Star Wars; A New Beginning

Years ago, when the sixth film of the "Star Wars" series was made, George Lucas, the director and owner of Lucasfilm, told his numerous fans not to expect a seventh installment because "Star Wars" was over. However, fortune smiled upon the devoted fans of this series; as the director sold Lucasfilm along with all its assets for a staggering $4.2 billion to the Walt Disney Company, thus handing over "Star Wars" to a "new generation of filmmakers." Without delay, Walt Disney rolled up its sleeves to capitalize on the popular "Star Wars" brand; not only will the seventh installment of the film, titled "The Force Awakens," hit theaters this winter (December 18), but according to Walt Disney, fans can expect a new installment every two to three years thereafter. The seventh installment is directed by J.J. Abrams, who directed the last installment of "Star Trek" in 2009 in a similar sci-fi atmosphere, but even he was somewhat hesitant to take on a project of this magnitude—likely because he knew that the die-hard "Star Wars" fans do not take jokes lightly. Perhaps for this reason, it was preferred to use real locations and miniature models to make the seventh film more similar to George Lucas's original trilogy, rather than digital techniques like green screens. Exactly thirty-eight years ago, a young George Lucas created a universe with not-so-complicated tools and remarkable cinematic creativity—though many similar examples have emerged in cinema and television since then, it was extremely innovative and pioneering for its time. The seventh film, which is likely to be released just before Christmas, takes place about three decades after the fall of the Empire, following the final conflict depicted in "Return of the Jedi" (1983). Although the name "Star Wars" is enough to guarantee astronomical revenues for its creators, it seems that Walt Disney is also striving to exploit this brand as much as possible; among other efforts, the company is trying to keep the name "Star Wars" in the headlines and assure fans that the new film will not disappoint them. Just last week, Walt Disney did something that George Lucas had avoided for decades: after years, all six films—which were previously available for purchase on DVD—were released for download on the internet, along with unseen behind-the-scenes footage and related interviews. The Marvel Company, which is a subsidiary of Walt Disney, is also set to release a significant number of books (20 volumes) about "Star Wars" in the coming months. However, the goal of publishing these books is not just to keep the name in the spotlight; they will explore the life stories of the main—and sometimes even secondary—characters so that eager fans can see what has happened to each of them. Additionally, new characters will be created and added to the "Star Wars" universe in these books, whose stories will later be followed in the films; including the first LGBTQ character in this series, which, according to one of the producers, has been added for the sake of "diversity". This female character, introduced in the book "Lords of the Sith," is named "Maf Mors," and rumors suggest that she will play a more central role in future installments. J.J. Abrams—the screenwriter and director of the film—also went all out to excite fans: instead of giving them a chance to theorize about the new installment in advance, he kept the story completely secret. According to "Miltiades Yerolemos," one of the film's actors, apart from a few key actors, no script was provided to the rest of the crew, and even their access to their dialogues on set was monitored and restricted. The official trailer of the film is also crafted in a way that does not help much in guessing the story. It is even said that Abrams made one of the actors who came as a guest behind the scenes sign a written commitment not to disclose what they saw and heard. Another reason that significantly increases the likelihood of the film's reception is that some actors who starred in the first "Star Wars" nearly four decades ago, directed by George Lucas, will reprise their roles in the new film, including Mark Hamill as "Luke Skywalker" and Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor. Additionally, the main stars of the film, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher—who appeared in the first film as "Han Solo" and "Princess Leia"—will also play roles in the new film. According to what has leaked to the press a few days ago, despite the creators' efforts, parts of the new film will narrate the story of "Rey," the young daughter of these two characters. As you can see, maintaining such a level of secrecy in a project as large and popular as "Star Wars" is not easy. This series of events has likely caused concern for the director; just a few days ago, some media reported that Abrams intends to release his film six months earlier than scheduled to prevent any leaks of the story. J.J. Abrams may have thought of this out of necessity, but it cannot be denied that for die-hard "Star Wars" fans, this is good news.