How do you feel about JJ Abrams directing Star Wars Episode IX?

I CLAPPED

Let's be honest: whoever is making the movie, it's pretty clear that Disney is calling all the shots and will make every decision about the movie. The writers and directors are just there to put Disney's grand design into action.

Eh, it makes sense I guess. Let the more artistically inclined Rian Johnson do the moody middle one, then let Abrams do the crowd-pleasing finale. I'm not much of a fan of JJ, but he's a huge step up from Colin Trevorrow, and The Force Awakens was decent enough, so yeah sure, I'm good.

JJ Abrams is good at fulfilling someone else's vision so he'll probably do just fine so long as the script is there, but I'm much less interested in seeing one of his films than those of a director with an actual voice of their own.

Gladly take Abrams over their previous choice. I really liked Episode VII.

Really though, a lot of my hopes for IX hinges on how Episode VIII turns out.

I should probably clarify that Abrams is writing the script with help from Chris "SAAAVE MARRTHHAA" Terrio of Batman vs. Superman "fame".

Regardless of problems Force Awakens has specifically (trying to rehash 3 whole movies in just 1 being the biggest), just about all of JJ Abrams work has serious pacing issues. These pacing issues go on to exacerbate other unrelated issues. There's no time for quiet or subtlety in an Abrams movie, and his actors always end up feeling over energetic. Something crazy is always happening and the actors are always reacting in a big animated way.

This could have worked for Force Awakens had it not had the aforementioned issue of trying fit 3 movies into 1, but I don't think it's suitable for the final part of a trilogy. Of his films, I like Super 8 the most, and I think it's telling that his best film (in my opinion) is the one where he's paying homage to a very different filmmaker.

I'm kinda annoyed that JJ has got his hands in everything scifi on the big screen these days. I wasn't terribly happy with the execution of the Star Trek reboot movies, and if he puts his touches on Star Wars it's just going to make things more homogeneous. I don't hate JJ's work, but it there's a time and a place for it. To be honest, Star Wars would've been a better fit for the action blockbuster style than Trek.

Also, Force Awakens bored me to tears. It was a shallow remake of A New Hope and I really want them to start doing something different, something new, and lay off the gratuitous fanservice already. I'm cautiously optimistic about The Last Jedi from the trailers (more so than Star Trek Discovery, at least).

"Why did you say that name!?"

While the plot of 7 was pretty much a New Hope, I actually had fun watching Force Awakens, which is much more than I could say for 1-3. 8 just needs to carry the momentum forward - however, for me, if 8 is just a retread of ESB, it'll really lower my expectations for 9.

However, Force Awakens scratched the "I'd like new Star Wars" itch I had since the late 80's.

I feel alright about it, just give him a script that doesn't revolve around the nth Death Star around this time around.

The latter is what has me worried, not Abrams.

I like most of his movies so sure I'm cool with it.

That's fine. He's a safe pick. I was hoping Rian Johnson would finish it out, but we still need to see how the Last Jedi is I guess.

Eh, he's fine. He's a competent director and good at making decent films. Really glad he toned down the lens-flare after his wife pointed it out to him.

Just wish Disney would stop trying to play it safe. They can do whatever they want with Star Wars now and they're going for safe "eh, it was alright" style instead of going for something risky. The bar is honestly set really low, all you have to do is be better than the prequels.

Give me something fun. Give me a Snatch style film. A horror, a thriller, anything set in the Star Wars universe that isn't just "rebels vs. the Empire."

Call me out of the loop but..I've kinda skipped all the new star-wars movies to date (Me and Mine were always slightly more on the star-trek side of the spectrum). But that said? I feel like J.J. is a way better fit for what I think of when I think Star Wars. I certainly could have seen any of the alternative-timeline new star-trek movie series being star-wars movies if you pulled out the setting fluff and replaced it, and unless i'm wrong J.J. did those right?

I wasn't the biggest fan either way of those Star Trek movies, but they were perfectly fine pop-corn flicks, which had plenty of fan-service and potential marketable characters/sets/etc for the toy-lines and such. If I had to take a wild stab in the dark, that also reads to me like everything a Disney exec would want out of their main-line StarWars movies. I think J.J. can make that kinda movie just fine.

High quality masterpiece? No. Good enough for Disney; enjoyable for a majority of the fan base; likely to make massive $$$? Yup. Big Yup.

