Jedi News reports that Episode VII pre-production is working under the pseudonym Foodles Productions Ltd., and that they’ve booked their block at Pinewood for 10 years, with facilities construction already underway for shooting as early as August 2013.
We’ve previously heard that filming was likely to begin in early 2014.
UPDATE: Jedi News did a bit more digging (and explaining!) on Foodles…
UPDATE #2: And now LFL is denying that filming begins in August.
I thought the big news, if accurate, is the space being rented for 10 years. The space being occupied for Star Wars until 2023 or 2024 actually gives us a few more movies on the table from their end. Theoretically, stage space used in 2023 could be used for a film released in 2024.
Of course, other Lucasfilm productions not related to Star Wars could use that space. I wonder if those films are contingent upon the success of the next five films we’re getting.
I know it has been eight or nine months since the announcement, but I still trip out when I write the next film, let alone the next five films we’re supposed to get.
Interesting stuff.
Well, the 10 years thing could apply to any amount of Disney films as well. But they’ve already made it clear they’re not stopping at a single trilogy.
Filming next month, though? That’s a surprise.
All of that hinges on who”they” are. If “they” are the Disney powers that be, it could be anything beyond Star Wars. If the “they” happen to be Lucasfilm, it would seem weird for Lucasfilm to book studio space for anything other than itself ( while possible it seems more unlikely to me, unless it was about getting a good deal to mitigate costs all around).
I think it is one of those things to keep in the backs of our minds and if more pieces of a big puzzle start to form, it will at least inform speculation.
Of course, Kennedy did inform Lucasfilm employees she would like to make to two to three films a year. But on the other side of that, Kennedy only has a five year deal, unless she signs on for another five years, which I hope she does.
Pinewood already has a big deal with Disney: That’s why LFL is (probably, since the actual studio hasn’t been confirmed yet) going there in the first place. Maybe all a part of the same deal.
I believe that two or three films a year thing was almost certainly a misquote, but we’ll see.
It was a misquote. Or, to be more precise, an EW screwup. ;-)
But didn’t JJA say only recently that they would be going to London in December? The pre-production I can buy, the shooting I find somewhat doubtful.
Maybe they’re shooting some elements out there early with second unit work, or the report is just flat out wrong.
If they did start filming in December and they were building the Millennium Falcon, I would have to think it would begin a few months before filming started there. So that might be where the confusion lies about filming starting in August, or it just might be totally wrong.
That is GREAT news!