Speculation I will bet SW7 does not come out in 2015.

SW7... AGHHHHHHH! Both excited and devastated. (But that's another topic)

They have said (a lot) through the purchase, that the next film will be out in 2015.

Here is the reasonings for why this is market facing bantha poodoo.

1. Each Star Wars film so far has needed 18 months - 2 years post production for the gigantic amount of special effects, (and Lucas rewriting)
2. Star Wars is a "tent pole" film - It will have to be launched in the Summer for maximum blockbuster affect. No Xmas launch for these guys.
3. The deal isn't signed yet.

If we count backwards from Summer 2015.. That means they will need to film this Early to mid 2013.

It is late 2012 now. There is no script. (A detailed treatment is not a script BTW) There is a huge amount of pre production to do on something like this. The deal is not finalized yet. The lead up to TPM filming was about THREE YEARS.

I bet they will issue a statement mid 2013 talking about filming starting late 2013 - For a 2016 Summer release.

UKS

 

Avengers 2 is slated for the same summer release and is probably not that much further along in development. I'm guessing that work has already begun on some level. A script could be done in 3 months, if not sooner. At least enough to prep and cast from. If they can be filming next summer they could just about hit the slot. It will be tight, but they can do it.

 

Well it's hard to say how far down the line they are.
I don't disagree but even without a script GL could have had a lot of the conceptual art, set piece design etc done already? It's possible.

The deal is not finalized yet? I saw George signing something? haha

 

It's not hard to build on The Avengers. The SWST, however, is most likely going to be stuck in development hell for at least a year and for many good reasons.

 

If Avengers 2 ( A much simpler picture to make BTW. Real world settings and background dressing) is coming out in the same summer - They definitely won't launch SW7. They don't want to compete their two biggest franchises! I think Disney said 2015 to excite the market and make this not too much of a sink cost or long term investment - Making it seem they can generate return quickly on this.

And yes, according to Igner, the deal is not closed. It is in whatever state of lawyer development hell, these deals go through. Due Diligence I believe it is.

UKS

 

The film is being made by Lucas Film, and they have been working on this for some time. The sale is not affecting the rate of production, it's just giving the green light. The sale does not need to be final for Lucas Film to continue pre production.

 

I'm skeptical that it will be ready in 2015. Kathleen made it sound like that they are still in the process of talking to writers about what it's all going to be about. So who knows when that will be done and they start casting, attach a director to the film, shoot the thing, and then like the OP said need to spend a lot of time in post-production. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being delayed.

 

While these are valid points, the last Star Wars movie came out in 2005. Now seven years later, is it possible they no longer will need 2 years of post-production? Or am I off base?

Another thought: We know now Lucas sat down with Mark and Carrie over the summer to break the news. I think that is a good indicator that this has been in the works for longer than we can guess.

 

It would be amusing and amazing if EP7 took less time to produce than the average episode of TCW.

 

I'm guessing that a solid amount of the pre-production work has already been done.

For a start, the live action TV series that never came to pass supposedly had approximately 100 hours of story material developed - most likely some of that could be easily transposed from the early Empire era to the new era - or perhaps some of the writers they had working on that were actually working on Episode 7 anyway.
Similarly, conceptual artists could have been hard at work since last year on this somewhat covert production. Pablo Hidalgo was informed it was happening in June, who knows who else what was going on even earlier?

Both AOTC & ROTS were pretty much put together in the space of three years apiece, it's only TPM that took about six years from start to finish. We're talking about a new Star Wars film, not a reconstruction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

It'll be ready.

 

All good points but with Disney being a PLC you would expect them to be extremely cautious about setting unrealistic deadlines on this project, undermining investor confidence by delaying projects can have a huge impact on share price, couple that with the fact that Disney's shareholders with have to take a hit on dividend in the short term to help fund the acquisition I would think they will have the first movie out when they say they will......whether that's a good thing or not is another matter

 

If I am right Lucas didnt start work on AOTC until 2000 and it was released on time in 2002. Thats two years and Ep7 is a little less than 3

 

I would think this is more similar to Lucas beginning work on TPM. And with TPM he still had a pretty rough idea of what it had to be about since the endpoint (OT) was already fixed. On the TPM DVD I think there's even a moment in one of the documentaries when he's listening to Duel of the Fates and remarks something to the effect of it being perfect for the climax of Episode III. So he was thinking that far ahead. It's not just Episode VII, but VIII and IX as well, and I would think that while they might only be working on a script for VII, that they still have to think ahead to VIII and IX and decide what the whole trilogy has to be about and where to end each one. And with AOTC some of the casting like of Ewan, Ian, and Natalie was already done, and from AOTC to ROTS it was pretty much the same cast. So after AOTC they could dive right into ROTS since Lucas probably had a pretty good idea of what needed to happen, casting was pretty much done, etc.