Yeesh. Well, hopefully the second's good. Not sure how the Jurassic World guy got in on doing the big Star Wars finale anyways.

Only J.J. Abrams movie I enjoyed was the first Star Trek reboot. Super 8 was okay.

I just hope he learns from Star Trek and doesn't go overboard with the reference to the old stuff, make something new this time.

This. Listen I am not a Force Awakens hater, and I liked Rogue One. But it's become clear that the lady (I forget her name) on Disney end who is in control of running Star Wars has an "idea" in mind for how she wants some of these things to go, and directors aren't given a lot of freedom to apply their own visions. That has to be why so many directors have not only left this project but it was happening with Rogue One and Han Solo too.

I find this very odd too. Because if you look at how Disney lets Loeb handle the Marvel stuff, TONS of directors are applying the exact visions they want all over the Marvel properties. It's why so many of those properties feel a little different in genre. Star Wars needs to embrace that mold otherwise all these movies are going to feel way too similar, and I don't think that is exactly what audiences want. Plus when you get well known or indy directors with fan followings you get extra hype/motivation going. I just don't get why they (Disney) would be way more open and fine with Marvel being allowed to be a bit more all over the place, and use a ton of different directors/writers from a genre perspective, but for Star Wars they are playing it way more straight laced.

The best parts of The Force Awakens was the new stuff, yet it feels like 60-70% of the film relied on old stuff. Like:

• Let's open the film with a droid receiving secret plans
• Let's go to the Not Cantina
• Let's have the film take place on Not Tatooine
• Let's have so-and-so be so-and-so's father
• Let's have the elder figure die
• Let's have a Not Death Star, BUT MAKE IT EVEN BIGGER!!!!!!!
• Let's have a group of fighters fight the Not Death Star and have them fly through a trench, because, you know, you remember that scene. (You know, the one where the fly through that trench. I'm talking about the Death Star!)
• Etc. etc. etc.

On the other hand, the new cast and the new situations were pretty great. If they keep recycling content and playing it safe, it's not going to be that interesting. Besides that, a part of me still thinks "Oh...the guy who made Mission Impossible III is making the new Star Wars. Ok." I know that people generally like Lost and some of his other TV work, but in terms of movies, he hasn't delivered anything great.

The new Star Wars was pretty good. That's where my expectation are. I thought both of the new movies were pretty good, which is better than what Star Wars got for a while at least. I just hope they stop relying as much on the old movies.

@devise22: Kathleen Kennedy, and yeah, I agree. The idea of a Star Wars movie every year only works if it stays fresh with different people's visions for what the movies can be. Since they keep doubling down on the timeline, making sure everything has a consistent tone, and rehashing old stuff, I wonder how long they can keep this pace up before people start to lose interest. I get that it was a big investment for Disney and they can do what they want, but increasingly more people are expressing a desire for a more creative output.

I'm interested. I like JJ Abrams movies in principle, though not many of them are memorable to me (for me it's MI3, and even that's thanks to Phillip Seymour Hoffman; the movie isn't nearly as fun a second time around). I can be counted among the people who thought the second Star Trek movie he did was really good...until I was given a moment to think about it, and realized it was very flawed. That said, considering how devoutly he read the scripture of A New Hope as gospel in making his first Star Wars movie, I feel like he has to just make his Return of the Jedi here or the thematic consistency of his contributions to Star Wars will be all off.

I'll just leave this here as recommended viewing

So it'll be a remake of The Force Awakens?

I kid!!!! sorta...

I'm hyped! Loved TFA and all the interesting new ideas and decisions they added to the franchise. I'll be watching both this and Last Jedi the minute they come out and I can't wait ^_^

I think JJ makes it a safe bet that Episode IX will at least be passable. So in that sense, I like it, but it's very "safe".

I just hope he is aware and open to the criticisms of The Force Awakens. You can't return to that well again.

Where's the 'I don't care' choice? Honestly, I don't get excited about Star Wars films. While it may have been where Star Wars originated, I actually get more enjoyment watching their cartoon shows when they're on (though I don't actually keep up with them, they're just an okay thing to watch when they're on and there's nothing else to do or watch I suppose). I also think a lot of the Star Wars games are great. The movies I don't care much about and the last two films were pretty boring to me. However, I don't regret buying the Complete Saga so I could rewatch them all with my dad (and my dog) before the latest films came out. I wish I liked the films, but they don't tell stories in that universe that I want to see, even though they are decidedly integral to the shape of it. The Jedi are some of the least interesting aspects of Star Wars to me; I'd rather they be in the background than be the focus. They have a fleshed out universe with a bunch of different worlds, aliens races, and cool tech, but rarely is it used in a way that I care about.

