According to Starwars.com, Abrams will be at the helm of the film while Academy Award-winning Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) will be providing the screenplay. Kathleen Kennedy, longtime producing partner of Steven Spielberg and recent successor to George Lucas for Lucasfilm, will be lead producer of the film.
With all these influential people in the film industry working together on this project, I can't help but become excited for where the Star Wars franchise will take us next. I haven't been the biggest fan of the series but have enjoyed the stories. I'm curious to see if Abrams can adapt to the specific format that Star Wars has created and incorporated all these years. The series has a certain way of filming, story telling and displaying the epic story of Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and the rest. Abrams also has a specific way of creating which strongly differs from what Lucas has done. His films and stories tend to be very out-there in terms of the sci-fi genre. I just hope he can reign it in for this film (and possibly more installments in the franchise).
The franchise rights were recently purchased by Disney (which seems to own a part of EVERYTHING these days) and the newest film is already set to be released in 2015. This will be the first installment to not be produced or distributed by 20th Century Fox. Most notably absent is Lucas from the helm of this film. Instead, Lucas will serve as "creative consultant" (which basically means he gets to sit on set, give a few opinions, and watch the cheques roll in). However, the iconic director in the geek world did provide a story treatment for this installment. I don't think a deal would have been made between Disney and Lucasfilm if Lucas was not given certain creative control of the franchise.
With news of the director being named, rumours have begun on which previous cast members would return. Although the majority of actors have expressed interested in returning to the series (Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Ewan McGregor, and Samuel L. Jackson), nothing has been confirmed.
Is it just me or is everyone else geeking out at this strange movie-world mash-up of two of the biggest geek-franchises in history? (Star Trek and Star Wars). I think it's safe to say that no matter what, this film is going to be successful. Let's hope it's actually good too!
Stay tuned to Don't Sit Next To Us for the latest updates on Star Wars Episode VII and any other "geek" type films and franchises!
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