New Star Wars Episode VII Rumors

[ChrisFL]

The reality is that you don't have to sacrifice dialogue, decent acting, and impactful characters in the name of cutting edge visuals. we have seen that time and again since. they just pooched the stories and made decisions that were about everythin except building the legacy with memorable tales.

Those "stunning visuals" would have much more gravitas now if accompanied by a story. It looks like video games designed by college freshman without any guts.

yes, especially when compared to Peter Jackson's LOTR with Gollum and a lot of real effects and CGI done masterfully together....to tell the story.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

yes, especially when compared to Peter Jackson's LOTR with Gollum and a lot of real effects and CGI done masterfully together....to tell the story.

I agree with lockedoutlogic on this:

"you don't have to sacrifice dialogue, decent acting, and impactful characters in the name of cutting edge visuals."

Unfortunately you can have a very successful movie without those things. Even LOTR had its limitations, relying too much on super-action special effects. Watching the Hobbit movies I am starting to see the same over-the-top action sequences.

One never knows what will happen, but if someone out there were to take an excellent original idea or beloved story/franchise, then write a top notch character driven story with top notch direction and acting, and then add great elements and effects - well then the sky's the limit! We might have our first $3 billion dollar movie if someone can find that holy grail combination. That is basically what Gone with the Wind was in it's day: Epic story & effects, popular story, good writing, acting, directing. And I don't think it is even that perfect of a movie. But it had enough of those things all at the same time.

Same thing with my all time favorite: Ben Hur. Great everything including epic scale and special effects, but foremost - story, acting, directing.

We can only dream!

It would be nice to see a Star Wars movie or one of the other new movies that we would all agree on. Something that has all of these elements and makes Disney $3 Billion and 14 Oscars.

I said it would be nice, not that it was probable.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

yes, especially when compared to Peter Jackson's LOTR with Gollum and a lot of real effects and CGI done masterfully together....to tell the story.

Jackson only had to do half the story on lord of the rings though...
He had to have a good team of screenwriters trim a great story "down" into a good movie(s)...that's a different animal.

The hobbit has been a little bit of the opposite and has gone off the rails a bit... Taking a good story and "adding" to it. The results are evident...as the movies are nowhere as good as The Lord of the rings.

That is an advantage that star
Wars doesn't have...an established good story.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I agree with lockedoutlogic on this:

"you don't have to sacrifice dialogue, decent acting, and impactful characters in the name of cutting edge visuals."

Unfortunately you can have a very successful movie without those things. Even LOTR had its limitations, relying too much on super-action special effects. Watching the Hobbit movies I am starting to see the same over-the-top action sequences.

One never knows what will happen, but if someone out there were to take an excellent original idea or beloved story/franchise, then write a top notch character driven story with top notch direction and acting, and then add great elements and effects - well then the sky's the limit! We might have our first $3 billion dollar movie if someone can find that holy grail combination. That is basically what Gone with the Wind was in it's day: Epic story & effects, popular story, good writing, acting, directing. And I don't think it is even that perfect of a movie. But it had enough of those things all at the same time.

Same thing with my all time favorite: Ben Hur. Great everything including epic scale and special effects, but foremost - story, acting, directing.

We can only dream!

It would be nice to see a Star Wars movie or one of the other new movies that we would all agree on. Something that has all of these elements and makes Disney $3 Billion and 14 Oscars.

I said it would be nice, not that it was probable.

The single most important person in this entire disney/star wars equation...without a doubt... Is now Lawrence kasdan.

Abrams, Lucas, Kennedy, the actors...all have roles...but Kasdan is the last stand of regaining credibility for Star Wars as epic... And not a peddler of junk past it's prime - which it currently is.

The story is everything. If its good... It enhances all the good things they come up with and will cover blemishes inherent in any "space opera"

And... If the story is good....it will be memorable and SELL MORE!!!

Morons...

 

[Eoghann]

Star Wars never actually had good dialogue, or deep characters.

Seriously... the dialogue is *atrocious* and I say that as a massive fan. Try reading it out loud some time.

It did have appealing characters though. And a fast paced plot that made sense (most of the time). The prequels had neither of those things.

Even worse, the prequels took themselves seriously.

Nevertheless the potential to make money on the Star Wars franchise is still huge. A set of three GOOD new films go revitalize things and at that point there's probably enough juice to support a Star Wars land in DHS.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

The single most important person in this entire disney/star wars equation...without a doubt... Is now Lawrence kasdan.

Abrams, Lucas, Kennedy, the actors...all have roles...but Kasdan is the last stand of regaining credibility for Star Wars as epic... And not a peddler of junk past it's prime - which it currently is.

The story is everything. If its good... It enhances all the good things they come up with and will cover blemishes inherent in any "space opera"

And... If the story is good....it will be memorable and SELL MORE!!!

Morons...

