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Speculation Was Kennedy specifically talking about writers for episode VII?

Discussion in 'Archive: Disney Era Films' started by yodasbum, Nov 3, 2012.

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  1. yodasbum

    yodasbum Jedi Grand Master star 2

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    Nov 4, 2004
    During the Disney announcement video George said he was passing on the treatments for episodes VII, VIII and IX and a bunch of other movies (Star Wars? Indiana Jones? Willows?)

    Kathleen Kennedy goes on to say that they are in the midst of the fun part of the process talking to a couple of writers about ideas, discussing what those stories might be. George will be my Yoda. Main thing is to protect these characters.

    Would they announce episode VII for 2015 without the story locked?

    Would they abandon George's treatments for episodes VII, VIII and IX in favour of their own ideas?

    Does the mention of protecting characters suggest existing characters will appear in episode VII?

    Are the writers, she mentions, specifically for episode VII or are they drawing up a plan, ideas and stories for the entire arch? ie like Marvels phase 1, phase 2, phase 3.

    I'm also intrigued by Zahn's comments. I think the best of both worlds is write the further adventures of Luke, Liea and Han at the current actors age without pissing all over the EU such as teh Thrawn trilogy which could be made with younger actors like X Men First Class.
     
  2. TaradosGon

    TaradosGon Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 28, 2003
    I figured they were talking about the Sequel Trilogy. Lucas passed along a treatment, but it doesn't seem like they have a script yet. So they might be trying to fill in the blanks. I don't think they would disrespect George's ideas. He's had a good working relationship with Disney and I don't think they would just give him the finger after acquiring LucasFilm and kick him to the curb. Lucas already pretty much works as a consultant on TCW, so his relationship to the ST might be similar to his relationship to TCW: he puts forward story ideas and might offer insight into the characters, but aside from attending writers' meetings, it seems like he's largely elsewhere.

    Having said that, there will come a time in which Lucas steps away completely and Star Wars will outlive George. So they will eventually have to learn how to make quality Star Wars stories independently of his input. Just as with TCW he might be there for Episode VII to have input on the characters and how to edit the movie, etc. even if he is only a "consultant." He might have heavier input early on to make sure that these new films are consistent in tone and style and feel like a part of the SW universe. But I think his input will decrease over time.
     
  3. Jango_Fett21

    Jango_Fett21 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Apr 9, 2002
    What else would she have been talking about? You'd think that common sense would enter the equation somewhere, but it obviously isn't happening.

    BTW, those 'other movies' that Lucas and Kennedy referred to are/will be SW-related but are/will be separate from the ST and the other already-existing films in the main SW Saga.
     
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  4. yodasbum

    yodasbum Jedi Grand Master star 2

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    Nov 4, 2004
     
  5. Jango_Fett21

    Jango_Fett21 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Apr 9, 2002
    ^ I'm not sure what the point if quoting something without responding was, but people are really making way too much out of this false idea that there isn't enough time to produce a full-length live-action SW for release in 2015. As I've said elsewhere, Kathy Kennedy knows how to make movies, and wouldn't have committed to an unrealistic deadline for having Episode VII done.
     
  6. yodasbum

    yodasbum Jedi Grand Master star 2

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    Nov 4, 2004
    I'm we
    l'm well aware of what Kathleen is capable of and The Last Airbender, War of the Worlds and Twister are a flip side to her impressive producing roster . To write the script, from just the treatments or original story, in short order for 2015, especially for a film which will not be as stand alone as Iron Man or Thor with continuity backwards as well as forwards, is really pushing it. You are right there is more than enough time time to produce a Star Wars film by December 2015 but I would hope that we can agree that we want a good one. But I'm not saying anything about the time left but speculating on what possibly been done already.
     
  7. lokus

    lokus Jedi Knight

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    Nov 7, 2004
    As others have stated here and elsewhere, I think by treatments they mean they have the overall story and plot from beginning to end but merely need to turn their ideas into a working script and potentially fill in small details. The real question is are they going to write each movie on its own or develop the stories for the ST together so there is some form of cohesiveness? George may have already developed detailed plots for the ST and merely needs writers to pass his ideas onto to complete the rest with occasional input from George. Despite him saying that he wasn't going to do anymore Star Wars films, I think he's had ideas for these films had he wanted them done. We can see evidence of this from Mark Hamill's recollections. So I think the ramp up time to complete the story and develop the scripts would be significantly less than coming up with a story from scratch.
     
  8. Jango_Fett21

    Jango_Fett21 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Apr 9, 2002
    Two things:
    1) A producer has absolutely no control over how successful a film is or is not
    2) There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that they are going to rush this film into production, nor is there any evidence to suggest that 2015 is an unrealistic target date.
     
