Club Jade

ClevverMovies talked to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy at CinemaCon (where she was named Pioneer of the Year) and got a few tidbits about Episode VII (J.J. Abrams is only signed for one) and spin-offs.

Lucasfilm is “determining what those spin-offs are going to be right now.” and she expects they’ll get some great talent” to helm them.

Big Shiny Robot, for the record, takes her evasiveness on IMAX and 3D as an indirect ‘yes.’

At CinemaCon in Las Vegas, /Film reports that Disney has said that they hopes to have a new Star Wars once every year, beginning with Episode VII.

Variety reports that they reiterated that the new Episodes will be released in 2015, 2017 and 2019, with standalones presumable aiming for ’16 and ’18.

This lines up with what we’ve all been assuming based on various comments during the acquisition, including CEO Bob Iger’s earlier statement confirming the standalone films. More worrying is the timeline: Standalones alternating with Episodes? I’m not so sure I like the idea of a new Episode every other year.

On the other hand, consider the audience: CinemaCon is a convention for theater owners, who’ll naturally want to hear about a regular slate of new Star Wars releases. The reality of film production may be another matter entirely… So we’ll see.

Because. Just because.

(more…)

There’s been a lot of speculation that Michael Giacchino, who’s scored all of J.J. Abrams’ films, might step in to replace or collaborate with John Williams on Episode VII. But Williams said earlier this year that he’d like to return, and now Yahoo reports that Giacchino is all for it.

“One of the things that excites me most about ‘Star Wars’ coming back is chance to hear a John Williams score,” he said at a weekend Q&A in Switzerland:

“He has been a great inspiration to me over the years,” he continued. “He has been a great teacher to me and good friend and I would love nothing more than to hear more of his music from that universe.”

“If it were up to me I would say ‘John, you must do it.’”

In addition to Abrams’ films (and Star Tours: The Adventures Continue,) Giacchino has scored several films for Disney and Pixar. He was nominated for an Oscar for Ratatouille in 2008 and won in 2010 for Up. Williams, of course, has 5 Oscars, including one for the original Star War score.

On Facebook, Billy Dee Williams posts about the Star Wars sequels and asks fans to get the word out about their desire to see Lando again.

Everyone is still asking about the new Star Wars movie…. the best way to ensure that Billy Dee Williams will be in the new film is to FB, TWITTER, BLOG and tell Disney and Lucasfilm that you want to see LANDO again! Hopefully JJ will read the wishes and write in LANDO! UNTIL then…. here is all that is known: “I am in the dark with the actual plans that Disney and Lucasfilm have for the future of the “Star Wars” universe. I have heard the same rumors that the fans heard, that a new trilogy is being made, that spin-offs may be made, that we all [Mark, Carrie, Harrison and myself] are going to be reprising our roles in these projects. At this point in time, nothing has been confirmed about my participation and I have signed no contracts. I assure you that I would absolutely love to reprise my role of Lando Calrissian. He’s a character that I took great pride in creating on screen and have continued to be a part of when providing his voice for video games, the new “Star Wars Detours” cartoon and for various episodes of “Robot Chicken”, among other projects. It’s a lot of fun to keep Lando alive and I am eager to do it again, on film, when I get the call. I thank all the fans out there for their continued support and I hope to get the call from Disney and Lucasfilm real soon, until then, may the force be with us all!”

He’s said that he’d like to come back before, but leaves little doubt as to his situation with Lucasfilm at present. Do you want to see Lando return – if only as a cameo?

In a press release yesterday announcing that Captain America: The Winter Soldier has begun filming, Marvel credits Mary Jo Markey with also being the editor for Episode VII. Surprise!

Markey has edited much of J.J. Abrams’ work – including both his Star Treks – so it’s by no means a stretch that she’ll work on Episode VII as well. But it’s certainly not something we expect to learn from a Marvel press release!

UPDATE: Jedi News points out that IMDB also lists another frequent Abrams editor, Maryann Brandon, but IMDB is generally not to be trusted at this point. (And this raises a question… Did Marvel get their info about Markey and EpVII from IMDB? Either way, until Lucasfilm or Bad Robot weigh in, this is questionable.)

April Fools! Here’s one we missed: First Showing spotted what appears to be an Episode VIII script or treatment that appears very briefly in Peter Jackson’s latest Hobbit behind-the-scenes video, which was released on Monday. Of course, there are also appear to be scripts that say The Silmarillion, which I don’t believe anyone even has the film rights for, so take it as you will. I’m sure you can guess how I’m leaning. Well played, hobbitses.

Box office. The Motley Fool predicts that Episode VII will make a lot of money. Not just a a lot of money (because duh) but that it will go where only James Cameron has gone before: To make $2 billion worldwide. Well, if anyone can, it would be Star Wars… Right?

People. J.J. Abrams talks Star Wars and Star Trek with SFX, while Harrison Ford’s lips are sealed on Entertainment Tonight Oh the humanity. Or maybe he’s just tortured his publicist enough this week.

Back… To the future! Movies.com gathers some Lucas’ quotes on earlier plans for extending the saga.

Harrison Ford isn’t talking Episode VII yet – but he has plenty of praise for director J.J. Abrams, who he worked with in 1991′s Regarding Henry

“I think he’s fantastic,” Ford said in a recent interview. “I did his first movie, ‘Regarding Henry,’ with Mike Nichols. A wonderful talent. Extraordinary guy.”

He also played coy on playing Han Solo again, sort of: “Um, I don’t even want to discuss that. It’s great. Ain’t it great?” He was a little more cagey in his MTV interview:

“It might be nice, depending on the circumstances, to revisit any one of those characters. What interests me now is the opportunity to work at all and to work in ambitious projects. I can’t think that way,” Ford said. “What I’m looking for is the next opportunity, the next ambitious opportunity. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of those. If it’s one of those, great. If it’s not, that’s fine too.”

And on past criticisms of George Lucas:

“I might have said things in the past that were characterizations of how I felt at the time,” he said. “That was then. This is now. It doesn’t matter.”

Empire talked to director J.J. Abrams about Episode VII and Star Trek. No real revelations, but some intersting comments for fans of the franchises.

“I don’t know because we’re just getting started. So it’s a great question that I hope I’ll have a good answer to when I know what the answer is. There are infinitely more questions than answers right now, but to me, they’re not that dissimilar. Though I came at these both from very different places, where they both meet is a place of ‘Ooh, that’s really exciting.’ And even though I was never a Star Trek fan, I felt like there was a version of it that would make me excited, that I would think ‘that’s cool, that feels right, I actually would want to see that.

“How we were going to get there, what the choices were going to be, who was going to be in it – all of those things I knew would have to be figured out, but it was all based on a foundation of this indescribable, guttural passion for something that could be. It’s a similar feeling that I have with Star Wars. I feel like I can identify a hunger for what I would want to see again and that is an incredibly exciting place to begin a project. The movies, the worlds could not be more different but that feeling that there’s something amazing here is the thing that they share.”

He also talks about how Kathleen Kennedy was able to change his mind, and about talking to Steven Spielberg.

And above is a fantastic fan poster by artist Adam Schickling!

Harrison Ford was in Chicago yesterday and naturally WGN asked him about Star Wars. “It’s not in the bag yet,” he said. “But I think it’s going to happen.” (via)

We’ve had multiple reports that Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are in talks to return; George Lucas himself has basically said it’s a sure thing.

Today, Ford is appearing before Congress to talk about aviation.