RUMOR: JJ Abrams leaving the Star Wars franchise?

if it were somewhere else I'd just assume it's the money, but England doesn't strike me as a less expensive destination to shoot the film.

he would walk due to location. Seems like a lot of these big budget films are being done outside of the US these days.

Star Trek I believe was filmed near his home in California. I'm guessing a movie of this size likely would be a ton of time away from home. Then again he's so rich not sure why they couldn't just move to England for a few months?

But, I believe Lucasfilms had a huge studio in England. Perhaps Disney received that as part of the deal and wants to continue filming, editing, etc. there.

And he doesn't need to. What not to understand.

that the money must have been good for him to leave his family behind... he kind of makes it a point to keep his family close whenever he makes his movies...

Disney should make it right by him...

it just seems a bit odd to walk away from a huge franchise. Also did they not have an idea of where they would film when they brought him in.

Perhaps Disney has some connection with the england location or just intend on using some of the same locations from Guardians of the Galaxy since its another Disney space movie filming in the UK.

"hard to understand" is this not being discussed when the negotiations took place unless one of the sides is suddenly changing their mind.

and no issue if Disney wants to film their 4 billion dollar project where they want to film it. Just going to have to find a new director i guess.

Stern last week said JJ told him some "inside info" on the movie but it's possible Stern was just covering up the fact Abrams (a friend of his) was planning on leaving.

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isn't this something he would have known when they were in talks about the job?

is Brad Bird?

THIS WAS A FOOTBALL VENUE!

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it's not as if the location is a surprise to him, they had to have covered that during negotiations. Maybe there's something else and they're just using location as an excuse.

surely, DMM doesn't need to bring Star Wars to the board.

I said i'm not even into Star Wars or Star Trek, just found this "rumor" to be surprising.

base is really confused with what the hell they were doing with the direction they took? And maybe Disney said, woah.... how much did we pay for these rights? Do we want Abrams to screw up our expensive property?

Star Wars is NOT going to look like this??




BUMMER!

I don't think that happens though.

JJ Abrams is an uninspired choice destined to produce mediocrity.

without having agreed on something as critical as where they were going to film - maybe I don't much about the movie business, but wouldn't location for filming be one of the first things discussed with a potential director?

Or maybe Abrams changed his mind midstream?

Or maybe Abrams decided today he doesn't want to deal with the frenzy over the Royal Baby across the pond?

speculation based on the TomorrowLand movie.

Since Bird has a relationship with Abrams from the Mission Impossible flick it's possible that they can pull Abrams stepping aside and producing with Bird taking over.

I generally am a fan of Abrams stuff but Star Trek has me doubtful. They took that franchise and went nowhere with it in two movies.

And the last Mission Impossible movie, which was by far the best one.

but to say JJ Abrams is approching Joss Whedon status is beyond ridiculous. I almost had to stop reading after that.

why are you so confident that star wars would be exceptional in his hands? does he have any sci fi movies to his credits?

ruined the Star Trek franchise yet both movies have done well both critically and commercially.

But that means nothing.

If he's does back out from Star Wars Episode VII I'll be upset, but only if they choose someone bad to replace him.

I have more mixed feelings about Into Darkness. I'll post something here in white

I liked Into Darkness despite a lot of it's faults, but I just could not buy into Cumberbatch as Khan. He was good as a genetic superman perhaps, but he was not Khan. Terrible casting. And not at all Cumberbatch's fault. But if you're going to do Khan, you have to cast it right

but I saw the first one and thought it was pretty good. What was it that he did that qualified for 'ruining' it?

Fantasy Football.

"ruin" the Star Trek franchise? By blowing up Vulcan? BFD...

even talking about European filming locations as being one of the reasons he was reluctant to take the job, but that in the end he decided to do it. So, why make the fuss now?

Really? I'm pretty sure both Star Trek films have been huge hits and have won a lot of new fans over. As a kid, I had zero interest in Star Trek (I was exposed to Star Wars first). My interest wasn't piqued until his reboot, and I thought Into Darkness was a really good film.

and I enjoyed the trek reboot.

It wasn't supposed to be a revival of your childhood memories with everything as you remember it.

ruin....

was that he brought a sense of fun back to the franchise. It needed that.

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Not to get too into it but I know the author of the original article and we share some of the same sources. We've been hearing this quietly since April but it started picking up some serious steam while we were at Comic-Con.

It mostly stems from Abrams not wanting to do pre-production and filming in London. He has kids and a family in LA and doesn't want to uproot them but also doesn't want to spend a lot of time away from them. He thought he could win the war with Disney to have the film(s) shoot in LA, but lost.

