Speculation: When and Where Will Major Information on Star Wars: The Force Awakens be Revealed?

Mystery BoxWith a little over six-and-a-half months to go until Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens comes out, one question is on everybody’s mind: “When will we learn more?” Join me as I take a look at the calendar to guesstimate the ideal times for Disney to reveal information about the new movie. Plus, get my thoughts on how the Mystery Box ad campaign will affect the movie beforehand.

 

Before we begin, I’d like to talk about one concept that’s becoming a pet peeve of mine in regards to Star Wars discussions: the dreaded Mystery Box. That one phrase I keep hearing in regards to this film that would drive me to drink if Corellian Ale actually existed. The key idea behind the Mystery Box theory – one that was popularized by director J. J. Abrams – is one that edicts that the marketers are going to tell audiences as little about the product as possible while still managing to pique their interests – don’t spoil any surprise, but give them a taste of what they’re in for, and the crowds will line up by themselves. But I feel as though it’s often misused as a way of saying “It’s how the studio deliberately misleads you.” This was not Abrams’s intention with the concept – and I strongly suspect the ads going forward won’t be about deceiving the audience about the final product, locked down for a release on December 18, 2015.

 

cloverfield-liberty-headThe most effective use of this Mystery Box approach for any movie that Abrams was involved with would have to be Cloverfield. The initial teaser trailer didn’t tell you a title or even give you a fraction of a glimpse that there’d be a giant monster in it. The first third of the teaser made it seem like it was a standard party movie about a couple of close friends in New York. Then the characters hear an odd noise, the building shakes, and they go outside. Suddenly, there’s a huge explosion, and the burning remnants of several buildings, cars, and other objects come crashing down around the party attendees as they rush to the streets – the most notable object, of course, being the striking visual of the head of the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the road. Absolutely nobody who saw this teaser back in July 2007 knew what in the HELL was going on, but many who saw it were intrigued and wanted to know more. Subsequent trailers that came out showed off more of the disaster going on in the streets of Manhattan, but they didn’t show the monster. People lined up to find out what the creature looked like, and the final product ended up making nearly eight times its budget internationally – and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Mystery Box hard at work.

 

Of course, Abrams is perhaps best known for utilizing the Mystery Box method in a way that may have harmed the product – specifically, the last movie he directed, Star Trek Into Darkness. I certainly thought it was a good movie, as did many critics and general audiences – but amongst Trekkies, the film’s quality is one that’s placed under substantial debate. Many point to the understated and outright deceptive marketing campaign for the movie as a source of discontent from the fans – most infamously, Abrams repeatedly denied that Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in the film – John Harrison – was not a code name for his true identity in the movie, Khan. Cumberbatch even delivered the “My name… Is… Khaaaaan.” line like it was meant to be a huge shock to the audience – when, in actuality, those who were familiar with Star Trek suspected this development from the start, and those who didn’t know who Khan Noonien Singh was or why he mattered were left bewildered at this “revelation”. A number of fans were angered that they were lied to in the name of protecting the Mystery Box (which wasn’t necessary at all for Khan), and while Star Trek Into Darkness was a success, the returns fell a bit short of Paramount’s predictions. Abrams has expressed regret for taking that approach to such an extensive level. It could be argued if they had just said “Yes, Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Khan.” from the get-go, then the movie would have been much less divisive and that it could have garnered a better response (and more money) from Star Trek fans. From this perspective, I think that it may be fair to come to the conclusion that the Mystery Box approach seems to work better for smaller, unknown properties than huge established franchises. And it’s really hard to get any bigger than Star Wars.

 

Benedict-Cumberbatch-Into-Darkness1The key problem with the extensiveness of the Mystery Box song-and-dance in regards to The Force Awakens can be found in how much more open Abrams and company have been about The Force Awakens. Whereas if they were taking the Star Trek Into Darkness approach of marketing about the desert planet, they would have strongly implied that the desert world was Tatooine throughout the marketing campaign before pulling a rug out beneath our feet and telling us it was another planet all along. Instead, they casually clarified the misconception at Celebration Anaheim, revealing it to be a new planet called Jakku. (Unfortunately, there are people still burned out about the “Khan” thing, and are theorizing that this is part of an absurd plot to go for a Planet Of The Apes-style reveal. One, mind you, which would have no dramatic impact whatsoever on the audience at large.) That being said, there’s still some mystery – we know quite a bit about the characters from the press releases, but for the most part, we don’t have too much of an idea of what the Star Wars universe is like after Return Of The Jedi. The Mystery Box effect still exists, but it’s nowhere near as extensive as people think it is. The approach now appears to be one that would imply that Daisy Ridley’s character (Rey) is Han Solo’s daughter, without completely stating it one way or the other. This iteration of the Mystery Box approach isn’t one that leaves audiences completely blind going in, but instead lets them know a decent portion of what they’re in for without spoiling the movie’s story.

