Deadline.com has provided us with some great new insights into Star Wars: Episode VII courtesy of the man himself, J.J. Abrams. Speaking at a conference several days ago, Abrams said that he and his crew will be moving to London at the end of 2013 for the new film. This seems to indicate that production will start in early 2014 - keeping in line with the tentative 2015 release date.
TheForce.net isn't as optimistic, noting that even an early 2014 start date will leave "an enormous amount of work to accomplish to maintain a 2015 release date". The site is therefore speculating a fall / December release for Episode VII.
This would certainly be unusual. Star Wars has always been a summer affair - every previous episode being released in the month of May. In fact, Episode IV: A New Hope only recently won the Yahoo! award for "greatest summer movie of all time". My guess would be that Abrams & Co. will be aiming to get the film out in the same time period, but the fact that they've been coy about specific dates certainly shows some trepidation about how long the production process will take. While I undoubtedly want to see this move as soon as possible, I've no issue with waiting a few extra months in order to ensure the film is the best that it can be.
In another interesting excerpt, Abrams said the following about the new film and its effect on the existing EU material:
"I think that the thing is so big and so massive to so many people that the key to moving forward is honoring but not revering what went before."
This is a promising revelation. Many fans (myself included) fear that the new instalments in the saga will entirely disregard several decades of carefully constructed EU fiction. It's encouraging to know that Abrams at least intends to 'honour' this. While few of us expect slavish adherence to what has come before, it'd be pleasing to see the universe we have come to know and love paid some respect. The Clone Wars did an excellent job of this, covering an already well-documented period in the Star Wars timeline without laying waste to what had come before (the history of the Mandalorians excepted - that's a discussion for another time entirely). Here's hoping Abrams will do the same!
