Okay, the only actual news in this story is thus: The new J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens has wrapped principal photography over a year ahead of its December 18th, 2015 release date. Yup, J. J. Abrams took to the social networks this morning to announce the official title for the seventh Star Wars chapter. By the way, the fact that they are done so early means we shouldn't panic or speculate over what I'd wager are eventual reshoots or pick-ups down the line. The title The Force Awakens is more generic than Attack of the Clones or The Empire Strikes Back, and closer to a middle-of-the-road choice like A New Hope. And yes, it is a better title than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Terminator: Genisys. But then, let's be honest, pretty much every title, save perhaps A Good Day to Die Hard and the grammatically challenging Star Trek Into Darkness, is better than those two titles. And I'm incredibly glad that we didn't end up with Star Wars: Rise of the Dark Force. Because you know that was probably on the table at some point in time.
Now aside from the fact that the title doesn't exactly roll off the tongue ( Wars and Force are almost too close together for somewhat similar sounding words), is there any actual 'news' in this announcement? Well yes, I would argue there is at least one morsel of interest. Notice what you don't see in that title? Yup, the film isn't called Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The prequels were somewhat defined by their placement in the would-be six 'episodes' of the Star Wars saga, to the point where many fans referred to them merely as 'Episode I,' 'Episode II,' and 'Episode III' for shorthand. Also of note, that absolutely does not occur with the original trilogy. Heck, the first three films are more-or-less completely known by their stand-alone titles, be they Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. This seems like a happy medium of sorts.
There is no way that Disney is putting out a new Star Wars movie without 'Star Wars' in the title, and yet they are nixing the episode subtitle as well. Why do you ask? Well, two reasons I'd gather. A, to differentiate them from the prequels and because Walt Disney is planning on making a lot more than three new Star Wars episodes. I have no idea if or how Disney plans to differentiate the official 'next chapter in the big story' films from the alleged stand-alone pictures over the long haul. But even presuming they do want a clear delineation, I don't think they want audiences walking up to the ticket booth in twenty years and buying a ticket for Star Wars Episode 14.
Of course, the easiest way to avoid that problem is to merely let the films go out as stand-alone titles. I'm sure merely titling the film The Force Awakens would cause exactly $5.23 in lost box office revenue, but that's my own personal opinion. There has never been a 007 film with the '007″ or 'James Bond' in the title, no James Bond: Skyfall or the like. Absolutely no one refers to a titled James Bond film by what number it is in the series, although that's partially due to the eternal confusion over whether to include Never Say Never Again in the film count. But I imagine not a single human being walking up to buy a ticket to Skyfall back in 2012 did so absent the knowledge that they were buying a ticket to another 007 adventure. Still, once again, the phrase 'Star Wars' is the most important part of their $4 billion Lucasfilm purchase, so it stays on the title come hell-or-high water.
The last thing I have to say is merely the part where I once-again express hope-against-hope that Walt Disney shows relative restraint in terms of marketing Star Wars: The Force Awakens over the next 13 months. I know there are rumblings about a teaser trailer dropping as early as this year (attached to Into the Woods perhaps?), but there is a big part of me that hopes that we don't see a thing from this movie aside from maybe a still or bare-bones teaser until the opening weekend of Brad Bird's Tomorrowland in May of 2015. It's a new Star Wars film. It's the most preordained blockbuster this side of The Dark Knight Rises. You don't need a steady stream of spoiler bits, teasers and trailers, online clips, and interviews where participants plugging a different movie drop hints at what's going to happen in the tenth Star Wars episode. J.J. Abrams's mystery box may be a little obnoxious, especially when the film he is selling doesn't have any real surprises, but I'll take the mystery box over the 'give the game away' saturation strategy any day of the week.
Okay folks, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, starring John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, and Lupita Nyong'o, opens December 18th, 2015 (the same day as Avatar) in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D.
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Posted by Unknown on Thursday, November 6, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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