 

So the bottom line I’m getting at is that from here on out, we’re going to get a fairly straightforward, minimal-spoiler marketing campaign for The Force Awakens, and that ads for the film aren’t going to create a similar controversy to the John Harrison incident. It’s certainly not in Disney’s best interest to do that for one of the two franchises that they paid more than $4 billion to acquire. In any case, I’ve done enough talking about the Mystery Box; now is the time to get into the long and winding marketing campaign for the movie.

 

What’s past is prologue, and it might be worth talking a bit about what’s come out so far before guesstimating what could be coming in the next couple of months.


October 2012-May 2015

star-wars-episode-7-cast-announce1The first year-and-a-half of news on Star Wars Episode VII was pretty bare-bones in hindsight. Other than occasional reveals of information – such as the confirmation that Lawrence Kasdan was writing, John Williams was composing, and J. J. Abrams was directing – we knew pretty much nothing about the movie in terms of story. It wasn’t until April 2014, just before production on the movie officially began, that we had an idea of what was going on when we got our first look at the main cast of the film. We got looks at the movie’s many settings from people who snuck their phones into the sets, along with fan rumors about who was playing who, but aside from a few glimpses offered by the “Force For Change” initiative, official details from Disney and Lucasfilm were few and far between from May to November 2014.

 

That changed when Teaser 1 for the movie hit on Black Friday – showing us, among other things, the next generation of Stormtrooper armor, the new X-wings and TIE fighters, the crossguard lightsaber, BB-8, and of course, the Millennium Falcon back in business. More details about the production made their way out between November 2014 and April 2015, and we were effectively taking our first steps into a much larger world. Then came Teaser 2 in time for Star Wars Celebration Anaheim (and later at screenings of Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Tomorrowland), which gave us a much more extensive look into the next major era of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Shortly thereafter, Vanity Fair included a Feature Story for the movie (following a tradition set forth by the Prequel Trilogy) explaining the roles of most of the major cast. In addition to those tidbits, we’ve had a lot of vague hints from the cast members as to what the movie is going to be about. As it stands, we’ve seen roughly three minutes of footage from the film, which is probably going to have a running time between two and two and a half hours.

 

Anyway, on to the hypothetical schedule of major releases of information.

 

June 2015

inside-outThis is where the fun begins. Inside Out, set to be released on June 19, has been seen as the next possible outlet for new footage… But with all things considered, I’m not sure if this movie is the place for Trailer 1, because this movie comes out just two months after Teaser 2. (Disney’s next tentpole film seems like it might be a more likely candidate for reasons that I’ll discuss below.) I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that we could see a Teaser 3 here, but I’m not holding my breath, either. What I personally see as more likely to happen is that there could be an Extended Teaser Trailer based on Teaser 2 – with a couple of new shots replacing others. Given that Pixar was the brainchild of George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic, and that Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles respectively hosted early looks at Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith, I think it’s safe to say that we’ll at least see the original Teaser 2 attached to the movie.

 

What seems to be the more reliable opportunity to plug The Force Awakens during this month would have to be the season premiere of Star Wars Rebels, the double-length episode The Siege Of Lothal. I believe that what would most likely happen is that Disney may include a Featurette about the making of the movie, given that they did the same thing for The Avengers around the time that the first half of the first season of Rebels aired. More Featurettes may pop up as the show continues to air.

 

July 2015

Comic ConThe reason why I have my reservations about us seeing Trailer 1 or an Extended Teaser Trailer in June is because of a much bigger event occurring in July: the San Diego Comic Con. The event is notable insofar as Marvel Studios has said they will not be holding a large panel, even though they’ll still attend the event – which makes sense, considering that they revealed their entire line-up of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in October of last year (adding the Spider-Man co-production with Sony Pictures to the lineup last February). Obviously, Disney isn’t going to just sit the event out, considering the sheer amount of coverage the show gets, so it is likely that they will use this opportunity to unveil Trailer 1 here, along with a press conference (if we’re lucky, they might even talk a little bit about Rogue One, since they can apparently do that at huge events like SDCC). It’s easy to infer that Trailer 1 will also be attached to Ant-Man, as that movie is set to be released a week later. Hasbro has also teased that they might unveil some of the toys for The Force Awakens here.

 

On an unrelated note, I think that the second season of Star Wars Rebels will start up early on in this month, without any major hiatuses, in order to get the hype train for The Force Awakens running in the eyes of younger fans. Spark Of Rebellion aired a little over a week before the actual show started.

