Announced a long, long time ago (well, on Thursday actually) for a date far, far away… a new Star Wars movie is set to premiere!

The news was posted on the Stars Wars website with a confirmed release date of December 18th, 2015. Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, expressed his enthusiasm for the movie. “”We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture.”

Last year, Disney bought out Lucasfilm, which owned the rights to the Star Wars franchise. Lucasfilm was owned by George Lucas, who directed and wrote the screenplay for the first Star Wars movie, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in 1977. The next two movies had different directors until Lucas returned to direct Episode I (1999), Episode II (2002) and Episode III (2005). Unfortunately, Episode I fared worse than the preceding movies. Peter Travers opened his review in Rolling Stone magazine with, “The actors are wallpaper, the jokes are juvenile, there’s no romance, and the dialogue lands with the thud of a computer-instruction manual.” Eli Roth, the director of Hostel, was not a fan either; as he stated in one of the first reviews of the movie before it premiered, “So here’s the kicker: IT SUCKS.” Ouch!

Taking on a new director, J.J. Abrams, might help bring a new style to this popular franchise. Abrams directed the last two Star Trek movies, which both received good reviews, and the television show Lost, for which he won an Emmy for “Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series” in 2005. Lost went on to win a total of 57 awards before it ended in 2010. With his track record, Abrams has a good chance of improving the franchise, which seemed to be going down a slippery slope under Lucas.

There are rumors that original cast members Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher will return, although there have been no official casting announcements yet.

About The Author

Corlyn Voorhees is a Blast Correspondent and a Northeastern University journalism student

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