JJ Abrams, Beat The Odds EventJ.J. Abrams Divides Opinion As The Director Of Star Wars Episode 7

The Star Wars universe almost imploded late on Thursday (January 24, 2013) when it was announced that Star TREK filmmaker J.J. Abrams will be directing the next Star WARS movie. As expected, reaction has been decidedly mixed, with loyal George Lucas fans wary of the young, hip, Lost, guy tainting their beloved franchise with his brand of slick filmmaking.

The seventh instalment of Star Wars isn't scheduled to hit theaters until 2015, though speculation has been rife as to who could helm Episode VII following Disney's $4.05 billion buyout of Lucasfilm. It was reported James Vaughn was in discussions to direct, a rumour somewhat strengthened when his buddy Jason Flemyng essentially confirmed him for the role at the Seven Psychopaths premiere last year. Steven Spielberg was also thought to be on the shortlist, though ruled himself out pretty early-on claiming sci-fi was no longer his specialist genre. 

So here we are, J.J. Abrams has the role and attention now turns to how he plans to reinvent the franchise for a modern day audience sceptical of new Star Wars instalments. According to The Wrap - who broke the news - Argo director Ben Affleck was also in contention, though lost out in the final round of discussions. The latter filmmaker seems a wholly more intriguing proposition, so have the Disney team got it wrong? Twitter has spoken:

Upon hearing the news, the unofficial Hans Solo page said, "J.J. Abrams' name is actually Jar Jar," while 'Darth Vader' told followers, "If J.J. Abrams turns me into a smoke monster in the new Star Wars movie, I'm going to be pissed." With some movie aficionados praying for Sam Raimi or even David Lynch to helm the project, the jokes were practically writing themselves. One user said, "With Star Wars settled, now we can all focus on how weird it is that Sam Raimi is directing a sequel to The Wizard of Oz." Aaron Diaz shrewdly posted, "Abrams also isn't a nerd, and that's important. We're guaranteed to not have a Star Wars movie that feels like SW fanfic (like the prequels)"

So there we have it movie fans, it's J.J. Abrams. Is Star Wars Episode 7 going to be a nostalgic dud, or a forward thinking return to form?