 

August 2015

2013-d23-expo-the-magic-returns-banner1Disney D23 is another definite event where we’ll see something happen – they’ve already confirmed that Marvel and Star Wars are both going to have a presence there. Since they explicitly mention that they’re going to show footage of their live-action movies during the Saturday morning event, and that Lucasfilm will attend said event… Well, you can probably put two and two together. The way the write-up is worded strongly implies that they’ll be showing Clips for the movies being shown – my guess is that The Force Awakens is going to have two, plus some new details about the movie.

 

At this point, Mission – Impossible: Rogue Nation will be released, removing the embargo that’s been placed on Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One. The movie will probably be in the midst of principle photography by this point, and while it’s too early to show anything off, they could say something about who they’ve cast. A few nuggets of details about Episode VIII might also pop up, considering that the next D23 event won’t happen until 2017 – and after the movie is released at that. I think this should be about the time when we’ll be seeing what the entire first wave of action figures for The Force Awakens look like, provided a few aren’t revealed during SDCC. Which leads right into the next point…

 

September 2015

Toys R UsSeptember 4/5 is going to be the date that the proverbial floodgates open – the Force Friday event when stores start selling loads of merchandise that ties into The Force Awakens. By this point, we’ll have a clear look at much of the content introduced in the movie via the action figures, playsets, toy vehicles, LEGO models, board games, books, comics, and more. Among these tie-ins are Star Wars: Aftermath and the first issue of Star Wars: Shattered Empire will be released.

 

The day before the Force Friday event occurs is the date of the NFL Kickoff. Trailer 2 will most likely be shown during the game. Another Feature Story is likely to occur at this time. Of course, the next month is where the media blitz really begins.

 

October 2015

 

1280px-Major_League_Baseball.svgOctober’s big event is the MLB Postseason, so it’s likely that Disney is going to take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself. An Extended TV Spot (one about a minute or so in length) is bound to be shown here. While Bridge Of Spies is being distributed by Disney and it could conceivably be the movie that is released with Trailer 3, I think it’s too early to have Trailer 3 for this film two months from its release. But make no mistake, mid-October is going to be the time of year when the media campaign for the film is going to crank up exponentially. The first Television Interviews with the cast and crew should occur at the middle of the month and end around the release of the movie. A Long TV Spot (which would be about 30 seconds) should also pop up at some point, and this should be when we see more Featurettes for the movie pop up.

 

November 2015

Star_Wars___Thanksgiving_by_wildman10The movie I think that Trailer 3 is going to be attached to will be The Good Dinosaur; it’s the last major movie that Disney will release before The Force Awakens, and it would work as a way of keeping up the Lucasfilm/Pixar tradition of showing new Star Wars footage with the feature presentation. Three weeks might be cutting it a little close in most occasions, but the reason I think they might wait until then to talk about it is because of the major holiday of Thanksgiving, which happens the day after The Good Dinosaur is released. They could even show another Long TV Spot made of existing footage from the Teasers and the Trailers during the commercial break of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (a widely-watched event).

 

Expect Entertainment Weekly to focus on the movie in a Feature Story in the middle of the month or at the very beginning of the next month. All of the Short TV Spots (10-15 seconds in length) and any remaining Featurettes will roll out around this time and during the next month, presumably with two Long TV Spots airing alongside the others. Oh, and let’s not forget about Star Wars Battlefront – that’s kind of a big deal in terms of promotion, what with the free Battle Of Jakku DLC package tying into the movie and all.

 

December 2015

starwarsinline41And it all comes down to the release of The Force Awakens. As stated before, a lot of the remaining promotional materials will come out just before the movie has its worldwide release date on December 18, 2015 (some areas get the movie a day or two earlier, and some areas unfortunately get the movie a week or weeks later). Obviously, a few “Critics are raving!” Short TV Spots will pop up afterward, but the ad campaign will pretty much end at that point until it’s time to sell DVDs/Blu-Ray discs. The second season of Star Wars Rebels will most likely wrap up shortly before the release of the film in order to capitalize on the movie – perhaps with the finale providing an all-new Long TV Spot as a viewership-boosting tactic.

 

As an added bonus, The Force Awakens will most likely have Teaser 1 for Rogue One attached to it… And so, the Star Wars hype machine begins anew!


So to recap, this hypothetical list of content that I’ve come up with (including what’s come before May 2015) includes:

  • 2 Teasers
  • 1 Extended Teaser
  • 3 Trailers
  • 10 Clips
  • 12 Featurettes
  • 1 Extended TV Spot
  • 4 Long TV Spots
  • 10 Short TV Spots
  • 3 Feature Stories
  • Numerous Television Interviews
  • Force Friday (Merchandise Overload)

While this hypothetical layout might sound like it’s reaching a bit, bear in mind that the ad campaign for Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Disney’s other big tentpole movie, featured 4 trailers, 16 clips, and 42 television spots in total, in addition to the magazine features and the numerous television appearances from the cast. Given the aggressive marketing applied to that movie (which clearly paid off), it’s even possible that I might actually be underestimating Disney’s approach in how they’re going to sell the grand cinematic return of the Star Wars franchise. That being said, I am certain that they’ll be very careful about the loads of information that they’ll release before the movie hits the screen – because the Mystery Box, even when used in moderation, can be a very profitable endeavor. In any case, I’m really thinking that we could be in for the most commercialized Star Wars movie ever made.

