With the ink of the Disney/LucasFilm contract dry and one of the the biggest mergers in the history of ever now old news, there’s only one direction for Star Wars to go from here; to infinity and beyond (that’s right we’re throwing in Disney references anyplace we can). Beyond the facts surrounding the massive buyout, the best news to come of all this, so far at least, is that Episode VII is happening. As such the Mouse House is now full steam ahead to put Ep VII in theaters by 2015. Yes last week went by pretty fast so pinch yourself if you need to, you’re not dreaming.
To further set things in motion, writer Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) is on board, or rather “likely” tasked with scripting Star Wars: Episode VII. His first step in landing the gig was to turn in a 40+ page treatment which is basically an approval process. Of the amazing pool of writers out there and people just lining up to be part of the legacy he’s probably not the only one the studio is interested in since word on the street is that “producers have been meeting with writers for months already“. But if he’s the only one we’ve heard about he just might be approaching the finish line.
Arndt, though tasked with the unenviable and near impossible writing assignment (read: following Return of the Jedi), is in an enviable position where his treatment will reportedly be shown to fanboy directors like J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird, even Steven Spielberg. Not that they are in line to direct but just a means of quality checking we assume. So while this is steeped in authenticity, nothing is set in stone and like any creative process a lot will be thrown at the wall just to see what sticks. So right now we’ll say this is good news and that of the writers out there, Arndt’s involvement, even in a preliminary planning stage, is a sign that things are moving in the right direction. We’ll let you know more when we know more. What do you think??
UPDATED:
Well it’s confirmed, The Mouse House has officially signed Arndt to write the script for Star Wars – Episode VII. Here’s an official blurb from the announcement on Star Wars.com:
As pre-production of Star Wars: Episode VII begins, Lucasfilm has confirmed that award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay for the new Star Wars film. As revealed in the ongoing video series posted here on StarWars.com, Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas have begun story conferences with Arndt. Arndt won an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay for writing Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing Toy Story 3 (2010).