  9. GeneralCeel

    GeneralCeel Jedi Padawan star 2

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    Nov 4, 2005
    Twister: 494M world wide
    War of the Worlds: 357M world wide
    Last Air Bender: 319M world wide

    ... and don't think there are any worries on the business side of things if thats the worst Kennedy can do as a producer. For the record, Twister and War of the Worlds are both great movies, in my opinion. Twister was loads of fun. War of the Worlds was fairly distrubing, which is the point. As for Last Air Bender.... its based on a crap cartoon I can't understand why anybody over the age of 10 would expect to enjoy it in the first place.



    And one more time..... I can't believe the continued misunderstanding of the business arrangement Lucasfilm has with Disney. Do some of you seriously think that George Lucas simply handed the keys to his universe to another company and walked away? The man built a multi billion dollar empire spanning several companies and did it all as the sole owner. If you haven’t gathered that he’s an astute business man then wake up. I said it before. Lucas hasn’t so much sold Lucasfilm as bought into Disney (at 2.5% he’s the second largest single shareholder in Disney behind Steve Jobs estate which owns 7.5%). The point is, Lucas has a seat at the table. He didn’t bring Kennedy in to get Mr. Iger coffee. She’s there to run Lucasfilm, which now has Disney’s considerable reach and resources at its disposal. Lucasfilm is on the way up, not the way down.
     
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  10. DarthLowBudget

    DarthLowBudget Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2004
    War of the Worlds is brilliant. Technically tight, thematically cogent, thrilling, unsettling, and one of the better post-9/11 films.
     
  11. yodasbum

    yodasbum Jedi Grand Master star 2

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    Nov 4, 2004


    The Lucas Disney deal mentioned above is something that I have already posted on the boards using pretty much those exact words- so yes I do understand the business arrangement.

    What I don't understand is a release date of announcement of 2015 without serious work already having been done, and there is plenty of speculation and quotes to support the theory that serious work has been going for up to 2-3 years. I don't think that you set a release date of 2015, for a Star Wars film that leads to the development of loads more Star Wars films, without a script, director, location scouting and sound stages being booked never mind writer, director, casting and Fx and editing to be squeezed in and then booking cinema time in 2015. Would we agree that the film is unlikely to come out before May 2015. That's 30-36 months before Star Wars VII has to be complete. People could say that the release date could be moved back to 2016 but Kathleen seems far too experienced and professional to allow a mistake like that to happen. (By the way Empire is just starting on ITV which is great!) I don't know of any major film for a release date announced just on the back of treatments. People might point that it is Disney Corporation but then negates the influence that we say George will have as a shareholder. I think that we will have to wait at least 14 weeks at the earliest before any these points are conclusively ruled out/in.

    Also the gross for the films above points out the problem, none of them have s sequel and I would dispute the top quality of them. If Star Wars VII has those sort of grosses then that would be a huge failure. As I have said before if VII is Phantom Menace mark II then the franchise will probably carry on but it will never be as big as it was. There is so much riding on this film for Disney. Either work has been done and plans are in place (which I think is most likely) or very little has been done (which seems to me to be very unlikely).
     
  12. Voss

    Voss Jedi Padawan star 1

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    Nov 1, 2012
    They know what the next three will be because the story is in the treatment George past over. The film is in the script though. A script could be written in a month. With a release date set they know what these movies will be.

    But I think she was also alluding to further tales. Boba origns, Han origins, something..
     
  13. GargantuanThrillMachine

    GargantuanThrillMachine Jedi Youngling star 1

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    Sep 7, 2012
    i always wondered how much additional time was added to the production from all those script re-writes during filming and post-production
     
  14. jps78

    jps78 Jedi Knight star 1

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    Apr 27, 2005
    Couldn't agree more General Ceel, Twister was a great and fun film, WOTW was awesome up till the very end, and airbender well it was directed be M. Night so what did we expect. As for the business stuff its funny to read some of these posts and think that Disney is just going to be making all the decisions. Even though they bought Lucasfilm what they wanted was the Star Wars brand they gave George 4billion for Star Wars. If anyone thinks that there going to screw it up then there stoned. Disney is just Lucasfilms parent company just like ESPN, ABC, Marvel, and Pixar are. Disney for the most part leaves their companies alone, as long as profits are rolling in the mouse is happy. Kathleen is running the show now she'll make the decisions (with guidance from George) and then let Disney know. Lucas agreed to do this because he wants the Saga to last forever and Disney with their deep pockets can make that happen. And like the General said George is know the number 2 share holder which in the land of glitz and glamour counts for something.
     
  15. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    I think they already have a detailed story outline, but they need scriptwriters.

    The Lord of the Rings was out for decades, but they still needed to hire good scriptwriters for the movies.
     
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