News Star Wars: Episode VII release date confirmed

LucasFilm has confirmed the release date of the first of the new trilogy of star wars films.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2013/11/07/star-wars-episode-vii-release-date-confirme/1

 

Lens flare!

 

If you have fingers, keep them crossed.

 

Can you imagine what it's going to be like between the lightsaber duels, blaster fire-fights and hyperspace chases? We'll have to take sunglasses into the cinema!

Still ridiculously excited at the thought of it though...

 

I do not see this ending well.

Rushed, probably half -arsed casting, and J.J. Abrams..

 

You all sound like Trekkies pissed because he's joined the better franchise

 

I'm hoping they're using the Thrawn Trilogy as inspiration.

 

I presume the script has actually been written by now? I'm not holding out much hope at all.

After seeing what he did to my beloved Trek, he's now going after my other favourite SciFi franchise with a machete. Can't be much worse than the prequel trilogies mind.

 

Light Flare Saber

 

I'm just going to remain hopeful and look forward to it
(as a result I'm also going to try and avoid rumour thread, or anything pre-release)

 

At least from what I have heard, they will not be.

They will not be using any existing written fiction, was what I read.

Doesn't mean they won't come to their senses, but it is what I read a few weeks ago.

 

My immediate concern is: why do they feel the need to specify the release date over 2 years in advance of the release date?

Sure, they can still change their minds, but they've already imposed unnecessary restriction on the film's production.

When watching all the making-of extras on the LOTR DVDs I really got the feeling that everyone involved was committed to making the trilogy the best they could make it. Conversely, when watching the making-of material for the Star Wars prequel trilogy, there were multiple references from George Lucas and Rick McCallum about time and budget restrictions, and I couldn't help but feel Lucas rushed certain parts of the films unnecessarily, to the detriment of the films/story.

I'm aware an unlimited budget and unlimited production time-frame doesn't guarantee a great film, but when you're talking about a film franchise where box office takings can quite confidently be predicted to approach/exceed $1billion, per film, and when you've already invested $4billion just to buy the rights to the franchise, why not take the time to ensure everything is in place to make each film the very best it can be? Why go on record with a self-imposed time limit so early?

If they get Ep.VII 'right' then they'll set themselves up for years of happy profit making, but if they get it wrong they'll potentially cause major damage to their investment.

The Marvel films are being cited as examples of Disney getting it 'right'. I've not seen many of them, and the original Iron Man was terrific (IM2 less so), but the Marvel franchise is a different beast.

Hopefully they're just uber-confident 'cos of the progress they've made with the script...