Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (December 2015)

So is sweaty stormtrooper the main protagonist?

I'm actually way more hopeful for The Force Awakens than I am for Episode 8 ... didn't care for Johnson's Brick or Looper, to be honest. Although a work colleague was fulsome in her praise for The Brothers Bloom the other day, so I may have to check that out.

I think "Brick" is his best work.

"The Brothers Bloom" has a certain whimsical charm in its best moments, but i would not call it a great film.

"Looper" was terrible.

Long time since I've seen it, but I seem to recall the first half of Looper was okay. However, there was a lurch into Omen territory towards the end.

CJB wrote:

So is sweaty stormtrooper the main protagonist?

That's the idea. j7 is now claiming that the theaters opening this film will actually be FEMA camps.

The young girl, Daisy Ridley's character, is supposedly the protagonist according to everything I've read. It appears that Disney wants to get-in on the Hunger Games and Divergent model of having a female lead.

Which would be fine, since a vast majority of these blockbusters are lead by white males, it's nice to see it change up on what is the biggest franchise of all time. Heck, it's kind of insane that Marvel has yet to give ScarJo her own solo flick just because they're so scared of past female superhero films consistently flopping.

Liked the trailer, if anything to see Harrison Ford. It feels odd to see him in a Star Wars film. Sounds weird I know but when he last did it, he was still a sort of unknown or at least not a big huge name and since '77 becomes this big name whereas Hammill et al haven't really reached such heights.

There's more and more chatter that Joss Whedon will be directing Episode IX:

http://makingstarwars.net/2015/05/joss-whedon-for-star-wars-ix-rumors-are-kicking-up/

Quote :

We were told “It is extremely possible”.

It feels like the rumors are getting going because the possibility exists. It is possible. It almost seems crazy to imagine they never had a meeting or haven’t had a meeting just to discuss the possibilities. Maybe that’s what happened here?

Most would agree that Disney doesn’t want to lose Whedon. Giving him some Star Wars is one way of keeping him in the fold. It would also allow him to work on another project before starting on Star Wars: Episode IX. But for what it is worth, I only heard his name for the second Anthology a few times as well [as a replacement for Josh Trank], within the last week and that seems a bit beneath him after doing both Avengers films.

I suspect Whedon will want to do a couple of smaller scaled films now.
Possibly something like his "Much ado..." adaptation, or even a quirky smaller studio film like "Cabin in the Woods" (as a producer, writer or director).
I doubt he wants to dive right back into the belly of the beast. His explanation for his twitter departure also suggested that he is craving some down-time away from the spotlights.

More generally speaking, giving the third one of the new trilogy to Whedon would lack originality. I wouldn't mind if they dared to think outside the box a little bit.
These movies are too big and popular to fail anyway. The prequels proved that they will be a commercial success regardless of their quality.

I'd be surprised. I think Whedon would be more interested in a project he had more control over. He had to make some compromises with Marvel over AGE OF ULTRON and I think it showed there. Jumping into yet another tentpole film wouldn't seem like much of a change, unless Kennedy were to give him more free reign than Kevin Feige did.

I like Whedon more for one of the spin-off films than I do for Episode 9 (especially now that Josh Trank was fired from the one that's set to release in 2018). That way he'd be able to work on a little smaller scale, and would also give him more freedom to tell whatever stories he is interested in, as opposed to sticking to the narrative they have planned for 7-8-9. Considering the Disney/Marvel connection, and the fact that he's a huge Star Wars fan, you'd have to believe that they're at least talking with Whedon in some capacity. We've already learned with Abrams' hiring that it's hard for a lot of these guys to turn-down the chance to direct a Star Wars movie.

Chris Miller and Phil Lord (of 21 JUMP STREET and THE LEGO MOVIE fame) are confirmed to be directing a young Han Solo spin-off film. Lawrence Kasdan is writing the script.

http://www.starwars.com/news/christopher-miller-and-phil-lord-to-helm-han-solo-anthology-film

No...this is not a joke.

 

Didn't care for that Lego movie, but I dug 21 JUMP STREET.

Rumor out of Comic Con is that Colin Trevorrow will direct Episode IX.

http://heroichollywood.com/home-1/2015/7/10/exclusive-colin-trevorrow-to-direct-star-wars-episode-9

No-brainer for the suits after the commercial success of Jurassic World.

... and that rumor is now confirmed. Colin Trevorrow will direct Episode IX.

http://www.starwars.com/news/colin-trevorrow-to-direct-star-wars-episode-ix

The buzz right now coming from some pretty reputable guys is that the final theatrical trailer will release this coming Monday, October 19th (with a possibility to air on Monday Night Football). It will apparently play in front of SPECTRE, as well.


Also...Abrams said pretty recently that his contract grants him final cut of the film, and assures that Star Wars won't be "Disney-fied" (although, I guess Disney still has the right to take it away from him and make changes, should they see something they don't like).

http://collider.com/star-wars-7-jj-abrams-final-cut/

Final trailer.





Still skeptical, aside from the Williams score.

Meh, looks like a nice video game.

Looks like a JJ Abrams movie.

Salomé wrote:

Looks like a JJ Abrams movie.

Which is basically "Look at me, I'm the next Spielberg! Look at my dolly shots!"

Still stoked. Still think Lucas' diminished involvement in these new SW films will be the best thing that could've happened to them.

The appearance of the Han Solo & The Princess theme was worth it though might be me, but people in this universe have some kind of bad memory -Han saying he remembers the Empire and the Jedi.

I'm looking forward to it. And it's gratuitous lens flare.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Still stoked. Still think Lucas' diminished involvement in these new SW films will be the best thing that could've happened to them.  

I like it. And I think there's nowhere to go but up. The prequels were so awful that I think they had no choice but to do Episodes 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9 and 9.5. The prequels left such a bad taste in everyone's mouth that it felt almost like an obligation to try again.

Lucas being gone is the best thing that could have happened to Star Wars and Indiana Jones...a fresh perspective and new blood were desperately needed. Lucas was old, tired and creatively bored with the series. He was also obstinate and deeply resentful of this series so much so that he refused to let anyone else direct 2 and 3 after the travesty that PHANTURD MENACE was.

Was optimistic about this until seeing Abrams' Star Trek recently for the first time.

Still interested in seeing the return of the principal characters from the original trilogy, however.