New ‘Star Wars’ film announces official title, labeled ‘boring’ by fans

New ‘Star Wars’ film announces official title, labeled ‘boring’ by fans

Seventh 'Star Wars' film to be titled 'The Force Awakens.'

Principal photography for the highly-anticipated seventh Star Wars just wrapped in London, and Disney and Lucasfilm celebrated on Thursday by announcing the film’s official name: Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While many fans are excited that they finally know what to call the film, reactions to its name have been mixed at best thus far.

“[It’s] the beige of Star Wars titles – utterly inoffensive, totally nondescript. It could have been the title of almost any Star Wars movie,” complained Devin Faraci of BadassDigest.com. “It could be the title of any tie-in product. It’s a title that’s likely been sitting on a list of available, trademarked phrases for the last 15 years.”

“I mean, at least The Phantom Menace is kind of interesting,” said Mike Ryan of Screencrush.com, before noting that the film’s title does fit the current trend of having words like “Dark, Rise, Rising, Darkness and Dawn” in a film’s title.

However, some fans – such as Eric Geller of the Star Wars fan site TheForce.net – think the name is a great way to capture the franchise’s revitalization.

“Awakens is a great verb and it’s a perfect metaphor for the franchise right now. To most of the world, Star Wars has been dormant since 2005. I like the image of the franchise as a sleeping behemoth that is about to be unleashed on the world.

It makes me think of ‘the Force’ as a character in the story. It’s also significant that this is the only title so far to use the word ‘force.”’

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is surprisingly missing “Episode VII” from its official title, and the omission is being noted by countless fans of the series.

“Studios have opted for subtitles over numbers because research has shown that numbers generally lead to lower box office,” explained Peter Sciretta of Slashfilm.com. “But having the episode number in the title was a trademark of a Star Wars movie, so this change is a big deal.”

The film returns three stars of the original trilogy in Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, but will also star young new talent such as John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver. The Force Awakens reportedly picks up after the events of Return of the Jedi, and will be released on Dec. 18, 2015.

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