Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Lots of big things are afoot at Lucasfilm right now with the ousting of Colin Trevorrow. It was announced this morning that JJ Abrams will write and direct Star Wars Episode IX. You've probably seen that by now, but an even fresher bit of news was announced just a few minutes ago.
Episode IX has been pushed back from May 24th, 2019 to December 20, 2019.
Star Wars: Episode IX is scheduled for release on December 20, 2019. pic.twitter.com/rDBqmuHX89
— Star Wars (@starwars) September 12, 2017
This is actually good news. I'm not all that concerned about Kathy Kennedy and crew going back to the well with this choice, but I was concerned he was racing to meet a release date that was locked when they all thought they had a good year of working on the script with Trevorrow. You can rush a lot, but if you rush the writing process it inevitably shows up in the final product.
Plus I thought Lucasfilm was crazy to move off their holiday date in the first place. Financially they have the run of the season and can rake in armloads of cash without much competition and on a movie-goer level it is already becoming a holiday tradition to take in the new Star Wars movie.
I know May is the old school traditional release date for Star Wars, but once they moved to December it just felt right and I, for one, am glad they're keeping that trend going, even if they've been forced into it thanks to butting heads with their last director.
There's a lot to unpack with Abrams coming back into the fold in such a direct way, but I will say that I feel like he had an impossible task in front of him with The Force Awakens in terms of bridging the original trilogy to a new Star Wars world while also bringing a whole lot of disenfranchised fans back into the fold. On most levels I think he succeeded with The Force Awakens.
What's interesting to me now is that he doesn't have that weight on his shoulders. He already succeeded in finding his new key players in the universe and making Star Wars feel like Star Wars again. Now his priority has to be on bringing this new trilogy to an emotional closure. I don't know the man's mind, but the last thing I expect out of Abrams this time around is something that follows the original films beat by beat. I think that was an extension of the “soft reboot” nature of relaunching one of cinema's best franchises and that has already been done.
Anyway, tons to take in today. What do you folks think?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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