Star Wars Episode VII appears to be contending with its fair share of pre-production delays, we recently heard the news that script writers had changed from Michael Arndt over to the duo Lawrence Kasdan and JJ Abrams.
With a change in writers likely comes a change in direction for the film, and it appears that a script isn’t likely to be turned into Disney by Lucasfilm until in the New Year. It has also been reported that without a script, no specific production budget is attached at this stage, however Disney expects it to be in the vicinity of $200 million.
While the approach to the production of Episode VII is likely to differ from the prequel trilogy, (JJ has announced his intention to use more physical sets that what George Lucas did in Episodes I – III), they will no doubt still contain a huge amount of visual effect shots, meaning a lengthy post-production period required on the film.
As a reference point a prequel trilogy film spent approximately 18 months in post-production after filming was complete. Assuming approximately a six-week principal photography period with a few months more pre-production and things are starting to look a little tight for the planned release date of December 2015.
That said some films have certainly come together well within a two-year period before, so no need to start worrying just yet!
