Star Wars: The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams) -- NO SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD!

[Grouchy]

Wow, and all he has to his name pre-Jurassic is Safety Not Guaranteed which is a terrible movie.

[Skitch]

Relax. Its a long time before even VIII comes out. Im guessing we'll cycle at least three directors for IX by then.

[Spinal]

Every single person in Hollywood after this summer: "Can we get Colin Trevorrow?"

The answer is yes. Yes, you can.

[KK2.0]

was this posted?



the marketing for this has been perfect so far

[EyesWideOpen]

No clue why they are spending 100's of millions of dollars marketing this. It's Fucking Star Wars. Release a trailer and poster with a date and be done with it.

[Irish]

Now here's something I'd never thought I'd see--



-- Harrison Ford smiling in public!

[Sycophant]

No clue why they are spending 100's of millions of dollars marketing this. It's Fucking Star Wars. Release a trailer and poster with a date and be done with it.

First, yeah, I agree. I have a hard time believing each multimillion dollar chunk of advertising is going to translate to an actual spike in attendance. By November, there isn't going to be a person within 100 miles of a movie theater who won't know this beast is coming.

At the same time, though, the marketing for movies like this is part of the project now. This is a major component of the present industrial model. You can't escape that. There are corporations, agencies, and people who need to get paid along the way. Big movies now cost half a billion dollars to make and promote, and we're at the point where that's intractable. Even if it effectively sells itself.

On top of that, though, there's something interesting about that reel that doesn't just say "come see this movie, consumer." It's almost more PR than advertising, but instead of letting you know about the humanitarian arm of a corporate giant, it's letting you know Star Wars cares... about Star Wars. Star Wars cares about the hundreds of hours you've spent picking apart why the prequels suck. Star Wars cares that you're invested in this project. Star Wars feels Red Letter Media's pain. Star Wars reads io9 and retweets the article that's working to enshrine "practical effects" as a mantric fetish for the new religion of pop geekdom. Star Wars and you. Reunited and it feels so good.

Of course, it played at America's most visible hub of pop culture exchange and taste making. Who knows? Some of those geeks might make good on their decade old threat to be good and truly done. And god knows a lot of them have families now.

[megladon8]

While I love the idea of Benicio Del Toro playing a villain in Ep 8, I hope they're not planning to have a different villain in each of the new trilogy's movies.

That never works well. Eliminates a lot of potential dramatic tension and pathos by eliminating the villain at the end of every movie.

This always bugs me in superhero movies.

[Henry Gale]

[Morris Schæffer]

Drew struzan is clearly capable, but rarely inspired. This poster may be one of his most boring. I had very distinct expectations of what it would look like, and after clicking a link on another site, the picture turned out to be an exact copy of those expectations.

[Dukefrukem]

2 new Star Wars theme parks being built at Disney Land and Disney World.

[megladon8]

I really don't like the use of lines on that poster, created by the lightsabers.

[Ezee E]

As long as there's a Mos Eisley Cantina...

[Skitch]

One could argue Struzan's posters for the prequel trilogy were better than the films themselves, so I approve of this poster.

[Ezee E]

Solo looks pretty weird in the poster to me.

[MadMan]

Wow, and all he has to his name pre-Jurassic is Safety Not Guaranteed which is a terrible movie.

I loved that movie.

[Morris Schæffer]

I just start to giggle uncontrollably whenever I read the talkback section of aintitcool. For instance, they had an article on Bad guy Kylo Ren and that he's basically working for Supreme Leader Snoke (Serkis).

[megladon8]

Hearing that there's going to be a new villain AND a new female lead in episode 8 worries me a bit.

Was hoping it would be a 3 film trilogy of a continuous story. I suppose this doesn't mean it isn't, but it's still worrisome.

Rent-a-villains can be problematic.

[Watashi]

Hearing that there's going to be a new villain AND a new female lead in episode 8 worries me a bit.

Was hoping it would be a 3 film trilogy of a continuous story. I suppose this doesn't mean it isn't, but it's still worrisome.

Rent-a-villains can be problematic.

The Empire Strikes Back introduced a new villain and two main characters. I have no idea why you're worried.

[megladon8]

I'm worried that it will be an all new line up of protagonists and antagonists. That Kylo Ren et al will be "defeated" at the end of 7, and we move on to the next villain.

Yes, Empire introduced the Emperor. But the villain was still very much Vader.

Again, this could very much be the same type of situation we are getting here. I can't help but worry though.

I think that if they take the superhero movie route and have a new villain in every movie it could be detrimental to the effect of the new movies as a whole.

I mean I'm just talking out of my ass at this point (we all are) because we know so very little about these movies. The villain could end up being a nunchuck-wielding space cow.

[Watashi]

We still know VERY little about Episode VII. We don't even know if Kylo Ren is the Darth Vader of this new trilogy (I don't think he is). Each of the OT had a one-shot villain with an overarching villain for the whole trilogy. I expect this to be the same.

[Ezee E]

I feel like we've seen three villains just from the trailer. Not all of them will survive.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The Empire Strikes Back introduced a new villain and two main characters. I have no idea why you're worried.

To be fair, Vader remained the chief antagonist through the first two movies and was still fearsome in the third. The second "introduced" the Emperor for two minutes.

I see where Meg is coming from to a degree. A recurring, truly dangerous villain would be great, but I'd be worried we'd get some sort of half-assed Malekith or Red Skull (or, God forbid, a General Grievous (or Nero or Diet Khan)).

This is all crazy speculative right now, obviously.

[megladon8]

Seeing Kylo Ren's helmet in full really showcases the Vader influence.

[megladon8]