Star Wars: The Hype Awakens

Brandon Guerrero, Staff Writer

Ever since Disney bought the rights to Lucasfilm back in 2012, fans have been awaiting the arrival of the seventh installment to the Star Wars trilogies. The wait was finally satisfied on Dec. 18, 2015; however, it was not just the opening day that was exciting, but the days leading up to the release as well.

 

Thousands of Star Wars themed products and merchandise were released to substitute for the film before its release. Merchandise included: clothes, toys, games, and even rumor of a Star Wars area inside Disneyland. Commercials ranging from Star Wars makeup to Star Wars themed car commercials are just a few examples of how Star Wars enveloped our lives. Exhilaration from fans all over the globe were just as strong, if not stronger, than when the first Star Wars film was released in 1977.

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke box office records soon after its release. The film became the fastest movie to reach past 700 million dollars, doing it in only 16 days. Avatar was the first movie to reach the 700 million dollar mark, but Star Wars is set to dethrone Avatar as the biggest domestic movie ever.

 

“I would give the movie an eight out of ten. I thought it was genius of the director to leave some things unsolved in the movie,” senior, Jose Alvarez said. “It adds more mystery and a desire to see the next films.”

 

Although the movie broke records, it is impossible to please everyone. Fans of the previous installments of the Star Wars trilogies like this movie, but people who did not like, or understand, the previous movies most likely didn’t like this one either.

 

“The movie was okay,” senior, Samuel Vasquez said, “but there were some plot holes I wish they would have explained.”

 

Yuri Luiz , a fan from Brazil, is hoping to get George Lucas himself back in the directing chair for Star Wars Episode Eight. An online petition has actually surfaced stating that George Lucas should be the director for episode eight, however there is only one problem, Lucas no longer owns the rights to Star Wars. He sold the rights of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for 4 billion dollars.

 

“We have no problem with Colin Trevorrow, but he’s not the right guy to direct Star Wars Episode Eight,” Luiz Wrote on Change.org.

 

George Lucas got some hate a few years back when he made the Star Wars prequels: The Phantom menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The reaction from fans were not good, so when George Lucas sold the rights of the films, some questions from fans arose, especially when they heard that Disney bought the movies. When Lucas first heard that JJ Abrams would be the director for the new film, he lashed out saying that Disney was trying to make a “retro” Star Wars, and that is not how it should be. However, he quickly took back his comment and said that this is the movie fans have been looking for.