Star Wars Episode VII: It's 2015 Or Bust, Says Disney's CEO

[Karloff]

Star Wars Episode VII: It's 2015 Or Bust, Says Disney's CEO

Bob Iger turned down a request to shift the date after the movie's writer jumped ship.

Star Wars Episode VII lost its writer, Michael Arndt, on October 24th, but that unexpected sour ball in the Halloween stash won't stop Disney from having its next Star Wars movie launch on time. It's 2015, says Disney CEO Bob Iger; deal with it. This despite appeals from producer Kathleen Kennedy and the majority of the creative team, that the release be allowed to slip back to 2016. As a result, J.J. Abrams will co-script [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/6763-A-Disturbance-In-The-Force], alongside The Empire Strikes Back's Lawrence Kasdan.

While sticking to the 2015 deadline is courageous, it doesn't leave much room for mistakes. It's all part of Iger's grand scheme for the franchise, which assumes all three new movies roll out over a six year period, with at least two spin-offs interspersed between. Shooting on Episode VII is to start Spring 2014, which means the writing team has only a few months to get its act together.

Arendt had been working on Star Wars for about a year before his departure. "Michael Arndt has done a terrific job bringing us to this point and we have an amazing filmmaking and design team in place already prepping for production," says Kathleen Kennedy. Arendt's departure was unexpected, and a reason hasn't been given for his exit. His previous writing credits include Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3, and Brave.

Source: Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-wars-episode-vii-disney-651482]


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[MrBaskerville]

I can't figure out if this is positive or negative. One might fear that the final script end up being rushed and messy but on the other hand they don't have time to ruin a cool script with endless damaging rewrites. Considering the talent of Kasdan, this might turn out to be a good thing afterall.

 

[STENDEC1]

So the thing isn't even scripted yet and already it's under threat from corporate meddling. Great idea there Bob. Let's ruin a tarnished franchise's one shot at repairing its damaged relationship with fans by rushing the damn thing out the door to increase your profit margin fractionally. If the majority of your production team is telling you they need more time, they're probably not doing it just to f**k with you.

I figured with George Lucas acting only as a supervisor that these new films at least had a chance at being more akin to the originals in terms of quality (not to mention light years ahead of the prequels) but if they're rushing through them just for the sake of getting them done ASAP there's no way they're going to be true quality films by the end.

 

[AndrewC]

Star Wars: Return of the Lens Flare.

Blinding people in a cinema near youuuuuuuuuuuuu!

 

[llubtoille]

If it were a game, I'd say that sounds like a recipe for disaster, as two years is typically barely long enough to crank out a sub-par sequel...
But as no idea how long it takes to make a such a movie, I guess I'm merely skeptical.

 

[Battenberg]

Seriously? There's enough skepticism as it is about this new SW entry, why rush it and risk ending up with a rubbish film, especially if Disney are hoping this film will be solid enough to encourage viewers to watch another 2 films after this one. It might just be but this reeks of MR. Iger complacently taking the SW fan base for granted, assuming that any film will make money "so who really cares if it's good or not".

Given that the 3 prequels made by the guys responsible for the original masterpiece(s) weren't exactly amazing I'm going to remain cycnical of the upcoming film(s) until proven wrong.

 

[Li Mu]

Lets face it; everyone will hate it no matter how it turns out.

 

[BoogieManFL]

So it's basically like publishers forcing a game out before it's ready and it ends up hurting everyone. Idiot.

 

[Talaris]

Immediately after reading this I did feel worried about rushing things, but one thing to note that at least on the original Star Wars, George Lucas was constantly under pressure with big time constraints on all the film crew, particularly ILM who had to start later anyway for visual effects.

As least having Kasdan back may help to keep things creatively consistent with V and VI, and Bob seems intent on keeping production under control, so it doesn't sound like people are slacking to phone it in just yet.

As a Londoner I'm still hoping to get my chance at being an extra when the local call goes out in spring.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Why did the lead writer quit?

That doesn't sound like a good omen at all!

 

[Frankster]

Good to know they are driven by the right reasons.

There's a problem, we might need more time to work on the movie!
STFU, we are on a schedule here, 1st film comes out in 2015, 2nd film in 2017 and 3rd in 2019. No excuses!

But..unlike games, movies can actually benefit from increased pressure...The original star wars was nothing but a series of compromises and frustration right?

 

[Smiley Face]

I can't figure out if this is positive or negative. One might fear that the final script end up being rushed and messy but on the other hand they don't have time to ruin a cool script with endless damaging rewrites. Considering the talent of Kasdan, this might turn out to be a good thing afterall.

You know, I was about to write that there was no way this could possibly be a good thing, but you're right, that could happen. I don't think it's particularly likely, it's probable that this little time isn't going to be good enough, but hey, there's still hope, I guess.

 

[sgtleeemery]

I can't figure out if this is positive or negative. One might fear that the final script end up being rushed and messy but on the other hand they don't have time to ruin a cool script with endless damaging rewrites. Considering the talent of Kasdan, this might turn out to be a good thing afterall.

I feel the same way. It all depends on the cast, crew etc. Some people really thrive on these sorts of deadlines and come up with interesting workarounds for problems, or great new ideas during filming.

This also avoids the peril of 'naval-gazing'. So many productions have been marred by endless rewrites and re-edits.

I'm still cautiously optimistic (at least more optimistic than I was about the second two prequels anyway).

 

[EbonBehelit]

Oh dear..... It's not a good idea to rush the script, especially since the biggest problem with the Prequel Trilogy was the rushed scripts.

 

[Rutskarn]

Lets face it; everyone will hate it no matter how it turns out.

I think it's safer to say:

1.) Some people will hate it however it turns out.
2.) Some people will see it however it turns out.
3.) There is considerable overlap between those groups.

As a member of neither party, this news (for obvious reasons) makes me skeptical. It does not change my pre-existing attitude, which was that this movie has the potential to be good and it won't be until it's out that anyone can say for sure.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

Bust! Bust! Bust! Bust! Bust!
Come on Disney! There's still time for you to do the right thing! Don't let JJ Abrams do what he did to Star Trek to another priceless sci-fi series! You can be the heroes the world needs, even if you're not what they deserve!

What did he do to Star Trek, except make it watchable and enjoyable?

Some people (namely the people that loved the series) didn't like some of the changes Abrams did to the lore.

Personally, I enjoyed the first Star Trek movie from Abrams, but I'm not a Trekkie, so I don't have any nostalgia from the previous series to judge anything on.