 

Special thanks to Reddit user 00—–00, whose post served as a template for my speculation.

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

75 thoughts on “Speculation: When and Where Will Major Information on Star Wars: The Force Awakens be Revealed?

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:12 pm
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    I can’t stand the tease. Freeze me in carbonite until the release date!

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:19 pm
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    Man I hope they dont go full Sith with those teasers and trailers – Avengers: AuO teasers and trailers basically showed the entire movie, every single set was showed and so on.
    Its just too much I think.

    • May 27, 2015 at 10:23 pm
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      unfortunately i think that is what it takes to get the average movie goer to the theaters. they want to know 60 to 70% of the plot before they see the movie

    • May 27, 2015 at 10:26 pm
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      I don’t think they’re going to go that far. I think what we’ll see is a handful of the action sequences and the aliens, but we’ll only get a vague idea of the plot. ROTS was pretty much telegraphed in the ads because the PT, as prequels, were all leading to a foregone conclusion.

    • May 28, 2015 at 12:32 am
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      I think it’s the nature of the times we live in today. Information at our fingertips. Even info we don’t want, or refuse to see, at least it’s there.
      Not only do the studios dish out info of the movie, because of the technology and inter-connectivity, every producer, gaffer and caterer on movies puts out some stuff of the movie they’re on. The idea today is to share everything. No matter how relevant or not, lets not mention leaks to that regard.

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:27 pm
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    I miss the days of one teaser and one trailer.

    • May 27, 2015 at 10:28 pm
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      Wasn’t it one teaser and two trailers?

      • May 27, 2015 at 10:56 pm
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        I don’t remember two trailers for any of the past SW movies. Maybe ROTS did…?

        • May 28, 2015 at 1:53 am
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          I think the list is a bit optimistic, into darkness only had 2 trailers if I recall

        • May 28, 2015 at 9:30 am
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          TPM had a teaser and a trailer.
          AOTC had 3 teasers and a trailer.
          ROTS had a teaser and a trailer, and 15+ TV spots.

          • May 28, 2015 at 7:34 pm
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            AOTC was more like 1 really short teaser. When regular length real teaser trailer and one full trailer.

            The other “teaser” was released web only.

            All the films had 10+ TV spots.

            All three released their teasers in November, and full trailers in March.

      • May 28, 2015 at 1:09 am
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        It definitely was one teaser and one trailer. For all five sequels and prequels of Star Wars.

        • May 28, 2015 at 2:12 am
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          No, Attack of the Clones had three teasers and one full trailer.

          • May 28, 2015 at 7:36 pm
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            Attack of the Clones has one super short “breathing” teaser that had no dialogue. And one full teaser with a Blue Logo at the end.

            Followed by one full trailer in March with the Logo back to Gold.

            So really it was 2 teasers on 1 full trailer. Where the rest of the prequel trilogy was 1 teaser and 1 full trailer.

            The other AOTC “teaser” was released only on the web.

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:31 pm
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    Extremely well written and enjoyable to read. Agreed with almost everything, and it never occurred to me that TFA is 1 year before Rogue One. So I never thought about a teaser trailer tied to TFA! Time flies.

    • May 28, 2015 at 8:47 am
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      Should we expect a full VIII trailer with Rogue One next year? Exciting times!

      • May 28, 2015 at 8:54 pm
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        well get our first look of EpVIII during Celebration Europe

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:31 pm
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    I want to know how this uber character came back from the dead, that Andy Serkis could be playing, that is not Darth Plagueis. Also, I do believe that Rey is Luke Skywalker’s daughter.

    • May 27, 2015 at 10:57 pm
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      Way off on Rey being Luke’s daughter.
      Many sith came before Plagueis.
      It could be another site we have not heard mentioned in name, yet.
      Also he or she is not resurrected yet.
      Uber is all we have to go on and Serkis playing the villian Luke is supposedly guarding or is awakened in the film.
      The concept art of the supposide character is in cave.
      Speculate on who Poe is and how he got the falcon and after all he is sent via Leia.

