Star Wars Episode VII wraps!

Star Wars Episode VII has OFFICIALLY WRAPPED! That sentence gets me so excited, it means we are getting even closer to the release! The cast and crew finished their last day of filming at Pinewood Studios, the end of production was signed off with a heart warming thank you card from Director J J Abrams himself;

To the Extraordinary Cast and Crew of Episode VII:
It is a true honor and absolute joy to come to set every day and work alongside each of you. Your professionalism, passion and patience is more deeply appreciated than we could ever express. From the deserts of Abu Dhabi, to the Forest of Dean, to the stages of Pinewood, you have risen to every challenge and been as wonderfully kind as you are brilliantly talented. Our ambition here is large, of course, and it must be: we are here to make a film that entertains millions of people, of all ages, for generations. To create an experience people will cherish watching as much as we will cherish having made it, together. How lovely it would be if you had, in addition to your name on the screen, some actual real tangible proof that you were part of it! Here, then, is that proof. Wear it well, wear it healthily, wear it proudly. But, mostly, thank you.
With Love, JJ Abrams Kathleen Kennedy Bryan Burke 

Check out the gallery here from ComingSoon.

Brad Bird talks sequel to "The Incredibles" and turning down "Star Wars"

So I am going to get a lot of anger my way after saying this, but I never got round to watching "The Incredibles" all I ever hear is great things about it just never came on my radar, sorry guys! Bird was the man with the plan at Pixar when he brought the unbelievably popular "The Incredibles" to life now he has finally spoken about a sequel to said film.

"I have been thinking about it. People think that I have not been, but I have. Because I love those characters and love that world. I am stroking my chin and scratching my head. I have many, many elements that I think would work really well in another [Incredibles] film, and if I can get ‘em to click all together, I would probably wanna do that.

"I like the idea of moving a little more quickly in films. I’m looking for ways to accelerate the pace a little bit and figure out a way to keep creative control over these movies to a level where I’m comfortable with the end result but also speed them up a bit and make more of them. I have many different films I wanna make. It’s like a big airplane hangar and I have different projects on the floor; half-assembled in my brain. I’m interested in all of them. You kind of have to move on the ones people are willing to pay for and the ones you’re most excited about."

Bird also spoke about being approached for the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII", which he turned down.

"They did come to me. But the problem was, the schedule they had in mind made it impossible to do…unless I dropped Tomorrowland. And I was just really deeply into this film at that point. It’s easy to say, “Just put it on hold.” But you’re moving now; you don’t know if you’re going to be able to move later. Maybe it’s true of filmmakers like Cameron or Spielberg, but I have to act on momentum. We had reached a critical mass where it would’ve thrown the furniture around from the train stopping. I really want to see this movie. I love the Star Wars films, and I can’t wait to see what J.J. does, but it meant I’d have to shut down one dream to participate in another. I feel like [with Tomorrowland] we’re making something that’s really special and unique."

Mark Hamill talks "Star Wars: Episode VII"

With the rumour that Harrison Ford was returning as Han Solo confirmed earlier this week, all eyes turned to Mark Hamill. Now he is saying that other original stars have not officially signed on for the film, but they are in talks with Lucasfilms he said.

"They're talking to us," he said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we'd be interested. He did say that if we didn't want to do it, they wouldn't cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out. … I can tell you right away that we haven't signed any contracts. We're in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed -- on their end, not mine. They're more busy than I am."

Hamill went on to talk about that he doesn't know what the film is officially about, but by the way he said it, it really seemed like he knew more than he was letting on.


"I'm assuming, because I haven't talked to the writers, that these movies would be about our offspring -- like my character would be sort of in the Obi-Wan range [as] an influential character. … When I found out [while making the original trilogy] that ultimate good news/bad news joke – the good news is there's a real attractive, hot girl in the universe; the bad news is she's your sister – I thought, 'Well, I'm going to wind up like Sir Alec [Guinness]. I'm going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.'"

"Another thing I'd want to make sure of is are we going to have the whole gang back? Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee and Tony Daniels, everybody that's around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody's on board here, rather than just one."

 "I said to George that I wanted to go back to the way it was, in the sense that ours was much more carefree and lighthearted and humorous – in my opinion, anyway....hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects. I love props, I love models, miniatures, matte paintings -- I'm sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant a video game, and that's unfortunate. … If they listen to me at all, it'll be, 'Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.'"

Frank Oz willing to return as Yoda

With all the Star Wars talk news floating round lately, I am extremely excited to be talking about this but it is no surprise that Yoda's name is constantly on peoples lips. Reports are suggesting that Yoda could return for the new trilogy, my guess will be as a spirit. Regardless where Yoda appears, Frank Oz is excited and ready to return as Yoda. It would be pretty great to see a Jedi or even Luke getting some guidance from a spirit version of Yoda, I would prefer it if they focused on a Yoda spin-off. Yoda is one of the only main characters who doesn't seem to have a background or even a confirmed race according to George Lucas himself .


