ST Star Wars Episode VII Wrapping Production

Yeah, I think there was a Kathleen Kenedy quote early on about "Oh, we're gonna use social media and stuff!" (I'm paraphrasing, badly, obviously, but it's there) and that really didn't happen all that much. But it did. A tad. All of these things came out over social media and twitter, however it wasn't the full court social media press that a lot of productions do when they're on the promo tour. I betcha the promo tour for Ep. 7 we'll be drowning in Twittering Instagraming etc.

 

People are confusing "JJ makes a few appearances and says hi every once in a blue moon" with "JJ is giving fans a little peak into Ep7 production". Standing in front of an X-Wing or showing the Falcon is hardly giving anything to fans. The desert market, however, was pretty cool. But it was still a way to promote the Force For Change rather than giving any insight into the movie's progress. But hey, that's his choice.

Still, there's something about the whole wrap party publicizing (intentional or not) that leaves a bad taste in my mouth at least. It's not that it turns me off from SW. Can't really put my finger on it, but it feels like they're celebrating having made a movie for the fans while watching fans scratch their heads while wondering what the hell the movie is even going to be about.

 

They did Force for Change for charity. Nothing else matters except that.

Fans today have no patience whatsoever.

 

It's partially having no patience, sure. We (the general we here...) do sometimes come off as a petulant, entitled bunch.

But it's also partially that this is being done so absolutely differently than the prequels (particularly 3 and 3) were handled in terms of behind the scenes glances during production. It just isn't like what we've known for the last 10+ years. (And the fact that Kathleen Kennedy said that we would be getting glimpses behind the curtain early and often as they knew that was what Star Wars fans wanted.) Add in the fact how transparent Marvel and DC are being with their movie titles/characters/release dates and you can start to see why fans may be getting impatient, justified or not.

We'll have to see if it opens up a bit now that we are moving into post-production.

I'm probably less spoiler-hungry than many on here as I don't overly care if we are able to piece together the plot and surprises. I just want some character names, some in-costume pictures officially released (even of background aliens would make me happy), some *officially* revealed concept art... It will eventually come and I'm feeling pretty patient, but you do have to admit that they aren't handling this like past Star Wars productions (for good or for bad) and that is contributing to the impatience.

 

100% agree with this. That's the stuff I'm on the spoiler boards to see: costumes, characters, names, ships, locations, etc. I really don't even want to know the plot. I WANT that ESB-size twist, or at least to wonder if one is coming. In terms of the plot, speculation and not knowing what's going to happen is part of the magic of these Star Wars movies for me.

 

I'm thankful for each tidbit of info I can get. Avoiding plot details is nice though, I need a little bit of surprise.

 

Some of you impatient guys seem to have the attitude that lack of information (for 'hey this movie over a year away' overexposure purposes and spoiler purposes) is being done for no reason just to f with you fans. Unless 'Diisney' is a member posting, Im unsure why you'd think they want to release more than the production does at this point

 

FWIW, I wouldn't call waiting 30+ years for this sequel and wanting a trailer ASAP being impatient lol.

 

Well, one reason I would think that they would -want- to release more info is to build hype in the brand. Outside of places like this, Star Wars is not a brand that has a lot of excitement behind it. Rebels ratings are lukewarm... Disney paid 4 billion for the franchise. They want to start making it back through licensed products and those aren't exactly moving briskly. You know what the primary profit driver is for the Star Wars brand? Toys. and the toy line is tanking right now. Hasbro has had some of the lowest orders on Star Wars product that they've had in years. Eventually, Disney wants to start making money. That's one reason they would want to. Plenty of other reasons out there.

Do I think Disney is just messing with fans? Not at all, but I'm curious as to why they've chosen to say so quiet. (If it isn't primarily Abrams, which I believe is probably a fairly safe bet.)

 

Um... I'm pretty sure that SW is still a pretty huge brand as far as these things go. I never understand this view. I can't think of another franchise that generates the same media buzz for the most minute morsels of knowledge. The appetite is there, and as we get to the run up to the film, the anticipation and awareness will be enormous again.

