Shared cinematic universe are all the rage in Hollywood right now. Marvel started the trend with the massive success of the MCU and the "Avengers" series. DC and Warner Bros. are in the midst of building on their own shared universe, which started with "Man of Steel" and will continue with next year's "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice." But you know who else is getting into the fray? Those scruffy looking nerf-herders from "Star Wars."
Disney and Lucasfilm plan to set up their own shared universe with the new trilogy and planned tie-in standalone films already in development. While this is great news for fans who only want more "Star Wars" content as opposed to less, it may not be the most promising indicator of quality films.
For all of the money "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is making at the box office, most of the movie going public are in agreement that the film itself is a bit lackluster. It's overstuffed with too many plot lines and nods to the larger shared Marvel movie world. Fortunately, Lucasfilm and Marvel are both under the Disney umbrella, which means they can learn from their mistakes.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, director J.J. Abrams hinted that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will only include "essential" connections to the original trilogy (and presumably the much maligned prequels) and not solely be focused on launching this new inter-connected cinematic universe.
"...We've obviously had a lot of time to talk about what's happened outside of the borders of the story that you're seeing. So there are, of course, references to things, and some are very oblique so that hopefully the audience can infer what the characters are referring to. We used to have more references to things that we pulled out because they almost felt like they were trying too hard to allude to something. I think that the key is - and whether we've accomplished that or not is, of course, up to the audience - but the key is that references be essential so that you don't reference a lot of things that feel like, oh, we're laying pipe for, you know, an animated series or further movies. It should feel like things are being referenced for a reason."
This is welcomed news to cautiously optimistic "Star Wars" fans that have already been burned with one trilogy ("Episodes I-III"). Based on Abrams' comments and the two teaser trailers for "The Force Awakens," it seems as if this new film strikes a good balance of both honoring what came before it while also introducing a new, original story.
