Rumor: Harrison Ford injury will Delay Star Wars till Memorial Day 2016

CinematicFusion

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
From Aintitcoolnews:

Harrison Ford will turn seventy-two this July, which means he is at that age where you don't want to sprain or break if you can help it. Problem is, it's a lot easier to break when you're seventy-two, and much harder to make a full recovery.

As you all surely know by now, Ford broke his leg a couple of weeks ago in a mishap somewhere in the vicinity of the actual Millennium Falcon on the set of STAR WARS: EPISODE VII. Ford's a tough , so I've little doubt he'll be up and at 'em as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the word coming from the set is that he could be out of service for as long as six months. And this is a huge problem because Han Solo is pretty much the main character of EPISODE VII. So I do not have a hard time believing Jedi News' rumor that there was an emergency meeting today on the film's Pinewood Studios set to determine whether J.J. Abrams and company can realistically make their December 18, 2015 release date.

I know Disney was adamant about keeping EPISODE VII in 2015, but if Ford's out, they've little choice but to shoot what they can without him and wait for him to get better. If that takes six months, this means the studio would likely be forced to move the film to Memorial Day 2016, which means they'd have to find another release date for ALICE IN WONDERLAND 2. This would also leave Disney without a major Christmas 2015 movie, so another tentpole flick would have to be moved into December. Realistic options? TOMORROWLAND (currently set for 5/22/15), ANT-MAN (7/17/15) or Jon Favreau's THE JUNGLE BOOK (10/9/15). There's also Steven Spielberg's untitled Cold War spy thriller starring Tom Hanks (10/16/15), but that's not a four-quadrant picture.

This rumor is getting a good deal of traction, so I'd expect some kind of official response from Disney fairly soon. Given what I know about EPISODE VII's story (along with the recent hiring of writer-director Rian Johnson for EPISODES VIII and IX), I'm genuinely looking forward to this new trilogy. It took them longer than expected to beat the script into shape, but they're really happy with it, and there's zero possibility of a significant rewrite to work around Ford's injury. Han's the man in this movie. That's not going to change.
 
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Lord_Vader

Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
I am all for moving the date out to May 2016, Star Wars movies are released in May (well long, long ago...) And think about all the summer toys, etc and the SW EP7 can be on Blu-Ray just in time for Christmas and the release of the new spin-off.

There is no reason the spin-off would have to be rescheduled from it's current December 2016 release except for merchandising.
 

Gomer

Well-Known Member
Not to nitpick, but the AICN story says "may" delay not "will" delay. I've seen some others such as starwars7news still disputing the delay will happen.

That being said, SW belongs in Spring. So, I'm ok with the delay as long as Ford can stay with the picture.
 

CinematicFusion

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Iger wants to make sure gets the credit for this film's financial success. I highly doubt the date will move.

If Disney doesn't move the date and Harrison Ford's injury is as bad as they say. With a 4-6 month recovery time. Then Disney needs to get creative and write Han Solo out of many of the scenes. He is the lead of the movie. It might be why Tom Cruise was taking to Abrams as a possible cameo in Star Wars. He might be a write in character that replaces Han Solo for some scenes in the film. That way Star Wars can continue shooting and hit the December deadline. Harrison Ford's character will be written out.
Hope that doesn't happen and they delay the film but it's a business.
 

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
Low-budget TV shows are able to conceal pregnant actresses playing non-pregnant characters all the time. Why couldn't they use body doubles, special effects, and camera trickery on a big-budget production like Star Wars? They didn't let Jeff Bridges' age stop him from playing Clu in Tron:Legacy, so I would bet they can find a way around this. It may not be the ideal situation, but they can make it work

Iger wants to make sure gets the credit for this film's financial success. I highly doubt the date will move.
I agree. He has been carefully stacking big events for the 12 months before he steps down for several years now. The only thing that I see allowing this to be pushed back is if there are significant delays for Shanghai, and Iger decides to extend his reign of terror a little longer
 

CinematicFusion

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This article really needs a spoiler tag, particularly if the second paragraph is accurate.

I removed that part...it's all rumor and spec. Not sure what will happen in the film. We all know Han Solo has a big role in the film, the rest is all just speculation. However, I removed that part. Sorry I didn't even see that one sentence when I posted it.
 

Lord_Vader

Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
If Disney doesn't move the date and Harrison Ford's injury is as bad as they say. With a 4-6 month recovery time. Then Disney needs to get creative and write Han Solo out of many of the scenes. He is the lead of the movie. It might be why Tom Cruise was taking to Abrams as a possible cameo in Star Wars. He might be a write in character that replaces Han Solo for some scenes in the film. That way Star Wars can continue shooting and hit the December deadline. Harrison Ford's character will be written out.
Hope that doesn't happen and they delay the film but it's a business.

Oh for the love of god, please keep Tom Cruise out of Star Wars! :in pain::in pain::in pain::in pain::in pain::in pain:
 

jt04

Well-Known Member
OK. So I think it is time to create a virtual Ford. Make thousands of voice recordings that can be computer edited. Create a virtual IJ and HS that can be fine tuned as tech advances. Then negotiate a trust that would be funded whenever the characters are used in perpetuity.
 

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
Low-budget TV shows are able to conceal pregnant actresses playing non-pregnant characters all the time. Why couldn't they use body doubles, special effects, and camera trickery on a big-budget production like Star Wars? They didn't let Jeff Bridges' age stop him from playing Clu in Tron:Legacy, so I would bet they can find a way around this. It may not be the ideal situation, but they can make it work


I agree. He has been carefully stacking big events for the 12 months before he steps down for several years now. The only thing that I see allowing this to be pushed back is if there are significant delays for Shanghai, and Iger decides to extend his reign of terror a little longer
Being pregnant is a lot different then being in your 70s with a broken leg. He may be in a wheelchair right now, some scenes this would work for but other not so much. If he was a main character in the film he can't be sitting in every scene.
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
After seeing "Edge of Tomorrow" this past weekend, I'd rather not see Cruise in another sci-fi movie again.

You didn't love Edge of Tomorrow?
I hate Tom Cruise and I loved that movie.

Anyway, I think Mr. Ford's injury may be a blessing in disguise.
Abrahms and company were supposedly pushed for time by Disney to get the movie out on time, so this delay may give them some much-needed time to get the script where it should be.
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
What Would Sonny Corleone do?
Bleed out at the toll booth?

Anyway, Ford is old. Make him sit in an ECV for the entire movie. That would be so totally DISNEY!

mkecv1.jpg
 

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