas Kinkaid's artwork? Thought these were kind of interesting.

http://twistedsifter.com/2013/11/art...ape-paintings/

[rickah88]

I love the late, great Thomas Kinkaid's artwork! My wife and I are collector's. We usually buy each other, at least, one Thomas Kinkaid item for Christmas...quirky tradition, I know...but quite enjoyable.

I must have the AT-AT & Star Destroyer pics!!!! LOL, those are amazing!

[Haikira]

In case you didn't think this was really happening, here's some concrete evidence that Star War: Episode VII is in progress: Bad Robot, director J.J. Abrams' production company, just tweeted out the following photo with this message: "Hi from the workshop! #StarWarsVII."

IGN Source

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Found this funny a fan would ask this.

Should Fans Have A Say In Film Casting? - AMC Movie News - YouTube

[spanky87]

Throw us a bone Disney. This is getting ridiculous.

[RyanPom]

Originally Posted by spanky87

Throw us a bone Disney. This is getting ridiculous.

They barely have a script done.

[aiman04]

Lucasfilm was very good in during the production of the prequels. If I remember correctly months before shooting they released a photo and/or video each week. Set designs, a prop, costume, etc and as we get closer to release they show more and more. Nothing spoilery at all but enough to the fans excited. They understood the fans (at least for this matter) and never let them feel left behind.

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by aiman04

Lucasfilm was very good in during the production of the prequels. If I remember correctly months before shooting they released a photo and/or video each week. Set designs, a prop, costume, etc and as we get closer to release they show more and more. Nothing spoilery at all but enough to the fans excited. They understood the fans (at least for this matter) and never let them feel left behind.

Different times man. Back then, George Lucas was 100% committed to the prequels without any distractions. He was in the whole trilogy for nearly ten years and he had no pressure making a good movie. He was already very rich before he even started writing The Phantom Menace, and he had no one to answer to but himself.

Star Wars Episode VII is a far different story. Disney bought over the franchise for $4 billion. They have a lot to answer to their shareholders and they need something by 2015.

I know it's easier said than done, but Disney and Lucasfilm have only themselves to blame for dragging pre-production until now. To make matters worse, they hired J.J. Abrams right in the middle of post production for Star Trek Into Darkness. I know he's made a couple of good movies, including the two Trek movies, but he's still human. You cannot expect him to start work on Star Wars immediately. He needs to recharge.

Honestly, I don't see why was it necessary to replace Michael Ardnt to write the screenplay. On record, his credits has been good. But it's a huge waste to learn he's no longer on board.

I'm not upset that he's not writing anymore. What's more upsetting is the amount of time wasted with nothing productive up till now. Had he been properly advice by George Lucas or Lawrence Kasdan of the direction the story should go, J.J. Abrams would a pretty good script, with a little polish and principal photography would have started by now.

Delaying the release till December 2015 is just a small measure of relief. But I just hate the idea that Abrams and crew are under tremendous amount of pressure to get this done by 2015 and yet expected to deliver a blockbuster hit.

[tigertron]

Originally Posted by BozQ

I'm not upset that he's not writing anymore. What's more upsetting is the amount of time wasted with nothing productive up till now. Had he been properly advice by George Lucas or Lawrence Kasdan of the direction the story should go, J.J. Abrams would a pretty good script, with a little polish and principal photography would have started by now.

Maybe he just wasn't the right person to write Star Wars. I mean the guy had more than a year to write the script, with help, so obviously something was wrong. I'm just glad Kasdan is involved now.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by BozQ

Different times man. Back then, George Lucas was 100% committed to the prequels without any distractions. He was in the whole trilogy for nearly ten years and he had no pressure making a good movie. He was already very rich before he even started writing The Phantom Menace, and he had no one to answer to but himself.

Star Wars Episode VII is a far different story. Disney bought over the franchise for $4 billion. They have a lot to answer to their shareholders and they need something by 2015.

I know it's easier said than done, but Disney and Lucasfilm have only themselves to blame for dragging pre-production until now. To make matters worse, they hired J.J. Abrams right in the middle of post production for Star Trek Into Darkness. I know he's made a couple of good movies, including the two Trek movies, but he's still human. You cannot expect him to start work on Star Wars immediately. He needs to recharge.

Honestly, I don't see why was it necessary to replace Michael Ardnt to write the screenplay. On record, his credits has been good. But it's a huge waste to learn he's no longer on board.

I'm not upset that he's not writing anymore. What's more upsetting is the amount of time wasted with nothing productive up till now. Had he been properly advice by George Lucas or Lawrence Kasdan of the direction the story should go, J.J. Abrams would a pretty good script, with a little polish and principal photography would have started by now.

Delaying the release till December 2015 is just a small measure of relief. But I just hate the idea that Abrams and crew are under tremendous amount of pressure to get this done by 2015 and yet expected to deliver a blockbuster hit.

The thing I dont get is that there are plenty of pre-existing excellent iddeas out there from the books and other places so good material shouldnt be hard to come by. Plus, Im pretty sure George has a bunch of ideas in his head since he did plan to make this a 9-film series, IIRC.

So, yeah, they ought to have something out there for us by now. I guess.

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The thing I dont get is that there are plenty of pre-existing excellent iddeas out there from the books and other places so good material shouldnt be hard to come by. Plus, Im pretty sure George has a bunch of ideas in his head since he did plan to make this a 9-film series, IIRC.

So, yeah, they ought to have something out there for us by now. I guess.