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:33 pm
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    There is so much here that is just wrong…

    First, I would be shocked if Disney premiered a trailer for Ep 7 during the NFL kickoff game. That game is on NBC, owned by Comcast/Universal – you don’t give your rivals free press coverage. And they won’t be pushing it during Monday Night Football, either. Marvel never did this for any of their movies…neither will Lucasfilm. FAR more likely would be something to go with Season 3 of Agents of SHIELD, or perhaps something linked up with another ABC program (or the launch of Rebels S2 in the fall). Ditto MLB, which is on TBS/ESPN/TNT/FOX – and doesn’t get the ratings that would suggest premiering SW content during them.

    Speaking of…second…Rebels S2 will premier in the fall, not in/around July. The movie premier (Siege of Lothal) is set for June, yes…but…Disney has already said “fall,” not July. Season 1 had teaser stuff in August, episodes in October. I’d guess late September at the earliest for S2 to ramp up.

    In general, I think you’re investing too many hopes on summer content. I do expect a first real “trailer” in/around Comicon/Ant-Man, but I think it’s nuts to expect one with Inside/Out and a second one here. I doubt there will be anything Lucasfilm attached to Inside/Out at all.

    Moreover, I believe you are continuing to set a belief in a need to attach things to movies/TV/etc. As the release of both of the teasers so far shows, in today’s entertainment world, it’s about something going viral online…not being attached to TV/movies. Building hype has moved to the digital world almost exclusively.

    Just my three or four cents.

    • May 27, 2015 at 10:51 pm
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      Your forgetting the triple generation audience this movie has to show for. I don’t expect a brand new trailer for the first NFL game, but sports is the one thing many “old-timers” and people in general are watching compared to them using the Internet. I think it wise for Disney to adapt and use a large marketing campaign to get everyone they can to hear about the movie.

    • May 28, 2015 at 3:54 am
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      OMG! that’s more money than I can possibly imagine! n eye can imagine quite a bit hahaha

    • May 28, 2015 at 10:53 am
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      There’s no real indication of when AOS is going to air again in terms of an actual date, though. That’s why I didn’t include it. The lack of concrete dates around digital content is why I didn’t bring it up – although I think tying the trailer/teaser/tv spot to a movie or television is a good way to get people to see it.

      Also, I never said I was expecting anything from Inside Out. Maybe an extended version of the second teaser, but most likely the unaltered version. It’s just that others were, which is why I talked about it.

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:47 pm
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    Somehow I think you’ve got 18 on the mind: “the final product, locked down for a release on December 18, 2018”.
    Otherwise some good guesses and assumptions, especially the Mystery Box concept – after all wasn’t the big reveal in Empire as much a Mystery Box concept as any?

    • May 27, 2015 at 11:56 pm
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      Thank you for your input! I’ve fixed it now.

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:54 pm
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    When do you predict the tickets will go on sale? On an unrelated note, has anyone seen Inside Llewyn Davis? Oscar Issac was great in it. Adam Driver was funny in his small roll as he was in This is Where I Leave You.

    • May 27, 2015 at 11:44 pm
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      Just saw Ex Machina. Both of the TFA stars were great in it.

    • May 28, 2015 at 12:23 am
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      It’s a really good movie

      • May 28, 2015 at 4:38 pm
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        man i keep forgetting about that movie. everyone i know who’s seen it says its really good. quite possibly the “quietest” really good movie of the year? i didnt even know it existed until it was in the theater. bad sci fi geek, i am 😛

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:56 pm
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    While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I think this would be way too aggressive and not the approach they’re gonna take with TFA. I don’t think you can compare it to Avengers AoU’s rollout. With Avengers, you’ve got a cast of characters that everyone knows about already with a somewhat known story arc to go with it. With TFA, everything is brand new. They’re gonna try and keep things under wraps as long as possible. I certainly don’t think cramming a bunch of trailers, TV spots, featurettes, etc. down our throats is necessary to get people to go see it. There’s no way we’re gonna see 3 full trailers. MAYBE 2.

  • May 27, 2015 at 10:57 pm
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    I think you meant June 19th for Inside Out, not July 19th

    • May 27, 2015 at 11:57 pm
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      Thank you for your input! I’ve fixed it now.

  • May 27, 2015 at 11:22 pm
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    “ROTS was pretty much telegraphed in the ads because the PT, as prequels, were all leading to a foregone conclusion.”

    Which led to 3 of the most successful movies in film history especially ROTS and even more particularily TPM of which the least was known. So it was known and unknown. We’ll have a far better idea about TFA before it comes out than TPM due to the 6 movies before it.

    What will be more interesting from a marketing standpoint is all the new prequels that will be coming from Rogue One to Boba Fett, Han Solo or whatever. All of those especially R1 don’t have as near as much they need to hide as the sequels.

    Once the ST is over then a whole new slate of prequels will start probably set between VI and VII. By the end of this first cycle of new movies there will be 6 prequels, ANH then 5 sequels.