Also, J.J. is just kind of a fickle guy. He toyed around with Star Trek for almost a full year before actually committing to directing it. It's built into his Star Wars contract that he actually has a very easy out if he wants to. I don't think he'll leave the production outright but I also wouldn't be surprised if he takes a step back and just produces it (not unlike what Christopher Nolan did with Man of Steel).

can only be a net positive for said project.

adaptation, but ultimately walked away from that, too

Wasn't fond of the choice. Didn't like what he did with the Star Treks

you mean like Star Trek?

Abrams leaving would be awful news for Star Wars.

For JJ. All he has done is make good shows over and over and reboot Star Trek very well.

Yes. Like Star Trek. Abrams is the most overhyped POS around. Remember that viral campaign for that POS Cloverfield? His shitty movies might as well be made by MTVFilms and no one would've been able to tell the difference.

but if you left Star Trek and hated it, then I don't know what to tell you; probably should just quit watching movies.

Clover field had its faults but was and exciting movie and more of an event that you had to attend. It was different and I enjoyed it for what it was.

Name who should head up this project then. Certainly not the guy who resurrected a dead franchise and who has made over a decades worth of top notch science fiction.

Of top notch science fiction?

we get it. But if you don't like all of Lost, Star Trek, Super 8, Fringe, and the MI's, then there is no point in me trying to convince you otherwise. Clearly all pieces of shit.

But like I said, name a couple other options.

Which is really an action hero flick which just happens to take place in space, which of the others are sci-fi?

Lets start there...

If that is how you view Star Trek, then why isn't Star Wars just an action hero flick set in space?

You forgot Alias. Great show.

Who said it wasnt?

are all sci fi. Ever heard of them?

but I'd hardly call Lost sci-fi. My point is, JJ is fairly mediocre. It isn't like Cameron or Ridley Scott just walked away from the project.

As for whom I'd prefer to direct, I actually the ideal fit is JW. Campy sci-fi is his sweet spot and Firefly and Serenity were fantastic. But he's tied up with Avengers.

There are plenty of guys I think could handle it, many of which should've been higher on the list than JJ.

is a colossal turd, but I for one liked what he did with the Star Trek movies. They flat nailed the casting and I think they captured a lot of what made the original characters so endearing. And plenty of people here call me a movie snob. I think they're fun and do justice to the originals...

has his faults and I don't think would be some huge improvement. I didn't like the Avengers, I thought Thor was average at best, and I have a feeling this marvel universe is going to be much of the same crap over and over again.

But let's not pretend JJ hasn't had tremendous success. You not liking him doesn't mean everything has been the piece of shit you claim.

As for Lost, it's absolutely Sci Fi. The foundation of the show was time travel with alternate timelines, science, philosophy, etc. you don't need to be on a spaceship for it to be science fiction.

Fring is a very good show. If you liked X Files at all you'd like Fringe.

And you named 1 other guy. Got any others? Hint, you won't find much.

I didn't like Star Trek, thought Cloverfield was just brutal, to this day can't understand the appeal of watching Lost beyond "let's talk about it with each other and overanalyze everything" etc.

Not liking a faux cult hero like JJ Abrams doesn't mean the person lacks taste. Frankly I don't care about his success. I think his work is crap, but Star Wars will be the highest grossing movie of whatever year it releases whether he, someone worse, or someone better is attached to it. From a financials standpoint the shit doesn't matter.

From my subjective opinion on quality, it does, and I don't him near it.

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Which wasn't terrible.

I also am a fan of Fringe

Perhaps I was spoiled by the quality of FX, HBO, AMC, and Showtime shows, but damn do I regret blindly buying the dvd boxset. That said, I think JJ has done some good work. I never watched Star Trek before so I'm not familiar with how he's ruined it, but I greatly enjoyed both films and liked Super 8 and MI3. I hope they find a suitable replacement as I'm sure I'll have a friend that will drag me to it.

you wanna sell the box set?

if I didn't already give it to my mom. She loved it so I told her she could have it.

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with that license. It's a shame if he drops the project. I'd rather see it in his hands than someone else's.

is claiming this isn't true. Strange nothing from Abrams or Disney considering this rumor is appearing everywhere.

He doesn't necessarily need to uproot his family. He's getting work left and right.

Harry Knowles ‏@headgeek666 12h

I'm going to say this 1 last time. JJ Abrams is not leaving STAR WARS Ep 7.

But the final third or so of it was incredibly bad.

so if JJ quits, fine by me. While Kirk and Spock were perfectly cast, and the interaction between the two is great, the rest of those movies is terrible. The villains are an emo mess, I don't like how they were filmed (visually) and the stories simply aren't very good with too many plot holes imo. If JJ is kept on a leash, fine. Otherwise, later.