I wouldn't want a pre-existing story from books or anything. I would feel cheated if that's what we got. I want a brand new story that we know nothing about.

[Talzin78]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

i wouldn't want a pre-existing story from books or anything. I would feel cheated if that's what we got. I want a brand new story that we know nothing about.

+1

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The thing I dont get is that there are plenty of pre-existing excellent iddeas out there from the books and other places so good material shouldnt be hard to come by. Plus, Im pretty sure George has a bunch of ideas in his head since he did plan to make this a 9-film series, IIRC.

So, yeah, they ought to have something out there for us by now. I guess.

Hell no. No pre-existing materials. These expanded universe stories should just remain EU. George Lucas (or was it someone close to him?) said that he had a story outline for 12 episodes. Each trilogy involving successive generations of the Skywalker family.

I am not against EU, but having another film to produce is a great opportunity to tell a new story, not retell it. Otherwise, it's a wasted opportunity.

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by BozQ

Delaying the release till December 2015 is just a small measure of relief. But I just hate the idea that Abrams and crew are under tremendous amount of pressure to get this done by 2015 and yet expected to deliver a blockbuster hit.

They have almost 3 years to get it done - hardly under tremendous pressure. He was announced as director back at the start of the year so you know he started working on it back then even if it was just brainstorming. How long does it take to make a film, even Star Wars? It isn't like the original trilogy took years and years to get each film done - the first draft of Empire was done early 1978 and it was released May 1980 with is roughly the same length of time. Most modern movies are giving about the same length of time as well. Plus they have the advantage now of all the modern technology so they are not testing and trying things to see if they can get what they want. It isn't like they are going in cold either - if Lucas sketched out the ideas for the sequels, they don't have to sit there and think of a story. There is plently of time for them to make a good movie assuming JJ knows how to. If the movie flops, it isn't because they weren't given enough time, its because the person in charge didn't know what they were doing.

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

They have almost 3 years to get it done - hardly under tremendous pressure. He was announced as director back at the start of the year so you know he started working on it back then even if it was just brainstorming. How long does it take to make a film, even Star Wars? It isn't like the original trilogy took years and years to get each film done - the first draft of Empire was done early 1978 and it was released May 1980 with is roughly the same length of time. Most modern movies are giving about the same length of time as well. Plus they have the advantage now of all the modern technology so they are not testing and trying things to see if they can get what they want. It isn't like they are going in cold either - if Lucas sketched out the ideas for the sequels, they don't have to sit there and think of a story. There is plently of time for them to make a good movie assuming JJ knows how to. If the movie flops, it isn't because they weren't given enough time, its because the person in charge didn't know what they were doing.

You raise good points. The prequels was almost like one huge commercial for digital productions and experiments for Lucasfilm companies.

We'll just have to wait till December 2015 and see how it goes.

It's also a good thing that Abrams and Bad Robot worked with ILM and Skywalker Sound for Star Trek Into Darkness. So they should still have a good working relationship with these guys.

Lens flare jokes aside, Abrams is a very talented filmmaker. And I wish him all the best for Star Wars Episode VII.

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by BozQ

Lens flare jokes aside, Abrams is a very talented filmmaker. And I wish him all the best for Star Wars Episode VII.

I am still waiting to see proof of that but he does have one advantage. Someone once said he is great for taking things he has seen before in other movies and figuring out how to use them in his. In a case like Star Wars, that will serve him well as you want that between the movies - you want that echo to remind you of the other movies to tie things together. I think that is one of the reasons why Episodes 1-3 don't work as well as they should - you don't see Anakin and Luke as coming from a similar place and just taking different paths even though they both have similar backstories.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by BozQ

Different times man. Back then, George Lucas was 100% committed to the prequels without any distractions. He was in the whole trilogy for nearly ten years and he had no pressure making a good movie. He was already very rich before he even started writing The Phantom Menace, and he had no one to answer to but himself.

Star Wars Episode VII is a far different story. Disney bought over the franchise for $4 billion. They have a lot to answer to their shareholders and they need something by 2015.

I know it's easier said than done, but Disney and Lucasfilm have only themselves to blame for dragging pre-production until now. To make matters worse, they hired J.J. Abrams right in the middle of post production for Star Trek Into Darkness. I know he's made a couple of good movies, including the two Trek movies, but he's still human. You cannot expect him to start work on Star Wars immediately. He needs to recharge.

Honestly, I don't see why was it necessary to replace Michael Ardnt to write the screenplay. On record, his credits has been good. But it's a huge waste to learn he's no longer on board.

I'm not upset that he's not writing anymore. What's more upsetting is the amount of time wasted with nothing productive up till now. Had he been properly advice by George Lucas or Lawrence Kasdan of the direction the story should go, J.J. Abrams would a pretty good script, with a little polish and principal photography would have started by now.

Delaying the release till December 2015 is just a small measure of relief. But I just hate the idea that Abrams and crew are under tremendous amount of pressure to get this done by 2015 and yet expected to deliver a blockbuster hit.

How do you know they haven't created anything productive? You don't know how much of his original script is being used. Leigh Bracket's original draft of Empire was pretty different for the final movie, and she was also working with and properly advised by Lucas. So really, changing writers means absolutely nothing.

[chris_sc77]

I really hope they keep the gay relationship banter/bickering between r2 d2 and C3PO.
That's always one of the highlights of these film for me

[stvn1974]

Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru both aged 120 years between Sith and A New Hope so they could have this film take place two weeks after the empire has fallen in Jedi and Hamil, Fisher and Ford would still make sense. We wouldn't need their children to have a film.