The genie is out of the bottle - Return of the Jedi's idiotic redemption of the villain- it happened! Episodes 1-3 illogical and missing narrative happened. The various cartoons, games and spin-offs have poisoned the well. It's True [like it or not]. All of it [happened even though it was shitty story telling in poorly structure narrative].

The sad part is even "fan made" films that surface on YouTube have same lazy ideas recycled. It is as if they don't even know that what they love and want to expand upon is the shitty bits. If I see another teenage boy or girl on screen recycling Ep 1's interpretation of Jedi I will vomit. They have the entirety of the story, worlds, and characters to interpret or expand upon; but each and every time all these idiots film Jedi jumping around with rat-tails.

That why we cannot have nice things, because too many fans are complicit is the low quality mindless garbage SW has become. Not all fans, maybe not even most, but too many are brain damaged.

I don't think its possible for JJ abrams to make a movie that's well paced and has even the smallest amount of nuance. He's basically turned every movie he's touched into a high octane, swashbuckling, action-adventure movie. Every single character is talking so fast that they're constantly out of breath. Its just not something I want to watch anymore.

Episode VII was holds up remarkably badly, while Rogue One is a mixed affair at best. I very little faith in JJ after the kind of stunts he's been pulling with Star Trek.

You're free to enjoy whatever Episode 8/9 turns out to be, but as far as I'm concerned it'll probably just be some Disney thing - not really Star Wars, and ironically more like the eyerolling expanded universe they decided to axe prior.

He's a phenomenal step up from the director of jurassic world so we're good

Better than the director of Jurassic World, as long as IX isn't super similar to Return of the Jedi we should be good.

It'll be predictable cinematic pablum. I'll take a big 'ol bowl of it.

Eh, I actually liked TFA a lot, and he's miles better than Treverrow - I hate his Trek films, but honestly, that's partly 'cause they feel more like Wars than Trek - so... I'm in.

Considering I think Force Awakens is far better than Jurassic World I say this was the best choice. Serious though I really enjoyed Episode VII which was the movie that reinvigorated my interest in Star Wars so I do like this decision and even if it would've been nice to see another new director much like VII and VIII had their own directors I can see why Disney have made this decision with the recent firings and rewrites of two Star Wars movies.

At least it's not the Jurassic World director. At this point, this new trilogy has no hope of being great, though. Cathleen Kennedy is an incompetent producer with no respectable artistic vision, and JJ Abrams plays it too safe. His movies are too fast, energetic and unfunny.

This is like the grumpiest thing I have ever read.

I'm hoping the new thrillogy will be at a more interesting and fresh place by then. Maybe episode 7 was too tied down by nostalgia, and things will find their course by then. Also Phasma may finally not be a complete pushover.

I should also play through more of/the entirety of knights of the old republic someday. That seemed like expanded star wars fiction done right.

@clagnaught: I agree, the best parts of TFA was the new stuff! Maybe by the time the third film comes out it will all be new stuff.

And JJ is still a much better filmmaker than Colin Trevorrow or however you spell his name. I'm a big Rian Johnson fan so I'm looking forward to The Last Jedi but let's all be honest here, the directors only get so much freedom here...

@counterclockwork87: I sure hope we start getting new stuff at that point. It seems like they were overprotected and simply tried to deliver another "good Star Wars movie" to win the people over with The Force Awakens. Although based on random anecdotes that came out and how other people have left Disney projects due to creative differences, maybe some of that is just Disney being Disney.

Same here duder. I'm sure it'll be fine.

As someone who really enjoyed The Force Awakens, this is fine by me.

Mission Impossible 3 is awesome. Super 8 has some great kid acting in it. Force Awakens was exactly what we needed after the prequels. So I am OK with this.

I don't know what it is about movies as opposed to other medium that brings out the pedantic miseryguts. This sounds great but then again I wasn't too worried about the other guy either. Movies are fun and Star Wars is great again.

Wait, I thought people generally liked the force awakens?

No opinion

After seeing how large the plot holes in Force Awakens were, and how disjointed everything felt, I might just skip Star Wars 9. We'll see how 8 turns out.