    • May 28, 2015 at 5:52 pm
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      Monetary success does not equal cinematic success.

      It sounds like BS, but it’s true.

      Avatar

      Single highest earning movie EVER distributed.

      Everyone forgot about it in 2 years.

      The same people who liked Avatar like the Planet of the Apes franchise more, because those films are actually… good.

      Sure sure, Avatar’s successful, but no one watches it anymore. which the point of cinema is to be watched.

      If a movie is boring after one year then it’s kind of a stretch to call it “good”, and it’s this word “good” that we’re really referring to when we say “success”.

      which brings me to ROTS.
      ROTS had the EVERYTHING in it’s favor, it had the publicity of episode V’s iconic ending, it had high-end graphics, it had the Asian market [which sure it was somewhat present in ’77, but during the release of ROTS in China, they slapped lightsaber-Yoda on the side of Iced-Tea bottles – EVERY BOTTLE – on THROWAWAY BOTTLES. ’77 had nothing on that].

      So ROTS was a monster hit even despite the widespread hate for AOTC.

      There is only one line from ROTS that is still quoted on a regular basis: “NOOOOO!”

      Call me an asshole [which I am], but I’m still right on this one.

  • May 27, 2015 at 11:55 pm
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    Then whole movie will be spoiled long before then

  • May 27, 2015 at 11:56 pm
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    honestly my two biggest concerns are when will the full trailer #1 air, and when can I see the poster. Those are the main media I concern myself with. I usually try to avoid TV spots as they tend just to ruin action beats in most films for me.

  • May 28, 2015 at 12:01 am
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    I don’t want a too extensive fearurette and amount of stuff showing what will happen… they did that with edge of tomorrow and it spoiled the movie…

  • May 28, 2015 at 12:40 am
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    What more major information could we want without being spoiled? The last trailer answered most of our general questions. I for one am going to try my absolute hardest to sit patiently and wait for the movie. After all, it’s only 204 days…..!!!

  • May 28, 2015 at 12:45 am
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    There will be lightsabers, space wizards and droids.

    Good enough for me to go see once.

  • May 28, 2015 at 1:02 am
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    I’m kinda liking just the two teaser trailers and that’s that. I’m just so sick of information overload via trailers for movies, I would like to be surprised I guess this time round with the new Star Wars film. It would certainly make a change that’s for sure, and make me almost beg for more when the movie comes out.

  • May 28, 2015 at 1:09 am
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    I’m just going to predict the ending right now. Considering there has been rumors of a post credit scene and that there was an extra classified as a sith general something tells me that The first order will be wiped out, along with captain phazma ( gwendolyne Christie )perishing along with It in a light saber duel (considering she is rumored to have a wampa claw light saber) with Kylo ren being the one and only survivor. But during this I believe Han will die and let the new characters have the falcon, with chewie joining them, which will lead them to start their adventure. Then somewhere near toward the end (I’m guessing the post credit scene) a warn out kylo will go to an unknown planet, maybe moraband, and report to his master (rumored to be Darth Plaguis) and tell him about the unfortunate events. Then he will scould ren bout the loss of the first order but then shakes it off as if its no big deal. Then it will show plaguis telling ren that he has a new, sith based army ( an army he has been creating since his survival of sheev palpatines betrayel and before the clone wars started. Something similar to what The Major from Hellsing: Ultimate did when he created MILLENIUM)and he looks upon his sith generals telling them to “prepare” or something with one of the generals, the extra, walking up and yelling prepare for war! Then it will show an entire legion of sith based soldiers and dark jedi/sith warriors (with starfighters and starships behind them)releasing war cries and gearing up for war. And that’s how the ending, or *post-credit* scene will finish. That’s how I think the film will end.

    Any thoughts?

    • May 28, 2015 at 2:16 am
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      This sort of thing has been done a billion times.

    • May 28, 2015 at 11:09 am
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      Never a post credit scene with Star Wars.
      Also there would not be a sith army while the rule of two was going on with sheev alive.
      For the unawakened was sleeping.
      The wampa claw light saber is so tacky, I doubt the rumour.
      The first order is not going anywhere for now, Gwendolyn’s Captain Phasma may die but I doubt the whole regime is going out.

  • May 28, 2015 at 1:44 am
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    One of the things JJ said he wanted to do with TFA was bring back the mystery of the OT.
    So I think we’ve still got surprises coming on Dec 18th. The best lie is one that tells mostly the truth!

  • May 28, 2015 at 2:24 am
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    one of the best parts of TFA for JJ is that nobody know what is going to happen, unlike Star Trek, Marvel, GoT or the DC movies.

    • May 28, 2015 at 2:44 am
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      True. It’s rare these days with all the reboots and adaptations.

