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RUMOR: JJ Abrams leaving the Star Wars franchise?

DanMetroMan : 7/22/2013 4:26 pm
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Rumors are swirling that Star Trek Into Darkness director, J.J. Abrams, may be dropping out of Star Wars: Episode VII due to some disagreements with the studio.

Director J.J. Abrams is hotter than hot right now, nearing Joss Whedon status, but he may be leaving his job as director of the next Star Wars film due to filming locations.

According to reports, Abrams doesn�t want to be away from his family for such a long period of time, as the studio wants to shoot Star Wars: Episode VII in England.

Badass Digest reports that multiple sources confirm that Abrams is quite close to quitting altogether for the highly publicized Star Wars film. After Disney bought Lucasfilm from Star Wars creator, George Lucas, for a cool $4 billion, they decided to move quickly and hired J.J. Abrams for the first Star Wars film produced by its new studio.

Digest has also revealed that the script for Star Trek 3 will be written by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz. The duo wrote the first Thor film for Marvel and they also have writing credits which include X-Men: First Class.

We�re glad to hear that some new blood is being brought into the franchise, as some fans felt Star Trek Into Darkness felt a bit too familiar.

Despite Abrams concern about filming in England, the studio is reportedly bucking at moving the film�s location to the U.S., which is reportedly a deal breaker for Abrams.

Collider reports that these rumors may become more solid if Abrams isn�t present at Germany�s Star Wars celebration, which takes place very soon, between July 26 � 28.


I'm not even into Star Wars or Star Trek, just seems odd (if this story is true) that Disney would let him walk over location.
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I wonder if there's a cost difference in shooting  
jcn56 : 7/22/2013 4:29 pm : link
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.
to me it seems equally odd...  
Italianju : 7/22/2013 4:30 pm : link
he would walk due to location. Seems like a lot of these big budget films are being done outside of the US these days.
Italian  
DanMetroMan : 7/22/2013 4:32 pm : link
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?
I don't know if it factors in  
Matt M. : 7/22/2013 4:32 pm : link
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.
He doesn't want to leave LA and his family for a year  
old timer : 7/22/2013 4:33 pm : link
And he doesn't need to. What not to understand.
i thought i read about something about this back when he signed up  
GMAN4LIFE : 7/22/2013 4:34 pm : link
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...
thats true dan...  
Italianju : 7/22/2013 4:35 pm : link
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.
What's  
DanMetroMan : 7/22/2013 4:37 pm : link
"hard to understand" is this not being discussed when the negotiations took place unless one of the sides is suddenly changing their mind.
no problem if he doesnt want to leave his family..  
Italianju : 7/22/2013 4:37 pm : link
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.
Howard  
DanMetroMan : 7/22/2013 4:37 pm : link
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.
Good, keep him away  
Kyle : 7/22/2013 4:38 pm : link
.
Give it to Brad Bird instead.  
the_fridge : 7/22/2013 4:39 pm : link
.
I don't know if I believe this  
Sneakers O'toole : 7/22/2013 4:40 pm : link
isn't this something he would have known when they were in talks about the job?
who  
sinctybldh : 7/22/2013 4:40 pm : link
is Brad Bird?
And I alays thought that  
Blackbeard : 7/22/2013 4:40 pm : link
THIS WAS A FOOTBALL VENUE!
or what Dan Metro said  
Sneakers O'toole : 7/22/2013 4:41 pm : link
.
Yeah, I'm with Dan here  
jcn56 : 7/22/2013 4:42 pm : link
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.
if Vin R can't post about Batman  
Rocky369 : 7/22/2013 4:44 pm : link
surely, DMM doesn't need to bring Star Wars to the board.
Like  
DanMetroMan : 7/22/2013 4:45 pm : link
I said i'm not even into Star Wars or Star Trek, just found this "rumor" to be surprising.
Maybe it's the fact that Star Trek movie kind of sucked and the fan  
the_fridge : 7/22/2013 4:46 pm : link
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?
You mean that  
Scott in Montreal : 7/22/2013 4:49 pm : link
Star Wars is NOT going to look like this??




