‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ director JJ Abrams apparently regrets not

J.J. Abrams directed the $200 million production, overseeing “Star Wars” veterans Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher along with newcomers Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. No, they aren’t waving their moral finger at our beloved new Star Wars movie, but the reviewer made a decision to call the movie “confused and vague”. The popularity of big films like The Force Awakens could give a boost to future moviegoing by getting people excited about going to cinemas, said Dave Hollis, executive vice-president of distribution at Disney.

The 38-year-old franchise, which George Lucas sold to Disney in 2012 for $4 billion, has been rebooted and revitalized with this movie, and Disney promises a new Star Wars film every year until 2020.

You may have noticed that several scenes from the first few STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS trailers didn’t make it into the movie, like Maz Kanata handing Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber to General Leia and the first shot of Kylo Ren’s cross-guard lightsaber.

What makes the global ticket sales brought in by “The Force Awakens” even more impressive is that it hasn’t been released in China. The original 1977 film helped create the concept of the tentpole release, an entity extending from theatres to toy stores.

We’ve got many a long day and night to go before Star Wars: Episode VIII gets here, and in the meantime, there’s nothing to do but speculate. “Why are dissenters from a mass-culture wave phenomenon like The Force Awakens or the Avengers and Dark Knight movies so often subjected to venom and name-calling?”

The force is strong with this one. The more it becomes a memorable part of your life.

Do you wish J.J. Abrams had stayed on to direct Star Wars: Episode VIII, or are you looking forward to seeing what Rian Johnson will do with the sequel to The Force Awakens?

We’ll see if the Force is with the newest “Star Wars” movie when the Oscars nominations are announced.

Abrams’ close friend Greg Grunberg – who plays X-Wing pilot Snap Wexley in Episode VII – told The Washington Post: “He read it and said something he never, ever says”.