  • May 28, 2015 at 4:28 am
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    It is quite possible that the next teaser will take us all by surprise, and at best we will probably only find out about it a couple days in advanced, assuming we aren’t surprised the very day it is released.

  • May 28, 2015 at 5:16 am
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    I absolutely loved I2TD as well Pomojema although, I knew little about the story before its release. Am I a Star Trek fan Ewwww! Am I a Star Wars fan Ummmm! Best of both worlds right? The only distinct comparison I could make between the two would be the fans! The Star Trek bitches and the Star Wars bitches lol talk about brothers in arms hahaha from one end of the Galaxy too the other oh! the fans just felt betrayed right! From a marketing / promotion perspective, if I had to place on a scale between 1 and 10, Star Trek needed a full blown 10 towards out there and in your face where as, despite their marketing strategy, the likes of SWTFA would be super super successful on a mare 4 the difference being, Star Trek is Star Trek, Star Wars is Star Wars, no comparison really hahaha duh! Personally! I believe the advantage that Abrams/Disney have this time, that will keep the mystery box…well! a mystery, is not deception but indeed it is distraction! The perfect tool for this would be of course Rogue One! along with all other awakening goodies! All thus aside, if I had the mystery box in front of me right now, the craft knife nervously finding its way, the first head to pop out will be Lando he he bringing back the old three without that smoothly, just doesn’t seem to gel somehow particularly after a teasing appearance in Rebels… he lied, he lied to us! I told you he would never betray TFA so OK JJ, your off the hook with that one lol the next thing that would pop out the box of mystery would be the idea of the New Order, it would tell me that the Empire was disbanded and reshaped into the New Order, not has an evil force of control but for the good of the Galaxy, reestablished by Leia and or the alliance! Where it catches up with us 30 years later, there are those of darkness of whom want to Take Back what was lost! I sence a strong connection from the events of ROTJ jumping out, always consequences to everything, even 30 years later! All n all, i believe the story will be uncomplicated, very simple! Hey just my thoughts! take care, be safe, be Prepared! and more importantly, may the force be with you! PS. I like that mate! awesome Anon! the best lie is mostly truth lol have you thought about a career in alternative news?

  • May 28, 2015 at 7:46 am
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    Just you reconsider replying that post one more time Slap! Nooooo! I don’t think he likes us at all! Nooooo! we don’t like you neither! hahaha bahahahaha

  • May 28, 2015 at 8:13 am
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    Nice article!

  • May 28, 2015 at 8:28 am
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    This is not a warner bros movie that gets plenty of clips on youtube… I guess we’ll get yet one or two trailers, and the spoilers in battle of jakku/journey to force awakens stuff. and maybe the novel, wich I forgot the release date

  • May 28, 2015 at 11:16 am
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    Has anyone heard the rumour of Han swooping up the falcon Via his and Chewie’s Star Destroyer like in the OT when Leia on the Tantive V.
    After all it is history repeating itself, for Bail Organa sent her in the Tantive/coreillan corvette.
    Now she sends Poe Dameron in falcon.

  • May 28, 2015 at 12:19 pm
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    Great article Pomojema;regarding some people`s quotes “no-one know`s what`s going to happen” in TFA,how accurate do people think MSW`s spoilers are? – if they`re right (& they were right about everything in the trailer) then I know just about everything that`s gonna happen,and so does everyone else who`s been on there.

    • May 28, 2015 at 3:53 pm
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      Theyre fake fake fake Even when certain spoilers synced with the trailer. Give it up already trying to poke holes in it. This is the closest to or most revealing info we’ve heard from anywhere and that includes this site with random guesses about marketing campaigns. Really. Theres going to be trailers, NO s!$@

  • May 28, 2015 at 12:22 pm
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    I hope the movie isn’t as long and boring as this post!

    • May 28, 2015 at 4:40 pm
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      Why are you on this site then? Just to troll? Funny how you critique this article yet you obviously cared enough to read and comment on it.

      • May 28, 2015 at 6:23 pm
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        ^and I can say the same thing about you, smart-ass.

        By the way, ‘the prequels ruined my childhood,’ there I said it for you. Now you don’t have to write any more comments on this message board today. Have a nice day.

  • May 28, 2015 at 4:35 pm
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    SPECULATION: Kylo Ren’s “first order” is given this name because his rise to power marks a new era for the Sith. With the death of Vader and the Emperor, Darth Bane’s “rule of two” has been broken; which would explain why Ren is not a “darth”. He had no master to give him a title. Therefore, the “first order” may be Ren’s attempt at expelling the teachings of Bane and the other Sith lords that followed him and instead reverting back to the ways of the ancient Sith.

    • May 28, 2015 at 5:15 pm
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      I love that spec.

