J.J. Abrams To Direct STAR WARS Episode: VII

He already directs the Star Trek franchise....

I have consulted with the Jedi Council... Not pleased they are!

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-...221511526.html

Can someone do both "Star Trek" and "Star Wars"? Apparently so.

It looks like J.J. Abrams will be the director of "Star Wars: Episode VII," the first "Star Wars" film under the Disney banner and the first installment of a planned new trilogy, according to reports published Thursday, though neither Lucasfilm nor Abrams have officially confirmed the news.

This is surprising news, as not only is Abrams the captain of a certain other sci-fi action adventure tentpole series, he also said back in November that he didn't want the "Star Wars" job.

"I have some original stuff I am working on next," said Abrams in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, though he made it clear that his declining the offer isn't because he's not a fan.

"As a kid I was always a fan of special effects," he said. "Watching movies I was constantly trying to figure out how they did it, whatever the effect was. 'Star Wars' was the first movie that blew my mind in that way; it didn’t matter how they did any of it because it was all so overwhelmingly and entirely great."

Well, Abrams may now be the one who's overseeing all that great stuff after all. The Force is apparently strong with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy, who may have performed a Jedi mind trick on Abrams in getting him to commit to a trip to a galaxy far, far away.

Fans and commentators took to Twitter to express their surprise, and in some cases, unhappiness that the same director would be at the helm of the two biggest science fiction movie franchises.

~ Big Marcus

I personally believe he can pull it off if anyone!

~ Big Marcus

dunno - recent star-trek films have been crap imo compared to the earlier ones...

Originally Posted by wyb

dunno - recent star-trek films have been crap imo compared to the earlier ones...

Really? He did only one so far, right, and it was excellent.

I think it's awesome news.

Originally Posted by Chris90

Really? He did only one so far, right, and it was excellent.

I think it's awesome news.

He did a great job with Star Trek and can't help but do better than Lucas did with episodes 1-2, though the third was good enough.

Originally Posted by Chris90

Really? He did only one so far, right, and it was excellent.

I think it's awesome news.

I'm actually reading the synopsis of the 2009 film and I'm not sure if I saw it or not - so I might have jumped the gun on this judgement - Insurrection was bleh imo.

So it will have a typical Abrams style of no real climax as the story builds until it just sort of ends?

I still haven't forgiven JJ Abrams for what he did to us with Cloverfield. I am going to have to work very hard at trying -hopefully I'll be able to before this movie is made.

Originally Posted by brkf

So it will have a typical Abrams style of no real climax as the story builds until it just sort of ends?

That sounds like a perfectly fair criticism of most of his work...

I don't care what NOBODY says... His Star Trek movie was "OUTSTANDING" in every aspect.

The more I think about it, if he takes time to watch and review Lucas originals and adds his own touch and today's technology... possibly EPIC!

~ Big Marcus

Jar Jar Abrams...I love it.

I mean really, you could just watch the originals except don't watch the last 30 minutes. That would pretty much give you the JJ Abrams version.

I'm not a huge movie critic, but I am a huge star wars fan....and I just don't know about this. Seems like all of Abrams' stuff is made to keep you in your seat, while the original star wars made me WANT to be in my seat. The last star trek was cool, but I can tell you almost nothing about the plot/story, just that it was a cool show. Yeah, I don't know about this...

Originally Posted by zachiepie

The last star trek was cool, but I can tell you almost nothing about the plot/story, just that it was a cool show.

It was about.... ummm... I know it had old Spock and new Spock, so something about time travel... I do vaguely remember something about a Romulan, but that could be the previous movie.

I'm a major fan of the Star Trek TV series, but the movies have varied between tolerable and total suckage.

In episode 6, the evil emperor was dead, Vader was dead. So who will be the new evil lord that Luke has to deal with?

Originally Posted by dtkw

In episode 6, the evil emperor was dead, Vader was dead. So who will be the new evil lord that Luke has to deal with?

I have not read any of the star wars stuff but apparently someone did write books with lucas' blessing that covered the aftermath of 6. It probably won't be same but it'd a starting point. You gotta tear down the empire and start over. No reason to think it would have to end at 7,8,9. In theory it's just another universe, like Trek.

Originally Posted by cwsqbm

It was about.... ummm... I know it had old Spock and new Spock, so something about time travel... I do vaguely remember something about a Romulan, but that could be the previous movie.

I'm a major fan of the Star Trek TV series, but the movies have varied between tolerable and total suckage.

Yup, exactly. When I sit down to watch a movie, I just want to be told a good story and be entertained. Star Wars did that for me. I didn't have to worry about "wait, whose that guy?" or "why did romulus do that?". Most of Abrams' stuff just seems too convoluted for a simple good story. But I also wonder if star wars is waaay beyond that. Dunno. I might be overthinking it!

Originally Posted by zachiepie

Yup, exactly. When I sit down to watch a movie, I just want to be told a good story and be entertained. Star Wars did that for me. I didn't have to worry about "wait, whose that guy?" or "why did romulus do that?". Most of Abrams' stuff just seems too convoluted for a simple good story. But I also wonder if star wars is waaay beyond that. Dunno. I might be overthinking it!

Depends on how you look at it. The first 3 star wars movies were really straight forward. Episode 1 had pretty great plot machinations mixed to plodding writing, bad dialog, worse acting and a confusion about some of the rules of the star wars universe. Step back and the idea of a phantom menace to assume power in a republic is pretty cool; but how Lucas did it suck. Episodes 2 and 3 were wafer thin on everything.

Given Abrams, I would expect a a pretty good hook, but a simple plot, so-so characters/lines, and then no delivery on the concept or the climax.

Still don't get why with so many very talented directors Disney did not look to people who had not done this level of big picture but who had the ideas? Prior to Batman Begins nobody would have thought Nolan and comics. Bryan Singer's work prior (indies) to X-Men gave no indication he was going to deliver anything like that. Doug Liman did small comedies before launching the Bourne Identity. Damn, look at how Sam Mendes went from making existential cry-baby movies like American Beauty and Revolutionary Road to Skyfall.

My first options for this would have been Rian Johnson, David O' Russell, Duplass Brothers... these guys are primed to take solid characters, great stories to a mainstream audience. But instead we get the guy who fumbled cloverfield, super 8 and mission impossible iii.

This is fantastic news. Abrams work on Star Trek was simply amazing. Best sci fi film in the last decade.