"If Oz does return, we probably shouldn’t expect to see any of his puppeteering work. In the more recent Star Wars movies, Yoda went fully CGI, although Oz still provided his voice. Luckily, the experienced puppeteer doesn’t feel bitter about this. He explained:

“I think it depends on the story, but I think at this point you can’t go back to the puppet. The reason George [Lucas] did the CGI, which I supported, was that he wanted to tell a story that would have been hampered by the physical limitations of the puppet.”"

"Star Wars: Episode VII" update

Well where do we start, since Walt Disney announced that they had acquired Lucasfilm back in October and they announced they were continuing the Star Wars franchise. The question on nearly everybody lips has been who will direct the first film? Well, yesterday we found out that the incredibly talented J. J. Abrams will be at the helm.

 If you aren't familiar with his work, where the heck have you been ha, here is an insight to the films an TV shows he has had parts in. J. J. has been co-creator of such of icon shows as "Lost", "Alias" & "Fringe" and films like "Armageddon", "Cloverfield" & "Star Trek"(2009) so you can see he has an affiliation to the Science Fiction world, so personally I think he is a great fit for the film. A lot of people moan about his usage of lens flare, which at times is annoying it really did wind me up at time when watching "Star Trek" at times it became hard to watch, but the film was great. The only downfall to J. J. Abrams to directing is his approach to marketing he likes to keep things under wrap and not leak much.

We also know that Michael Arndt s writing the screenplay for the film, he doesn't have a huge background behind him he did write the screenplays for Oscar winning "Little Miss Sunshine" and Oscar nominated "Toy Story 3". So with his first ever film he won an Oscar and his second film was nominated for one, good sign? Bad sign?

Star Wars old boy Lawrence Kasdan is returning franchise, he an fellow screenwriter Simon Kinberg are writing scripts for films that will either serve as Episode VII sequels or spin offs that will feature other characters, kind of like "The Avengers" lead up films would be my guess.

There is also a rumour that Zack Snyder the man behind DCs next big project "Man Of Steel" is set to direct a spin off film within the Star Wars universe. Whether there is any truth to this we don't know yet, lets see how well he does with "Man Of Steel" first before we get too excited.

BREAKING NEWS J.J. Abrams to direct...

"Star Wars: Episode VII"!!! This is the best movie news I've heard since I started this blog if its true, TheWrap are going with an exclusive that Walt Disney Productions and Lucasfilm have hired him to direct the upcoming film, they are also saying that Ben Affleck was in contention to direct thankfully they passed on him.

Back in November, Abrams commented on him possibly directing the film an it sounded like it might happen, looks like that day has come true!
"Look, Star Wars is one of my favorite movies of all time. I frankly feel that – I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series. I was never a big Star Trek fan growing up, so for me, working on Star Trek didn’t have any of that, you know, almost fatal sacrilege, and so, I am looking forward more then anyone to the next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!"

"Star Wars" spin off???

I recently posted about one of the writers from "Empire Strikes Back" returning to the Star Wars franchise, now there is contradictory information about the upcoming trilogy being more of a spin-off than a continuation from "Empire Strikes Back".

"Apparently, Kasdan and Kinberg have been hired to work on films that would be like spin-offs, and that’s why the writers would also be producing the films themselves. The trade says these films are “not necessarily Episode VIII and Episode IX” but “could turn into official ‘Episodes’ in the main Skywalker storyline or they could form the basis for spinoffs focusing on side characters.” Honestly, we’re not sure what the hell that means, but we’re going to try and figure it out."

According to Huffington Post, Disney has plans to release as many as three films each year from the LucasFilm setup. Does this mean Disney are going for an "Avengers" style formula by introducing us to multiple characters then going for a trilogy of blockbusters? Anybody think this would work?

"Empire Strikes Back" writer connected to...

The new Star Wars trilogy, yes Lawrence Kasdan is going to be involved in writing one of the movies in the new trilogy. Even though Kasdan is connected to the films, we do not yet know which film(s) he will be writing. I am happy that the genius behind by far the best Star Wars film "Empire Strikes Back" an that's a fact not an opinion ha ha. This makes me optimistic about the future of the franchise,

"Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg have closed deals to write installments of the new Star Wars trilogy, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. The pair will write either Episode VIII or Episode IX — their exact division of responsibilities is yet to be determined — and also will come aboard to produce the films."

Darth Vader is back...

Darth Vader might be making a shock return to the Star Wars franchise, don't get me wrong I loved Darth in the original trilogy but he died. I mean he gave his life to save Luke in "Episode VI". I've read about the outlines of the next trilogy which involves the idea of cloning in order to bring back some big characters, the story is pretty interesting bu the whole bringing back of Vader is a bad idea in my opinion. It feels like they are using him as more of a cash cow than anything else, Vader has served his purpose in the films. If they use him as more of a cameo role that wouldn't be as bad, but if the make another trilogy centred around him then it will be way of the mark and feel more like a re-imagining of the original trilogy, I'm 99% sure that is not what the fans want.


"Following news that Disney has bought the rights to the lucrative sci-fi franchise and plans to make at least three more movies, industry insiders say the evil Vader will grace the big screen again.
“He’s an integral part of the franchise. Replacing him is virtually impossible,” explains a film mole.
“The plan is for him to return and play a significant role in the new films.”"