The one recent movie that made my son and I soooooo upset: Journey to the Center of the Earth. We are big literary fans and big Jules Verne fans. I forget who was going to direct, but it was somebody good and they loved Verne and wanted to be true to the book. That was right at the time 3D got big. They changed it to a cheesy 3D and the director dropped out. This fits exactly what you described above. It could have been an epic Verne classic and they settled for a stupid 3D action movie. We cry every time we think about it. And 2 was even worse.

Please yes, like Pixar says, it is all about the STORY!!!

 

[Twin Dad]

Jackson only had to do half the story on lord of the rings though...
He had to have a good team of screenwriters trim a great story "down" into a good movie(s)...that's a different animal.

The hobbit has been a little bit of the opposite and has gone off the rails a bit... Taking a good story and "adding" to it. The results are evident...as the movies are nowhere as good as The Lord of the rings.

That is an advantage that star
Wars doesn't have...an established good story.

Your right that Star Wars has no established story. It simply borrows its story from other sources. Mos Eisley fell out of the Westerns of the 60s. Obi Wan comes right out of King Arthur. The original trilogy is a basic Greek hero quest told on celluloid and set in a galaxy far far away. I think Abrams and Kasadan would be smart to take a refresher course on Greek mythology and Medieval fables. The second trilogy got away from that and like a PP said took themselves too serious.

 

[Rumors Rocks]

There’s "secrecy," and then there’s the cone of silence that envelopes J.J. Abrams every time he sits down at his computer to work on the ongoing screenplay for Star Wars: Episode VII. We know Abrams is a big fan of his "Mystery Box," the hypothetical place where he locks away secrets that only he and Bad Robot’s staff must know. Well, that need for secrecy must be contagious… to the point where even Abrams is shocked.

In the middle of an interview with the Daily Telegraph over the weekend, Abrams let slip a bizarre happening in his office, explaining:

"Are you kidding me? My god. My office… I’m working on the Star Wars script today and the people in my office have covered up all my windows with black paper. I guess they wanted to make sure no one could see what I was doing. … It seems rather extreme."

Then again, what part of this developing sequel has NOT been considered extreme? Casting rumors, screenwriter changes… every single step Star Wars takes regarding Episode VII creates seismic shockwaves through the film-geek community.

To be fair, Abrams created this scenario himself with the mysterious way he conducted Star Trek Into Darkness and the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s villainous character. Spoiler alert: He played Khan, despite everyone in the film swearing he wasn’t playing the classic Trek nemesis. Abrams has gone on record as saying he probably mishandled that situation, and even reiterates to the Telegraph in this Sunday feature, "We were trying to preserve the unexpected for the audience, but it came across as if we were trying to be too clever."

It’s my hope that Abrams learned his lesson from Into Darkness. Not that we necessarily need him to be an open book when it comes to Episode VII. But stop with any possible misdirection. For instance, just come out and tell us if the original trio of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are in the new movie or not. Confirm their involvement. Stop Tweeting R2-D2 photos, and give us something concrete.

And yet, Abrams still plays the party line of "less is more" when it comes to Star Wars knowledge. He tells the Telegraph:

"Star Wars is, in every way, a different animal [than Trek]. It’s always been a more open, fan-engaged universe than I’ve been used to, so I’m sure there’ll be some sort of compromise. But it feels to me like there’s a purity in not knowing every little thing."

Do you agree? Do you feel "pure" not knowing what’s coming in Episode VII? Are you content to just sit down in the theater on Dec. 18, 2015 and see what Abrams has up his sleeve? Let us know below. http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Gues...Does-Help-Ensure-Star-Wars-Secrecy-41323.html

Here's to hoping Star Wars remains secret with no leaks to the press.

 

[Planogirl]

Actually, Episode III Revenge of the Sith scored an 80% on rotten tomatoes and I personally liked it too. The first two were pretty lame though even though Darth Maul is one of the best characters ever.

I still have mixed feelings about Abrams doing this. I don't always like his work but we'll see.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Actually, Episode III Revenge of the Sith scored an 80% on rotten tomatoes and I personally liked it too. The first two were pretty lame though even though Darth Maul is one of the best characters ever.

I still have mixed feelings about Abrams doing this. I don't always like his work but we'll see.

The third movie was taken in as "I like it...much better than the first two"

While true...it was still weaker than Return of the Jedi. For that matter...I always thought Jedi was misinterpreted...I think it was exactly what it was supposed to be: a victory lap with technical
Advancement that brought closure. And Ian mcdiarmid's performance that set the tone for the other movies but far eclipsed them. Empire was just a good movie...not a good sci-fi movie...it raised the bar too much at the time. Star Trek II did as well.

I also don't fully trust Abrahms...and as per the article this past weekend...they need to find somekind of balance between secrecy and pr releases...
They shouldn't release all the details... But at the same time they did a huge disservice in 1999 by putting the actors out there up front. Because the actors were seen as "underperforming" on a bad script in relation to their pedigree.
Liam neeson tried... For sure... But Even Schindler couldn't do much with that.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Is it generally accepted? Just because some people devour the EU, doesn't mean it is generally accepted by all Star Wars fans. From the end of ROTJ, Luke seemed intent on accepting the Jedi way.

