Everyone and their grizzled aunt Marie knows that pre-production on Star Wars: Episode VII has already started at Pinewood Studios, but it was starting to seem like an actual date for start of production would never come. Well, thanks to the guys and gals over at Latino Review, we now have the first date to mark on our calendars (when we buy them – who has next year’s calendar already?).
The site’s expert source says that production will start on January 21st, 2014, which ties in with what producer Brian Burk told Collider earlier this year, saying:
We’re progressing on a schedule to hopefully begin next year, or the beginning of next year…
The 21st of January is a Tuesday, which also makes sense from a labour union perspective, as January 20th, 2014 is Martin Luther King Day, meaning that even in death, Martin Luther King is doing his level best to mess things up for everyone. The world has waited long enough for Star Wars: Episode VII without Martin Luther King ruining all the fun, again. Will he ever just leave us alone? Surely he is history’s greatest villain.
A January production start also makes sense in terms of potential release dates, with rumours suggesting that Lucasfilm have given the movie a Christmas 2015 release slot. This is not definite, and the confusion over release dates has been well-documented, but a Christmas 2015 release gives the creative team two whole years to make the film not awful. Let’s all hope they can do it. It will be a post-ALVINNN! and the Chipmunks world; even Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace would seem like Citizen Kane in comparison.
Star Wars: Episode VII still lacks official confirmation of a start date, or release date, or even story synopsis, but you’ll probably hear about those things soon enough.