‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ As Good As The Originals Or Bad As The Prequels?


Only a handful of days remain until the release of the seventh Star Wars movie The Force Awakens and diehard fans have already been waiting in line for days to see the first midnight showing.

A full 12 days before the film’s release date, 143 fans from a group dubbed “The Line Awakens” set up camp outside Hollywood’s historic Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard to be the first in line, according to CNN.

The question on everyone’s mind is whether the highly-anticipated film will be worth the wait.

Ticket sales for The Force Awakens are expected to break every record and box-office analyst Phil Contrino told The Hollywood Reporter the film could break $500 million globally during opening weekend.

“If it pleases the fans of the old movies and also appeals to kids, watch out. Force Awakens will hit $1 billion without blinking. If it’s really good, it could cross $2 billion.”


Expectations, however, don’t guarantee the film’s success.

When The Phantom Menace first came out, hardcore Star Wars fans waited in line for days to be the first to see the series prequel. What happened was — well, it was.

After all the hype, fans were left confused, frustrated, and disappointed with George Lucas’ prequels. A definitive ranking by the USA Today clearly shows the prequels just aren’t as good as the original movies.

Is history repeating itself, or will the new films live up to all the hype?

The Star Wars cast has already seen the film and they say it’s a hit. John Boyega, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, and Adam Driver were all impressed after their first screening, and Carrie Fisher even told the USA Today her dog approved.

“It was very loud so he couldn’t go to sleep and he watched it, panting. So I think that’s a good review. The animal world will like it.”

That’s good news for director and co-writer J.J. Abrams who is hoping the latest installment of the Star Wars franchise will capture the imagination of a new generation of fans, according to the Toronto Sun.

“This is a new chapter, a story that I hope feels very much like continuation of episodes IV, V and VI.”

We already know The Force Awakens will focus on a new cast of characters, Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren, instead of the existing legacy stars. Abrams has said that while he wanted to stay true to the themes of the original Star Wars movies, he didn’t want young fans to feel they needed to read up on the franchise before going to see the film.

The new Star Wars movie will focus on new characters.

Although George Lucas was only involved in the initial planning stages, his ideas inspired the movie’s script. The film takes place 30 years after the events in Jedi and the Rebellion is now known as the Resistance, while the Empire is now The First Order.

Daisy Ridley’s character Rey is a scavenger surviving on the desert planet Jakku, the site of an enormous space battle. John Boyega’s plays Finn, a Stormtrooper who abandons his post with The First Order. Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren is the bad guy wielding a crossbar lightsaber with a fascination with Darth Vader.

Also, BB-8 is the new droid made of stacked spheres; he’s real, not CGI.

Oh, and there are no more clones left in the Resistance’s army of Stormtroopers, which is why John Boyega doesn’t have to look like Jango Fett.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on Dec. 18, 2015.

What do you think? Will The Force Awakens eventually rank with the original movies or go down with the prequels?

[Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios]

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