The news that Star Wars: Episode VII will shoot in the UK isn’t a big deal, as the series has always had a production home in Britain. But in announcing plans to film the new Episode at one of the UK’s major studios (which one is not specified), LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy has issued a statement that some fans might find promising. Specificially, she says that the origins of Star Wars have been a big inspiration on the new film. Read More »
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Lots of Star Wars fans, including J.J. Abrams himself, have sat down to talk about their confidence in Star Wars Episode VII. Those statements, possible video games, and more are all in today’s Star Wars Bits. After the jump read about the following:
- J.J. Abrams is focusing on Star Wars Episode VII, not any spin-off films.
- Simon Pegg has some ideas on how J.J. Abrams can reinvigorate Star Wars.
- Damon Lindelof would love to write a Star Wars film.
- Leonardo DiCaprio is super excited for Star Wars Episode VII and could be interested in appearing.
- Has a glimpse of a new Star Wars animated series been revealed?
- Disney CEO Bob Iger suggests more Star Wars is coming to theme parks and television.
- Star Tours opens at Disneyland Tokyo
- Lucasfilm registers domain names hinting at Gungan and Wookie themed video games and more.
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Since being hired to direct Star Wars: Episode VII, J.J. Abrams has had a secondary role in addition to keeping the Star Trek series on track: being a cheerleader for two very different series owned by different companies. As the new captain of Trek, Abrams is just about to launch his second Enterprise mission, and then will have to quickly shift over into Star Wars mode to get Episode VII rolling early next year.
Part of his role as shepherd of both series has been to remain optimistic about the chances of working on both going forward, even though such a thing seems unlikely. Simon Pegg once blurted out that Abrams would definitely direct Star Trek 3, but later had to admit he couldn’t speak for Abrams. And Abrams has said that directing both Episode VII and Star Trek 3 was a possibility.
There are a couple years of work ahead on Star Wars, and also the very real possibility that Paramount will want a Trek sequel as soon as possible. And so Star Trek may need a new director after all. Read More »
Two of the most anticipated sequels in history will reportedly start filming around the same time. Star Wars Episode VII and Avatar 2 will each begin production early in 2014, according to the producer of one project and star of the other. Bryan Burk, the long-time producer for J.J. Abrams and co-founder of Bad Robot, suggested the window for Star Wars. Zoe Saldana, the star of James Cameron‘s Avatar, mentioned the shooting schedule for Avatar 2. Saldana, who’ll next shoot Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, also confirmed what we’ve already known, that both Avatar 2 and 3 will shoot back to back. Read their quotes below. Read More »
Some of the principals behind Star Wars Episode VII have been discussing the film recently, plus the resurgence has brought out a few new pieces of pop culture ephemera. Below, read about all this and more:
- Mark Hamill spoke about Star Wars Episode VII this weekend, confirming he’s had one creative meeting.
- Episode VII producer and spin-off writer Simon Kinberg talked about his film.
- Check out a gallery of 1138 behind the scenes photos from the Star Wars films.
- The BBC talked to J.J. Abrams about Episode VII.
- Watch videos of Abrams and his Star Trek Into Darkness cast talking about the new Star Wars film.
- Some of Timothy Zahn‘s Star Wars novels are becoming audio books.
- A black series Boba Fett with Han Solo in Carbonite is coming to San Diego Comic-Con.
- One fan built the Mos Eisley Cantina.
- Tons of stars such as Nicolas Cage and Sir Ben Kingsley give their thoughts on new Star Wars movies.
- J.J’s Place is a comic book blending Star Trek and Star Wars.
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Today’s Star Wars Bits looks back to Return of the Jedi, and forward to Episode VII. After the jump:
- See rare photos from the Jedi set
- Ian McDiarmid has fond memories of playing the Emperor
- J.J. Abrams was afraid of becoming the reboot guy
- ILM eyes a new location in London
- The Clone Wars gets Emmy recognition
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During my interview last week with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and Iron Man 3 director Shane Black, I brought up Patton Oswalt’s awesome ad-libbed Star Wars: Episode VII pitch (a Parks & Recreation outtake) which involved a cross-over event involving Disney’s Marvel superhero and galactic universe.
While many of my colleagues were asking the softball questions like “will Robert Downey Jr come back for a fourth Iron Man” or “where will Marvel go in Phase 3?” I knuckled down with the much more important hardball question: when is Disney going to take Oswalt’s pitch seriously and give us that Marvel/Disney cross-over film? Find out the answer after the jump.
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Producer/director J.J. Abrams and film composer Michael Giacchino have often worked together over the years, but for Abrams’ next film it looks like he’ll be working with another influential composer. After the promotion period for Star Trek Into Darkness ends, Abrams will begin work on Star Wars: Episode VII in earnest, and at this point it would be odd for a Star Wars film to be scored by anyone other than John Williams.
And while having a new composer tackle the new Star Wars chapter would be another good way to push the series in a new direction, Abrams said recently that he expects to work with Williams on the film. Read More »
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