 

Yes the slightest bit of news has made the news here in the UK, across all mediums, but for sure things will go through the roof once the first teaser drops. I'm convinced this film will be huge, realistically its the film that fans from the OT era have waited 30 years for.

I'd be interested to know where the info comes from about licensed products doing poorly. It seems to be very prominent here in the big stores in the UK.

 

Agreed.

 

I agree mostly and do think that the whole Rebels marketing plan has failed. I went Christmas shopping for my daughter way back at the end of September because my wife and I knew that all of the Frozen toys and merchandise would be snagged quickly and didn't want to wait for another flux in November when things get crazy. Of course, the kid in my wandered by the Star Wars section, which certainly had expanded (especially Legos-WOW) but noticed that there was no real Rebels display saying "Watch the new Rebels show on Disney XD!". If you didn't know about it, you would not have a clue what these things were.

From an Episode VII standpoint, maybe they don't want to go the same route with this one that they did with TPM? Not sure why. Even though it has been ridiculed, the marketing, sales of toys and other merchandise, and box office returns were gangbusters! Yet, AOTC suffered tremendously, but that's a WHOLE other topic and thread.

I don't want any major spoilers. I don't want to know all the secrets. I would just like to know that Lucasfilm sees the fans as going through the journey the way GL himself did. We only have rumors to rely on right now which is fine-that's always part of the process. There's no reason to get confirmation or denial about these. However, an occasional official design of a new ship, a new alien, and maybe even a slight nod toward the direction of the film would be nice in the next couple of months. I hadn't been expecting it in the past few months. The cast information we got between April and the summer was already a nice treat for that time. But now that we are close enough to the one-year mark, a few tidbits here and there would be nice.

There's plenty of time before people start getting annoyed, but I certainly am not going to be jumping up for joy just because the cast is partying hard in London. In the real world, you celebrate when you can back it up with results that others can see (even then it may not be enough).

 

I'm still a regular buyer of the SW insider magazine, despite the fact its gone downhill since the UK version was scrapped and we now get the US version instead, but I'm interested to know when pictures, interviews and features for ep 7 will start to appear in the magazine. We were getting regular info and interviews for the PT films in the magazine back then. But for the time being its almost like ep 7 is hardly being mentioned by them.

 

The hairs on the back of my neck just stood up when I saw and read that. I have literally been waiting for this moment my entire life the continued adventures of Luke Skywalker Han Solo Princess Leia and the whole gang.

 

I don't think I've read through the Insider magazine since TPM days. I agree that its certainly lost its luster.

 

Hasn't been the same since it was Bantha Tracks...

 

The Insider has always been best while films are shooting and when they are in theaters. It is in the off years where they have to make up stuff to keep filling magazines and becomes lame.

 

Well, once you get the "fastest and most intense" take, there's nowhere else to go, right?

 

We are still over a year away from the movie's release, so I don't think it's odd that we haven't gotten much yet. I do think they have been especially quiet on the Episode VII front of late, to allow Rebels to premiere and have all the attention. This is the first TV series they're launching and I don't think they'd want everyone distracted by an Episode VII teaser or production stills. Once Rebels settles in, I'm sure attention will turn to Episode VII.

I know it's hard to wait, and I am dying for any official news or pictures too. But we just have to be patient for a little while longer. There is no way they aren't going to market the hell out of this movie. There will be products out the wazoo, interviews with all the cast members, magazine covers, books, etc. Disney made a huge investment in Star Wars and this is their chance to make that money back, both in ticket sales and merchandise sales. I think it's just still a bit premature. Once we hit 2015, I expect that will change and the onslaught will begin.

 

It's not odd in terms of your average movie. It is odd in terms that this is one of THE most anticipated sequels of all time and they haven't so much as given us a title for it. Unless their title is "Star Wars Episode VII: Luke Dies at the End" why have they not given us a stinkin' title?

 

If that were true, the film would look like this

 

"i can't hear you, chris!... I CAN"T HERE YOU, CHRIS!"

gets me everytime.