ST Filming Announcement -- May 2014

"lol rebelling with my legionz #AleaIactaEst SPQR ur screwed"

 

This will depend on cost and scheduling of getting actors. The production is done so as to minimise cost. Build set, strike it, move on. No hanging around no sentimentality.

However, whatever scene is done first it will be big and important because it's new Star Wars!

 

What does everyone thing about the latest report that Horn confirms filming in UAE AND that he will be meeting with JJ about the script and future release dates?

Looks like Vader is getting a visit from Palpatine.

 

"I feel a disturbance in my wallet"

 

Is this referring to Ep7 or Eps 8 and 9?

 

42

 

That would be my guess. He's read the tea leaves, Horn knows there's A LOT more money to be had with Summer releases. My guess is he's hoping Episode VII relaunches the franchise to solid, but not necessarily remarkable numbers. As long as it makes at least high 300's here in the States and around $1.2 to $1.3 billion worldwide then Disney's golden. Merchandising alone will be huge. Also my guess is Disney is playing it safe and really doesn't want to be competing with any upcoming Avatar sequels (depending on how Avatar 2 is received).

Star Wars fits in nice with Disney's release plans with Marvel movies in April or beginning of May and big tentpole releases Memorial Day weekend.


Yancy

 

Alot more money to be had with summer releases? You do realise that the top 2 grossing films of all time (Avatar and Titanic) were released in the November/December time frame, right?

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Probably 8-9. Kind of to late to put VII back in May of 2015.

 

Yes, and those are outliers. Go look at the list of biggest grossing films of all time... taking those two films out the next film released in December does not appear on the list until #47.

Here are your all time December opening weekends:

http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/month/?mo=12&p=.htm

Here are your all time December releases for the past 30 years:

http://boxofficemojo.com/monthly/?view=releasedate&chart=bymonth&month=12&view=releasedate


Now let's compare that with May shall we:

All time May opening weekends:

http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/month/?mo=05&p=.htm

Notice something??? The Hobbit wouldn't even appear on that list until #16


Here are your all time May releases:

http://boxofficemojo.com/monthly/?view=releasedate&chart=bymonth&month=5&view=releasedate


The numbers are not even comparable.. there's A LOT more money to be had by a major tentpole release in the month of May than December... that's just reality.



Yancy

 

I hear what you are saying, but the fact is that the summer months have a much larger window of a time frame to fit more blockbusters in. So numbers wise, ues there are going to be more top grossers from those months. On the other hand, December is only one month, so there is naturally less room for blockbusters to have a release that month. So you might only have 2 or 3 blockbusters scheduled for that month in a given year as opposed to maybe a dozen in the summer months in a given year. But I am willing to bet that the likelyhood a movie is going to do $300 million plus is AT LEAST equal for each movie. If you can get your movie scheduled for December and it is a big budget franchise movie/blockbuster, the chances of it doing at least as good as some of the bigger summer smash hits, is very good.

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Ep 8,9 and spin offs as the script for 7 has been ready for a few weeks. That's my interpretation although it isn't clear is it?

 

The 2 highest grossing films of last year were released in November as well.

 

Well at first when I saw it I thought he was referring to Eps 8 and 9, but the "depending on the screenplay" got me wondering. Eps 8 and 9 have not been written so why would their screenplays have anything to do with their releases at this point?

 

Not really. December's window is extremely limited. Studios got smart and realized you can open a big film in early to mid November and have the entire Holiday season to make money.

All time November weekend releases:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/month/?mo=11&p=.htm


All-time November releases:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/monthly/?view=releasedate&chart=bymonth&month=11&view=releasedate

As an added bonus this year basically had two $400 million money makers. Catching Fire and Frozen (it's sitting at $399.8 million)


The problem with December is people are focused on activities surround the Christmas Holiday, shopping, traveling, visiting family and friends. Also using the examples of Titanic and Avatar are not good indicators how Star Wars will perform. Titanic had the benefit of absolutely zero box office competition from the months of January-April. Star Wars is immediately going to be hit in one key demographic they need... late teens/early 20-somethings with the release of M-I:5 the following weekend. And Avatar had the benefit of being the first major release intended for 3-D... it was a novelty.

This would explain why Horn is look to readjust the releases to May.


Yancy

 

I figure the opposite. The fact that the screenplays aren't written yet is the factor that will determine whether or not Episode VIII will be released in the Summer. The Episode VII screenplay took longer than expected to nail, and if the same thing happens again with the next one, it will affect the release window for that film, and subsequently the one after that as well.

 

Here's some total speculation. Let's say Horn isn't just talking about Episode VIII & IX, but is actually thinking about moving Episode VII as well. Here are the windows for 2015 and 2016.

If JJ feels they could make a May 2015 release then here's what the slate looks like:

May (Details)• Avengers: Age of Ultron (BV) - 5/1
• Mean Moms (WB) - 5/8
• Mad Max: Fury Road (WB) - 5/15
• Pitch Perfect 2 (Uni.) - 5/15
• Susan Cooper (Fox) - 5/22
• Tomorrowland (BV) - 5/22
• Monster Trucks (Par.) - 5/29

There's really nothing in the way of a May 22nd release and Disney could simply move Tomorrowland back to June. There's Inside Out, a Pixar release that's scheduled for June, but that could probably be moved a week or so back, or maybe move Tomorrowland to July 4th and bump Ant Man back to late July.

2016 would look like this:

May (Details)• Captain America 3 (BV) - 5/6
• Untitled Superman/Batman Film (WB) - 5/6
• Alice in Wonderland 2 (BV) - 5/27
• X-Men: Apocalypse (Fox) - 5/27

Now, given how well Captain America has performed they could move that release back to early April like Winter Soldier which would then allow them to bypass Superman/Batman. They would need to move Alice 2, but they could always have that take the March/April slot (like the original). The wildcard is X-Men, but given the bad press Fox is facing with the Bryan Singer underage sex allegations, SInger could easily be removed from Apocalypse delaying the production, or Days of Future Past could crater under the weight of this controversy. That would clear the field for Episode VII.

Just some thoughts,


Yancy

 

Alan Horn says the budget will be $175-200 million. That's a nice bump up from ROTS, including inflation. Of course they have Ford's salary

 

Gallandro,he was refering to Episode VII and IX. From watching the clip and reading this article.

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/star-wars-casting-star-wars-abu-dhabi-1201160927/

 

Right. I had not watched the video yet when I posted, I had only seen the Tweets which implied May for Episode VII could be on the table.


Yancy

 

May '17 and May '19 for Eps 8 and 9 make sense. Those are obviously clear right now.

I don't like Horn's whole demeanor about this. It's probably just the way he is. When he says "we" and he isn't really part of the movie making team per se. As far as I know, he isn't labeled as an executive producer.

 

Honestly,I don't care if it comes out in May or December. I'm still going to see the movies.

 

Edit

 

Episode 3 cost $117 mil and Episode 7 will have a budget of $175-200 mil. Quite a bump up.