More unending Star Wars news

I refrained from commenting on the early reports from last week that J.J. Abrams had officially signed to direct Star Wars: Episode VII until they were confirmed, and now that they are, I had a sudden epiphany: who gives a rat's ass?


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/jj-abrams-direct-star-wars-415306

hmmmm never heard of the til recently.....

I heard the news and had to shrug. On the one hand, if Disney wants to reboot the series properly, this is at least a big step in the right direction. These films will be no worse than what Lucas brought us with the last trilogy.

Well, no, Abrams cannot POSSIBLY screw things up worse than Lucas did himself. But I am still disappointed by the choice. He is a bit too "obvious" in some ways, and his general filmmaking style (lots of quick cutting and shakey cam) is not what I would want for a new Star Wars film. Many of the other rumored directors interested me much more, such as Brad Bird. Plus, it just seems like a mistake to have the same person shepherding both the Star Trek and Star Wars reboots. The two series have always been clearly distinguishable from each other, and my biggest concern is that the two series will become visually and thematically indistinguishable.

Do you even care about future Star Wars installments? I'm not sure I do. I'm happy to pretend the original trilogy is all that exists. If the next trilogy is good, then that is a bonus and I will gladly follow the series, but I don't know that I really care otherwise.

Well, that was sort of the point of my first post -- who really cares anymore? I have definitely decided that the prequel films are non-canon, at least from my point of view. The sequels will enter my personal canon if they deserve to be there; otherwise, they will get consigned to the same oblivion as the prequels.

Indeed. Has an anticipated release date been posted?

Disney made a firm committment to 2015 (presumably in May, like other Lucasfilm titles) but since Abrams has been hired he has hinted that the date may not be as set in stone as all that. Given how busy his slate is, they may not have a choice.

I see. I think I remember those dates being mentioned when the purchase was first announced. I think Disney also mentioned releasing a film every three years (as was done for past Star Wars trilogies).

Oh, the plans are far more ambitious than that. They are intending to release the new trilogy of films in 2-3 year intervals, with standalone films released between. Lawrence Kasdan has said that he was hired to just consult on the new film, which is being written by the writer of Little Miss Sunshine, but he was primarily hired to write at least one of these standalone films. Speculation has run rampant on that one, including the thought that the first one would focus on Yoda.

Am I understanding you correctly: They're doing the trilogy over six to nine years (i.e., one film every two to three years), but then also filming and releasing other standalone films? So, in the next 10 years, we could have another six to nine Star Wars films? Talk about oversaturating the market and milking the money cow!

You have summarized it perfectly, especially the part about the cow.