2. The Force Awakens
The seventh film in the StarWars franchise was
announced shortly after Disney acquired
Lucasfilm in 0ctober 2012. It is directed by JJ
Abrams from a screenplay written by Michael
Arndt. It is currently scheduled for release on 18th
December 2015. It is set 30 years after the events
of Return ofThe Jedi (1983).
3. Trailers
•The first teaser trailer debuted on 28/11/14.
•The second teaser trailer for the film debuted online on 16/04/15.
• According to thehollywoodreporter.com the second trailer reached over 64
million views on youtube in its first week and Disney announced it had gotten
88 million views across various platforms in its first 24 hours.
•Both trailers have been analyzed in publications such asThe Guardian and
Empire Magazine to try and glean information about the hotly anticipated
film.
•The trailers have reportedly given Disney a $2 billion stock boost.
•The first teaser did not include any of the cast members from the original
film however the second trailer did include voiceover from Mark Hamill, a
possible shot of Carrie Fisher and an appearance at the end from Harrison
Ford and Peter Mayhew.This has sparked much debate online and in print
over whether they will appear as main characters or cameos.
4. Trailer youtube viewing figures courtesy of www.thehollywoodreporter.com
Watch the second teaser trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc2v7izk8w
Watch the parody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYHdQUyOunA
Teaser #2 and fan made parody
5. Cast
The Force Awakens will include appearances from
Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher from the
original StarWars trilogy. Other cast members include
John Boyega as Finn, newcomer Daisy Ridley as Rey,
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron,
Andy Serkis, MaxVon Sydow, Lupita Nyong’o and
Domhnall Gleeson.
6. Lupita Nyong’o
Won an Academy
Award for her role
in 12Years a Slave
(2013).
Max Van Sydow
famous for his roles in
The Seventh Seal (1957)
andThe Exorcist (1973)
continues a tradition of
veteran actors
appearing in the Star
Wars franchise such as
Alec Guinness,
Christopher Lee, Peter
Cushing andVincent
Price.
Oscar Isaac is an
award winning actor
with a diverse body
of work including
Drive (2011), Inside
Llewyn Davies
(2013) and
Ex_Machina (2015).
Andy Serkis is famous
for his motion capture
performances inThe
Lord of the Rings trilogy
and King Kong (2005)
sparking speculation
that his performance in
The Force Awakens may
be a motion capture
one.
7. Campaigns
The Force for Change initiative is a campaign which
has raised over $6 million for charity UNICEF. Fans
who donated to the charity were able to win a chance
to visit the set, meet the cast and cameo in the film.
The higher the donation the more entries were given.
Runners up could win other rewards such as t-shirts
and posters.
8. Magazine Articles
Acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz
visited the set ofThe Force Awakens and took
photographs forVanity Fair Magazine.
Many publications such asTotal
Film, Empire,The Hollywood
Reporter andThe Guardian have run
articles analysing the film’s trailers
and anticipating it’s success.This
article fromThe Guardian predicts
that the film could make $2 billion at
the box office.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2
015/jun/24/star-wars-the-force-
awakens-likely-to-make-2bn-at-
box-office
9. Posters
On the left is the official
teaser poster which was
showcased at the Star
Wars celebration on
26/04/15. On the right is
a leaked poster which
appeared on fansite
www.theforce.net. It is
not confirmed if this
poster is for the film or
upcoming computer
game but the fact that it
has caused so much
discussion shows how
highly the film is
anticipated.
10. Fans
Cosplay is when fans dress up as their favourite characters.
Here are a few of the most inventive StarWars fans.
StarWars fans are very creative making original art work
and crafts projects.
11. Convention
StarWars Celebration is a StarWars convention which
began in 1999 ahead of the release of the prequel
trilogy.The 2015 US event attracted 150,000 fans, five
times the number of the previous year. It was also live
streamed on youtube. As well as appearances from
cast members the event included costumes from the
film and news on Rogue One a planned spin off film to
be directed by Gareth Edwards.
12. Websites and Social Media
OfficialWebsite
Official Facebook page :The official facebook
page has 13,833,736 likes.
Official twitter account :The official twitter
account was created in February 2009 and has
1.38 million followers.
13. Merchandise
• Lucasfilm and Disney Publishing Worldwide announced plans for
20 books in the run up to the films release.
• Lucasfilm announced 4/09/15 as Force Friday and the official
launch of merchandise from the movie at 1 minute past midnight.
They are already urging fans to use the hashtags #forcefriday and
#midnightmadness to document their experience on social media.
This indicates they are anticipating a great interest in the event
and shows their awareness of the importance of social media.
14. As well as official
Lucasfilm brand
merchandise licenses are
given to companies to
make a diverse range of
StarWars items from
memory sticks to
refrigerators.The
interest in StarWars
memorabilia is huge and
very profitable.
