JJ Abrams to direct new Star Wars movie

Jan 25, 2013 | News

By David Shankbone (flickr) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

JJ Abrams to direct the seventh installment of Star Wars set to release in 2015. By David Shankbone (flickr) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By Tatiana Patterson

His name is JJ Abrams, and he’s trying to control both galaxies.

Star Wars fans have mixed feelings about Abrams, who was confirmed yesterday as the director of the seventh installment of the sci-franchise.

Abrams, who directed the Star Trek remake in 2009, has been chosen to direct the film, now owned by Disney.

“As a kid I was always a fan of special effects,” Abrams told Entertainment Weekly last November. “Watching movies, I was constantly trying to figure out how they did it, whatever the effect was. Star Wars was the first movie that blew my mind in that way; it didn’t matter how they did any of it because it was all so overwhelmingly and entirely great. It was funny and romantic and scary and compelling and the visual effects just served the characters and story. It galvanized for me; not for what was exciting about how movies were made, but rather for what movies were capable of.”

Adrian Pepe, radio and broadcast student at Humber College, loves Star Wars but is hesitant now that Disney is in the picture.

“I’m nervous because it’s Disney, and I’m excited because it’s Disney,” Pepe said. “You get a company that’s worth millions of dollars and has a good group of actors but Disney has butchered some big name films in the past.”

Pepe doesn’t appear to be the only one with mixed feelings.

Kristian Gutauskas, former Humber student and co-founder of the Bad Movies club, agrees that Disney could possibly ruin the film’s reputation.

“Star Trek was really good,” Gutauskas said, in regards to Abram’s directing ability. “But just because there’s someone good behind it doesn’t mean the finished product will be good.”

Walt Disney Productions announced in October last year that they bought “Lucasfilm” for $4 billion as well as the rights to the Star Wars franchise, according to a report on the Internet Movie Database [IMDB].

To some, the move doesn’t appear to be a bad one.

“Anything is better than George Lucas,” said Caleb Timmerman, Arboriculture student at Humber. “He was the worst writer and director.”

Around the same time they made the announcement, Disney also said they plan on releasing the new film as the start of a brand new trilogy.

JJ Abrams was among other directors potentially chosen for the role. Director of “Argo”, Ben Affleck, was also rumoured to be in the running.

The film is expected to release summer of 2015.