This I didn’t expect, but sometimes you have to remember that those who protest the loudest are probably hiding the truth. According to Variety, director J.J. Abrams WILL be directing the next Star Wars movie for Disney.
According to the very short report, Disney is closing the deal with Abrams to direct the seventh Star Wars film following his work on Star Trek: Into Darkness. That is certainly a coupe coup for Disney and a blow to Paramount if they can’t work something out with Abrams and Star Trek. At the very least, this will give Abrams the chance to go lens flare crazy in the next lightsaber battle.
Go on, discuss it in the comment section, you know you want to.
15 Comments
Light saber lens flares? Kidding aside I think he will do a cool job of it.
Better than Whedon, at least. More interested to see if they stick to the pledge of doing an original story. I’d love to see something not revolving around Han/Luke/Leia and their descendants.
While I do hope the story doesn’t revolve around Han, Luke, Leia and the gang, I am hoping it revolves around their family somewhat if they are going to number it as movies 7-9. But I admit that is hoping they will finish the story as was once suggested by Lucas, where the 9th movie ends showing C-3PO and R2-D2 having just told the whole story to some kids (possibly young Jedi or some future descendants of the Skywalkers).
I think Abrams is a great choice. I’ve always thought he was better suited to Star Wars (fantasy) than to Star Trek (science fiction) because in everything he does (Fringe, Star Trek, Lost etc) he demonstrates that he’s basically scientifically illiterate. This is not a slam. I’m just making the case that Abrams should probably be channeling his immense creativity towards some flavor of fantasy.
I am really looking forward to this now.
Star Trek has had a good dollop of fantasy mixed in with the science fiction. That was particularly true in the original series (Rome on another planet?), but the other shows also had their fantastic elements as well (pretty much all the utopian stuff in TNG).
Good point. But I think Wars is more overtly fantastical and less reliant on science-fiction-specific tropes than Trek. Either way, I think Wars is better suited for Abrams’ (and Orci’s and Kurtzman’s I assume) talents.
I don’t know why everyone is jumping on this rumor. It says reported to be, that isn’t 100% confirmed. Unless JJ himself, Disney or LucasFilms puts out an official release, I am not going to believe it.
Not a fan of JJ Abrams here. But I am a fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek.
Trek has always been brilliant ideas poorly executed by the wrong people. So I don’t mind that Abrams had his shot at it, and is getting another.
Wars, to me, is no longer about the films, but about the expanded universe, which Abrams can do little to screw up.
Happy to hear the news. An Arndt and Abrams team up seems like a very good fit for the franchise.
Bring out the Yuuzhan Vong!
*meh* Star Trek wasn’t bad as a reboot. Do not want Star Wars reboot, but sequels sound good. There’s enough expanded universe to work with or they could even *gasp* come up with an original script.
I’ve been reading people who claim Abrams turned Star Trek into Star Wars, but I saw the movie and I don’t see it; at most any similarities are spurious because both are referencing the same tropes. So can anyone explain what I’m missing?
another thing to think about, Abrams isn’t writing the movie, he would only be directing IF this news is real.
Cool. However, it wouldn’t be a “coupe” unless he’s doing a remake of American Graffiti. It would be a “coup” if he gets the directorship. If he’s doing a remake of Tom Lehrer’s “Poisoning Pigeons in Park” song, then it might be a “Coo”. Del Toro would be a good choice for Star Wars also. Peter Jackson would do a good job. Joss Wheadon, too. But what I’d like for Disney to do most of all would be to do like that other studio did for Blade Runner where their deluxe set had all the versions of the movie so you could watch the one you prefer. I.e., no stepping on Jabba’s tail and Han shoots first.
I’ve seen several people speculate that since it would make money for them, and they have no emotional attachment (unlike Lucas), a release of the original, unaltered Star Wars on DVD and blu-ray is likely.