‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Team Talk Inspiration, Teaser Already Added $2 Billion To Value Of Disney

Stars Wars: The Force Awakens is already generating a large amount of buzz in the news, especially after the release of the film’s second trailer. The seventh part in the hit franchise begins 30 years after Return of the Jedi. The production design team for the movie recently discussed how they used the older films, the first of which was released over 35 years ago, as an inspiration for the coming film.

The design team talked to Fox News about how they didn’t want to make any drastic changes visually to the Star Wars universe. Instead, they wanted to stay true to the original look and feel while updating it a bit. The team includes Rick Carter from Lincoln and Avatar, Doug Chiang from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Darren Gilford from TRON: Legacy, and Christian Alzmann from A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

During the Star Wars Celebration event, the team discussed the challenges of re-creating the Star Wars Universe for the new movie.

“We wanted to play tribute to Ralph McQuarrie. When we got stuck on something, we would go back and look at what he’d done before. It’s come full circle,” Chiang explained.

The team also discussed building props instead of just using computer graphics for everything.

“You can have all this fancy stuff and a sci-fi movie is whatever it wants to be. Everyone is trying to outgun each other. This isn’t about that. This is about the force,” Carter related.

The second trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was recently released, and while it generated a lot of excitement, it also had quite the impact financially for Disney. According to CBS Money Watch, the company’s stocks have increased $2 billion since the release of the new trailer.

Many experts believe that the film will shatter all previous records when it hits the box office. Some, including Keith Simanton from IMDB.com, think that the The Force Awakens will gross somewhere around $1.8 billion when it’s all said and done.

George Lucas, the mind behind the franchise, sold Lucasfilm to Disney back in 2012 and is a consultant for the new film. Despite the craze over the newest trailer, Lucas said he has yet to watch it.

“Well, you know, I hope it’s successful,” Lucas explained in an interview at the Tribeca Film Festival and reported by E! News. “I hope they do a great job. I’m excited… I have no idea what they’re doing.”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens premieres December 18, 2015.