  • May 28, 2015 at 5:07 pm
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    Take Darth Plagueis out of the story and this is SOME of whats left over….
    Sidious never becomes sidious,he just remains as Palpatine and grows an bitter old man with some uncrafted force tricks.

    Anakin never is born. Since he is spawned by the Force and Plagueis in his quest to cheat death unwittingly causes the midi chlorines to spontaneously impreg a slave woman on Tatooine and birth Anakin then of course no Anakin no Darth Vader.

    So, no Plagueis = no Sidious = no emporer = no Empire! no Anakin = no Vader no Luke no Leia no Alderaan blowing up mostly because no Leia no empire no Death Star….This is endless.
    All I want to say is this trillogy needs or at least should mention Plagueis somewhere as it would do a nice job tying all 3 trillogies together.
    Plagueis is a MAJOR plot to the whole saga think about it.

    • May 28, 2015 at 7:38 pm
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      The three trilogies are already tied together by:

      1) Being a part of Star Wars.
      2) Being in the same episodic series.
      3) Being on the same galactic timeline.
      4) Involving Luke and Leia.
      5) Involving the Empire.
      etc.

      We don’t need Plagueis just to “tie things together”.

    • May 28, 2015 at 9:37 pm
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      Ah shaddap!

  • May 28, 2015 at 5:33 pm
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    woah WOAH, I thought they ALREADY put out 2 trailers.
    Wait, what’s a trailer at this point?
    one is 88 seconds, sort of a teaser.

    the other is 2 minutes- THAT’S A TRAILER.

    What, are you saying we WANT a Termitor Salvation – style trailer?

    that tells us the entire friggin’ plot?

    As far as I’m concerned they got me hooked, and, I don’t really WANT a 6 minute trailer, which apparently 6 minutes is the new standard for some reason.

    Like, just the other day, I came across the Supergirl [tv show] trailer, and from what I can tell it shows rather key, important, character revelations from at least halfway into the season… for a show that hasn’t even begun broadcast yet.

    I DO NOT want this for Star Wars.
    If they’re planning on releasing any more trailers, well, I don’t trust them to not throw the ending into it, I just don’t trust them.
    In my mind, showing shots of Mustafar in the ROTS trailer was TOO MUCH.

    Recently I’ve started watching Blacklist [good show] without watching ANY trailers leading up to it, and I’m perfectly fine.
    James Spader is a criminal-informant-crimefighter anti-hero. BOOM, enough said, find out the plot by watching the show.

    IDK, am i crazy?

    • May 28, 2015 at 7:42 pm
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      It would be kind of cool to see at least one more trailer Dude! I could imagine the difference between a teaser n trailer would be having the black cut scenes filled in, extending the teaser perhaps? Giving little away, they could easily give us a little more, 3PO and R2 would be cool! Oh far out Dude! I checked out Poltergeist last night, the remake failed miserably, absolutely tanked my expectations where on returning home, watched the original! 100 x better! unknowingly to me til last nite, Kathleen Kennedy was the Executive Producer, working alongside Spielberg at the time, Interesting! any one know how old she is?

      • May 29, 2015 at 3:49 am
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        No one asks that question.
        There are snipers.

  • May 28, 2015 at 6:20 pm
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    Even though I detest Abram’s directing style and “mystery box” strategy, what is really bothering me about the way Disney is running Star Wars is that ALL Star Wars films seem to have adopted the annoying “mystery box” strategy.

    I was kinda hoping that Rogue One would be a more open production, something to get people’s minds off the “main course,” which is the Episode films.

    • May 28, 2015 at 7:23 pm
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      Proceeding Rogue Nation, Rogue One will be on fire with open production lol enough distraction to fill a space cruiser!

  • May 28, 2015 at 8:24 pm
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    “Absolutely nobody who saw this teaser back in July 2007 knew what in the HELL was going on, ”

    Nah. Lots of just thought it was a big budget monster movie.

    • May 28, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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      NICE!!!!

      Andy Serkis’ character name is finally revealed!!! Awesome!!!!!!!!

    • May 28, 2015 at 9:51 pm
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      Supreme Leader Snoke. Now stop with that non-sense of Darth Plaguies.

      • May 28, 2015 at 10:26 pm
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        I hope Serkis is Supreme Leader Snoke and not Plagueis. Leave Plagueis in the Prequel Era.

  • May 28, 2015 at 10:05 pm
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    This name could not have indicated true identity of the character. Evidently he is the voice of first teaser.

  • May 30, 2015 at 12:10 am
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    One thing we learned from all of this is who and who not to give any spoiler information to.

    All spoilers should be either posted anonymously to 4chan or Reddit or sent to MF.com

  • May 30, 2015 at 1:04 am
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    When is the novel expected to be released?

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