A Journey to The Force Awakens

Why would Disney be collaborating with so many authors and publishers in preparation for Star Wars: The Force Awakens?

Entertainment Weekly interviewed Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, who revealed the details.

An excerpt from the article says, “At least 20 new books—from novels for adults and teens to storybooks and stickerbooks for younger kids—will be released this fall to fill the gap between 1983’s Return of the Jedi and this December’s The Force Awakens, EW has learned exclusively. ”

There is a gap of approximately 30 years between Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

Entertainment Weekly says that Star Wars fans must have known that this was inevitable since Lucasfilm said in April 2014 that it will exclude the “Expanded Universe” of Star Wars (novels, short stories, comics, and video games taking place after the 6 Star Wars films by either Lucasfilm or third parties prior to the Disney buy-out) from the official storyline and rebrand it as “Star Wars Legends.” This will free the new movies from having to follow any previous story points.

Here is a list of known books so far:

“Star Wars: Aftermath,” a novel.

“Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens”, a prequel by Marvel Comics.

Another Marvel Comics prequel showing C-3PO’s perspective.

Studio Fun International will print “Star Wars: Ships of the Galaxy.”

“Moving Target”, a Princess Leia story by Cecil Castellucci.

“The Weapon of a Jedi”, a Luke Skywalker story by Jason Fry.

“Lost Stars” by Claudia Gray.

“Smuggler’s Run”, a Han Solo story by Greg Rucka.

If fans do one thing right, it will be picking apart these books prior to December 18th to get any little details or “easter eggs” possible.

http://www.starwars.com/news/journey-to-star-wars-the-force-awakens-publishing-program-coming-fall-2015

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/09/star-wars-release-20-books-journey-force-awakens

Spoil or spoil not…

Though good for Star Wars fans, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” may release earlier, but not due to the best reasons.

There have been a significant amount of rumors surrounding the plot of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. And director J.J. Abrams loses his patience, according to Movie Pilot.

Rumor is that in order to keep the film plot from being completely revealed before release, Abrams asked Disney to consider pushing the release date up. Abrams reportedly said this himself at the 2015 Visual Effects Society Awards.

The Ikwiz report says: “Disney is reportedly taking Abrams’ request very seriously, and is looking at a possible summer release.”

This would make the film closer in competition with upcoming anticipated summer films such as Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron, Ant-Man (Marvel films which Disney owns as well) and Jurassic World.

In an interview with BBC News, Abrams said they did all they could “to preserve the story for the audience.”

He admitted that all their efforts did not always work and that some rumors and spoilers released for the movie are also true. “There are a ton of rumours – some true, some false,” he said.

You can find these rumors and spoilers by a quick Google search. Search at your own risk.

Mark Hamill, actor for Luke Skywalker, commented in an interview with the LA times on fans going out of their way to spoil the film: “We had problems before with people leaking stuff, but I was saying to them, ‘Is it really necessary to put on this giant robe with a hood that hangs down to your chest to go from my trailer to the soundstage?’ They said, “Drones.” I said, ‘You’re kidding! Really?’

http://au.ibtimes.com/jj-abrams-comments-star-wars-force-awakens-spoilers-says-some-speculations-are-true-1423935

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-31548370

http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/02/09/star-wars-vii-for-a-new-summer-release-date-2676558?lt_source=external,manual,manual

http://ikwiz.com/article.asp?id=9173&name=J.J.+Abrams+Asks+Disney+To+Move+Up+%27Star+Wars%3A+The+Force+Awakens+Release%27+Date+

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/mark-hamill-actor-talks-kingsman-cameo-star-wars-anticipation/#/0

Oscar Isaac: A Childhood Dream Fulfilled

Oscar Isaac is an ‘up-and-coming’ actor who has landed one of his biggest roles so far in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, fulfilling any Star Wars geek’s fantasy. J.J. Abrams cast him as “Poe Dameron,” one of Episode VII’s lead roles.

Born in Guatemala March 9, 1979 to Maria Eugenia Estrada Nicolle, and his Cuban father, Óscar Gonzalo Hernández-Cano. His parents raised him in Miami, where he got involved in a band playing lead guitar and sang the vocals.

Even though he was raised in a very Christian home, he was generally a trouble-maker in his young grade school days and his private grade school expelled him. He later graduated from high school in New York City, where he was also part of a drama club which helped him start his acting career.

Isaac is a prime example of how Star Wars is now in the hands of the fans. In an interview with the Daily News he said concerning his childhood obsession with Star Wars: “I remember being in my hotel room and using a shampoo bottle for an X-wing and flying it around my room.”

The trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ released in November showed his character piloting an X-wing fighter, completing his childhood fantasy.

“The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was (1983’s) ‘Return of the Jedi,'” he added.

Isaac has participated in many interviews but he has generally been tight-lipped about the (only thing we care about) story.

He also landed a major role as the Marvel comics supervillian ‘Apocalypse’ in next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/oscar-isaac-prepared-star-wars-force-awakens-article-1.2085884

Star Wars Nerds worldwide go crazy over a 90 second teaser trailer

Throw the smallest bone to Star Wars fans and they will literally go crazy over it. Many (mostly comical) fan made re-edits of the 90-second teaser trailer for Director J.J. Abram’s Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens have poured out onto the internet. My favorites are the retro versions… I made my own version (just updated) here…

But then I found out someone had already beaten me to it with a much better one

A few took a stab at George Lucas…

An incredibly cute LEGO version

Neon edition!

The Directors of Star Wars: Past, present and future.

It is widely thought that George Lucas was the sole creative power behind the legendary Star Wars series but many people don’t know that he only has directed 4 of (what will be) 9 films.

‘A New Hope’ (1977): George Lucas

The original Star Wars (A New Hope, later renamed Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) was groundbreaking, and it nearly broke Lucas. The filming and post-production was actually riddled with problems and complications along the way (Lucas said himself the only thing that went smoothly was John Williams’ superb musical score) and he ended up in the hospital due to heart problems caused by the extreme stress. (Reference the bonus features of the 2004 DVD of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’)

‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980): Irvin Kershner

The time came for Episode V, the anticipated sequel ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ which was directed by Irvin Kershner. He wasn’t one of the new, young directors that were taking over Hollywood and had been directing movies since 1955. When he asked Lucas why he chose him, Lucas said, “you’re everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know, but you’re not Hollywood.” Lucas also appreciated Kershner’s focus on character development which is essential to the climax of the film (if you somehow haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it.)

‘Return of the Jedi’ (1983): Richard Marquand

‘Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’ finished the story arc of the original trilogy of Star Wars. Richard Marquand, born in Cardiff, Wales, was the only non-american to direct a Star Wars film. Lucas hired Marquand because he “had done some great suspense films and was really good with actors. ‘Eye of the Needle’ was the film I’d seen that he had done that impressed me the most, it was really nicely done and had a lot of energy and suspense.”

‘The Phantom Menace’ (1999), ‘Attack of the Clones’ (2002) and ‘Revenge of the Sith’ (2005): George Lucas

After losing a large portion of his fortune due to his divorce in 1987, all future plans to create the prequels were put on hold. After nearly 15 years, Star Wars retained and grew its fan base through it’s “Expanded Universe” comic books and novels. Combined with large recent advances in Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) technology, Lucas decided to announce the prequel trilogy in 1993. With more resources at his disposal, Lucas himself directed Episodes 1, 2 and 3.

‘The Force Awakens’ (2015): J.J. Abrams

There are conflicted reports of whether Lucas originally intended a “sequel trilogy” of Episodes VII, VIII and IX or not. Yet in October 2012, Disney bought Lucasfilm and it’s properties from Lucas in a $4 billion dollar deal, which included the creation of the long-awaited sequel trilogy. Disney CEO Bob Iger told USA Today, “our long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years.” Many directors were considered by Disney but after long negotiations with Lucasfilm executive producer Kathleen Kennedy, ‘Lost’ director J.J. Abrams signed on as the director of Star Wars: Episode VII. J.J. Disney held Abrams in high regard due to his success with his two ‘Star Trek’ reboots/remakes, ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’.

(Untitled) Episode VIII (2017): Rian Johnson & (Untitled) Episode IX (2019): Unknown?

Rian Johnson, ‘Breaking Bad’ director, is set to direct (and write) Episode VIII. He will be writing Episode IX but it is unknown (but maybe likely) that he will also direct.

Link: USA TODAY – J.J. Abrams discusses ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2015/01/07/we-asked-jj-abrams-about-star-wars-here-is-what-he-said/

The Obsession Awakens

For my COMM111 Writing for Communications class I need to blog about something that interests me…. So I will be posting interesting news updates and tidbits on the upcoming seventh entry in the series by Director J.J. Abram’s, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” I have been a very avid Star Wars fan ever since I could probably barely speak. The obsession might as well be hereditary since my parents were fans when the original trilogy release and raised my sister and I on these marvelous films.