They are giving him the leash. It's his project.

well ok then.

Not that its the end all be all but it most likely wins best special effects in 2009 if Avatar didn't revolutionize 3D. It was also nominated for 2 sound awards and won best make up.

Again, not saying the Academy Awards are the end all be all, but to gripe against the movie for how it looked seems really weird to me.

Star Wars was ruined starting with RotJ. I crappy ending to an otherwise stellar start to a trilogy. The 3 reboots were bad as well.

JJ would resurrect the series and re-establish a lot of credibility. It's not like he's taking over something that left off being top notch. Not sure what people are expecting here when virtually anything will be better than the rebooted garbage led by Hayden Christensen.

Whoever takes over, with the notable exceptions of Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich, would be a massive improvement over what Lucas has done to the franchise...

I'm not a big Sci-Fi guy, but went to see that in the theatre, thought the premise/feel was great.

The last third fell off a cliff...I sat there like:

"We came this far, and it's just a fucking alien???"

Does he do anything other than "disaster story" movies?

but the movie overall was and he got a lot out of a bunch of kid actors (the best i've seen maybe ever).

There is always room for improvement. Whether or not you like the Star Trek villians, he has completely resurrected that franchise for the better, and i'm sure would do the same to Star Trek. No reason to think he wouldn't bring his A game to something this massive.

But like I said before, outside of Wheedon who won't be able to do this, and whom doesn't completely sell me either, who exactly would be a better fit that is available?

I just don't really understand the direction they took. They basically have added nothing new to the franchise. They did an origin story and then did Khan. It's all old stuff and basically a remake. It certainly doesn't give me much confidence that he can create something fun and new.

but it's more like trying to bring in a new generation of fans who don't know or care about 60's trek.

Anyone but George Lucas.

So, as long as the name is not George Lucas, I'm fine with it. Shit, you could roll out CiP's favorite director, Michael Bay, and I'd even be willing to watch half of space explode over seeing another Lucas Star Wars.

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the universe if they were just gonna tell the same stories? My kids don't know anything about ST, but loved the movies. So, I guess that worked to that extent. But so far his vision for ST has been re-do.

would be absolutely hysterical and worth the $12 just to see a massive shit show. I kinda hope it happens...

The kids were kids. They weren't pint-sized sarcastic, wisecracking adults. They were just kids with the sense of wonder and excitement unique to childhood.

and I've only seen a few of the older films, but he didn't exactly reboot something that was stellar. Half the movies were awful, and a huge chunk of the TV series was awful.

So if he took that as a foundation, and opened it up to old and new fans (which I think he did successfully), what's the problem?

taking over 4 minutes to blow up in high def on a big screen. Baytacular!

I agree. I can't remember a better portrayal of a large group of kids like that, maybe ever.

were actually REALLY good, they were just completely hamstrung by super limited technology and budget.

There's plenty of material to go to the well for to create interesting, good films.

Honestly though, Bay and Lucas are about the same.

Bay would have a lightsaber fight in an exploding volcano too.

Off topic and maybe I am out of touch but what is he referencing about whedon being "hot" about?

Dan at it again! ;-)

Really... CHECK YOUR SOURCES NEXT TIME!!!

he's the hottest directer because of the Marvel movies and getting Thor + Avengers up and running.

I also don't think its an apples to apples comparison. Two completely different directors who both have their faults (none glaring, IMO). Either would be a good choice, but as a fan of the Star Trek movies, I think JJ can only help Star Wars. He's also not tied into anything long term like Wheedon is.

I thought they were saying he was upset about something. Been a fan of Whedon's work for a long time.

from Deadspin and a bunch of sites were reporting! lol

Anyone else think the trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street looks awful?

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They did not break new ground with the reboot Ten Ton Hammer : 9:51 am but it's more like trying to bring in a new generation of fans who don't know or care about 60's trek.

I grew up watching the Star Trek shows occasionally. Wasn't a huge fan, but they were entertaining enough. Didn't know enough to follow any kind of storylines that were developed and not resolved within the show.

It was time for something new. Why make something totally original that doesn't bind together the older fans with a new generation.

I think the new ST movies are excellent. Really, really enjoyed the second one. Just fun action/adventure movies set in space with enjoyable characters. What's wrong with that?

Apparently it doesn't sit well with those who have followed the franchise for a long time.

I've been trekking since I was maybe 10-12.

Going back and watching TOS is..hard. Even after they went back to the old film and cleaned up the visual effects..it's a hard time to go back and watch it.