Lando had turned on Han once before, I don't think it would be a stretch to see something like that happen. Also, it transitions the story from the Han/Luke/Leia to the new generation of characters.

From the end of ROTJ, Luke didn't have anyone to follow on the Jedi way. Yoda was dead,as was Obiwan. The artifacts of the Jedi order were introduced in the EU... So if we ignore all EU stuff, then Luke is literally starting from scratch and making up Many of his own rules, as he only had limited time with Ben and Obiwan. Remember the whole celibate thing was NOT part of the original trilogy but rather the new trilogy. There is no indication that Luke heard that rule since it wasn't mentioned until the prequels.

 

[yitbos96bb]

I'd argue that Worldwide is the only important stat. Take The Wolverine. The studio considered it a success, because while the domestic only made 133 million, the Worldwide was 3.5 times the budget. Sequels get greenlit now that had soft domestic numbers because of their world appeal.

Domestic mostly gives you good press

We would probably agree on much: story and character is important and often lacking or poorly written in the prequels. Highbrow movie making they ain't. But, the above is wrong. Making a lot of money is what the business is about. Entertainment. And when people plunk down lots of money it is because they were entertained a great deal. Could they have rivaled Avatar if better? Possibly. But they were still good, entertaining, and extremely successful.

$1 billion still puts you in very rare company and means you have a blockbuster. Even today over $600 million WW and over $300 domestic is very successful.

One truth in movies is you only get 1 shot at goodwill. One bad movie in a franchise results in immediate drop off in the next installment. There was a drop from 1 to 2 from 1 billion to over $600 million. That is a drop from super blockbuster to very successful. (2, the lowest, still earned over $300 million domestic - a hit) AND the third one went back UP to almost $850 million. That is blockbuster status in anyone's book and proof that 2 and 3 were pretty good movies and all three were hits.

And all of this, both movies and theme parks, is about entertainment where people vote with their wallets. Success is easily measured by $. The prequels, like Disney's parks, were/are extremely successful.

Now if Disney does VII and following RIGHT, then look out Avatar. That, of course, is a BIG if.

 

[mvk]

From the end of ROTJ, Luke didn't have anyone to follow on the Jedi way. Yoda was dead,as was Obiwan. The artifacts of the Jedi order were introduced in the EU... So if we ignore all EU stuff, then Luke is literally starting from scratch and making up Many of his own rules, as he only had limited time with Ben and Obiwan. Remember the whole celibate thing was NOT part of the original trilogy but rather the new trilogy. There is no indication that Luke heard that rule since it wasn't mentioned until the prequels.

I think it can be assumed that Luke continued to converse with the Force ghost of both Obi-Wan and Yoda, and likely his father too. He was guided by Obi-Wan after A New Hope, even though Obi-Wan was dead.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

I'd argue that Worldwide is the only important stat. Take The Wolverine. The studio considered it a success, because while the domestic only made 133 million, the Worldwide was 3.5 times the budget. Sequels get greenlit now that had soft domestic numbers because of their world appeal.

Domestic mostly gives you good press

I agree with this. For those of us who watch motion pictures and box office, it is a whole new world! The movie industry is so different now than 20 years ago simply because of the growth of the international marketplace. There are a number of movies that "seemed" to be failures based on domestic numbers, but were actually hits!

Now Star Wars prequels were hits both places.

The danger about Star Wars is that it is such a unique and phenomenal franchise, it might be possible to make so-so movies and they still be terribly successful. I am hopeful Disney will not take this route because they know that if they make high quality or great movies they could make multiple Billions on each.

Hopefully they will think about the lesson of Frozen: Go out of your way to make it good in both story and execution and the Billion that pours in will be matched by the same in merchandise.

 

[Huskerfan72]

Star Wars was one of the first movies I went to in my life, and will be my favorite of all time. I don't want to know anything about the new movie until I'm in the theater.

 

[Twin Dad]

Star Wars was one of the first movies I went to in my life, and will be my favorite of all time. I don't want to know anything about the new movie until I'm in the theater.

Then stay away from anything that says Star Wars starting this spring. The rumors will be flying. I'd like to know a little bit going in. Basically the actors and maybe a little of the backstory and that's it.

 

[yitbos96bb]

I think it can be assumed that Luke continued to converse with the Force ghost of both Obi-Wan and Yoda, and likely his father too. He was guided by Obi-Wan after A New Hope, even though Obi-Wan was dead.

Why can you assume that but others cant assume the EU version of Luke getting married?

 

[yitbos96bb]

Star Wars was one of the first movies I went to in my life, and will be my favorite of all time. I don't want to know anything about the new movie until I'm in the theater.

Good luck there.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Good luck there.

Principle photography has to be this summer/ fall

And I expect absolutely no "EU"...or as minimal as possible... Just a hunch