Lucas has been saying that there is no story in the ST, back in 2005 when asked about what happened to the characters after ROTJ he gave a sarcastic remark about Han and Leia getting married, having a house with a white picket fence, and Han being out in the yard cooking burgers and asked something like "I don't think that warrants a movie, do you?" At one point it seemed pretty clear that ROTJ was his "happily ever after" ending to the story. And back in 2008 when TCW was coming out, he still maintained that there would definitely not be a ST, neither with nor without him. So unless he's been lying for close to (if not over) a decade and intended to do this all along, then he changed his mind and has to work with Kathleen and the writers to decide what exactly this trilogy - that originally had no story - is going to be about. And I'm skeptical of their ability to turn out a story for Episode VII as quickly as they could for Episode II, since Episode II would have been much easier to tackle in regards to already having a pretty solid idea of what needed to happen, having some of the casting done, etc. Whereas with the ST, he has a blank slate and has to figure it all out; not just VII, but how VII leads into VIII and what the entire thing is going to be about.

 

It'll be difficult to get it out in 2015, but given that this is Disney we're talking about, I can see them pulling this off.

 

I doubt they would come out and say 2015 unless they were pretty sure it could be done.

 

I'm a bit skeptical too, but we know from Hamill that Lucas was already working on the new trilogy last August, almost one and a half years ago.

So there is a story, therefore presumably they are already working on the designs and could begin casting the piece in the coming 6 months.

 

"I find your lack of faith disturbing!"

 

Hamill and Fisher were told in August of this year (2012), which was about 4 months ago; I don't know why people keep making that mistake.

Re: the release date, we're not dealing with some 'fly-by-night' moviemaker here; Disney isn't going to put out an unrealistic target date, and Kathleen Kennedy isn't going to let them; the reason the 2015 release date was announced is because Kathleen Kennedy is confident that she and her team can put together a new SW movie in less than 3 years.

 

I'd be shocked if it didn't hit in 2015. It might not be May 2015, which would be sorta sad, but it'll hit in 2015.

 

1. Lucas isn't here anymore, so there may be far less focus on pointless special effects and green screen environments. And no Lucas rewriting.
2. If LotR and The hobbit can be launched around christmas, so can Star Wars. (Not saying it will, but it's not impossible or unthinkable)
3. They're already in pre-production, supposedly working with writers. That COULD mean they've been working with writers since this summer, when Lucas told Fisher and Hamill that there will be a sequel trilogy.

The thing is, now that Lucas is out of the picture, we know nothing about what the process is. This isn't the pre-prequel days all over again, this is something completely new.
So let's just wait and see

 

But he said:

MARK HAMILL: "Oh my gosh, what a shock that was! I had no idea that George was going to sell to Disney until I read it online like everybody else. He did tell us last summer about wanting to go on and do VII, VIII, and IX, and that Kathleen Kennedy would be doing them."

So did he mean this summer by last summer? (I'm not being sarcastic, English is not my first language.)

 

The only way that the term 'last summer' would mean 2011 is if he'd been asked this question during the summer of this year. It is the fall of 2012; therefore, 'last summer' means this past summer, not the summer of 2012.

You can also garner clues based on his mention of Kathleen Kennedy; she only came to Lucasfilm in June, so why would Lucas tell Hamill and Fisher in August of 2011 about handing the SW baton to Kathleen Kennedy when she hadn't even joined Lucasfilm at the time?

 

you forget.. this is disney backed.. a script can be written overnight.. and if not the brooms powered by mickeys hat can help.. the preproduction is actually already built its just hidden like waldo throught out the numerous disney theme parks, and the casting is simple.. hayden and jake for the top spots! i say they do xmas of 2014..

 

I'm working hard on the script, guys. Gimme a few more days.