BUMMER!
Brad Bird would be awesome.  
Jan in DC : 7/22/2013 4:50 pm : link
I don't think that happens though.
Certainly hope it's what the_fridge wrote  
Kyle : 7/22/2013 4:51 pm : link
JJ Abrams is an uninspired choice destined to produce mediocrity.
i'm just surprised they would be this far along in the planning  
mfsd : 7/22/2013 4:53 pm : link
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?
Jan, my hope for Brad Bird is due to complete  
the_fridge : 7/22/2013 4:55 pm : link
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.
Sin, Brad Bird came from animation. Did Iron Giant and Incredibles  
the_fridge : 7/22/2013 4:58 pm : link
And the last Mission Impossible movie, which was by far the best one.
I don't know who this is coming from,  
barens : 7/22/2013 5:01 pm : link
but to say JJ Abrams is approching Joss Whedon status is beyond ridiculous. I almost had to stop reading after that.
oh ok  
sinctybldh : 7/22/2013 5:01 pm : link
why are you so confident that star wars would be exceptional in his hands? does he have any sci fi movies to his credits?
Abrams  
EricNY33 : 7/22/2013 5:10 pm : link
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 thought he did a good job rebooting Trek  
Sneakers O'toole : 7/22/2013 5:14 pm : link
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
I didn't see 'Into the Darkness'  
jcn56 : 7/22/2013 5:18 pm : link
but I saw the first one and thought it was pretty good. What was it that he did that qualified for 'ruining' it?
this thread is about as important as  
Tark10 : 7/22/2013 5:18 pm : link
Fantasy Football.
How did Abrams...  
Chris in Philly : 7/22/2013 5:22 pm : link
"ruin" the Star Trek franchise? By blowing up Vulcan? BFD...
I remember Abrams  
Sneakers O'toole : 7/22/2013 5:22 pm : link
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?
the_fridge  
Giantology : 7/22/2013 5:43 pm : link
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.
I'm a trekkie  
Ten Ton Hammer : 7/22/2013 5:46 pm : link
and I enjoyed the trek reboot.

It wasn't supposed to be a revival of your childhood memories with everything as you remember it.
I must have a different definition of  
Wuphat : 7/22/2013 5:47 pm : link
ruin....
One thing Abrams did for Trek  
Sneakers O'toole : 7/22/2013 5:48 pm : link
was that he brought a sense of fun back to the franchise. It needed that.
Bring in Adam Shadowchild.  
LawrenceTaylor56 : 7/22/2013 5:50 pm : link
.
It's all true  
Sampson : 7/22/2013 7:04 pm : link
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).
JJ Abrams leaving a project  
Modus Operandi : 7/22/2013 7:10 pm : link
can only be a net positive for said project.
JJ was also attached to the Stephen King Dark Tower series  
Wuphat : 7/22/2013 7:11 pm : link
adaptation, but ultimately walked away from that, too
Hope so  
NoMatter : 7/22/2013 7:12 pm : link
Wasn't fond of the choice. Didn't like what he did with the Star Treks
Modus  
UConn4523 : 7/22/2013 7:17 pm : link
you mean like Star Trek?

Abrams leaving would be awful news for Star Wars.
I love all the bullshit hate  
KWhite2250 : 7/22/2013 7:22 pm : link
For JJ. All he has done is make good shows over and over and reboot Star Trek very well.
UConn  
Modus Operandi : 7/22/2013 7:27 pm : link
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.

It's all opinion of course  
UConn4523 : 7/22/2013 8:08 pm : link
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.
decades worth  
Modus Operandi : 7/22/2013 8:10 pm : link
Of top notch science fiction?
You don't like him  
UConn4523 : 7/22/2013 8:14 pm : link
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.
Apart from Star Trek  
Modus Operandi : 7/22/2013 8:17 pm : link
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...
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