Star Wars rumors should probably always be taken with a spoonful of salt, but combine them with whispers regarding Star Trek 3, toss in a dose of J.J. Abrams and what you've got is something totally out of control. Let's begin with the biggest story to come from Badass Digest, who dropped a bomb during Comic-Con by saying they'd heard "whispers" that J.J. Abrams may be looking to bail on Star Wars: Episode VII. The reason? That he didn't want to shoot in England, but he was overruled on the decision by Lucasfilm.
Of course, this led to the studio issuing a terse statement to IGN denying the whole thing...
"There is no truth to the rumor. J.J. is having a great time working on the script and is looking forward to going into production next year."
Don't you think a rumor of that magnitude would have sped its way around the news community like wildfire? It already sounded shaky, but now it has no credibility whatsoever, and we will almost certainly see Abrams directing Star Wars: Episode VII in 2015.
Another story from the site which is linked through association with Abrams, has Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz coming aboard to co-write Star Trek 3. The duo are Bad Robot veterans thanks to their work on Fringe, and they also wrote Thor and X-Men: First Class. The first two Star Trek films were written by Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and the story says they are still on board to pen Star Trek 3, as well. So then what's the purpose in hiring Miller and Stentz? It's possible that Orci and Kurtzman, who also serve as producers, were looking for a little help in order to have the film ready by the Star Trek 50th Anniversary in 2016. But that date is far enough away that they wouldn't need it. Speaking of which, if Paramount is targeting 2016, chances are zero that Abrams will be able to direct it, despite what some on the inside are saying.
We'll see how much of this turns out to be true in the coming days.
