Think about it. By this time next year, you will already have seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Probably multiple times. We’re now less than one calendar year away from having a new Star Wars movie in theaters, and to recognize that incredible fact, J.J. Abrams and his cast recorded this very special "Thank you" vid from the Pinewood set of Star Wars 7.
The video is a culmination of a fundraising effort J.J. Abrams started months ago to drive awareness and funds to UNICEF. Those who contributed were competing to earn a walk-on part in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In fact, when this dude found out he won the raffle of a lifetime, it looked a lot like this:
Abrams says in the video that in addition to a $1 million contribution made by Walt Disney to start the fundraiser, Star Wars fans raised an additional $4.6 million during the Force for Change initiative. And that’s fantastic. "This means, thousands of children around the world will benefit from UNICEF’s pioneering efforts to increase access to education, health resources and improved communications during emergencies," Abrams explains in the video. Aw, stop making me feel so good about all of this, Star Trek dude!
Then he wraps it with a, "May the Force be with you." And you realize that J.J. Abrams really is going to be THAT guy. The guy who saved by Star Trek and Star Wars. I’m not sure I can wrap my brain around that.
OK, let’s go negative, just for a second. Yes, the video takes us behind the scenes, and yes Abrams allows R2-D2 and Chewbacca to appear. But we STILL don’t have a legit shot of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They were absent from this breathtakingly awesome trailer:
And they aren’t in this calculatedly revealing clip. But we still have a year to stoke the flames of fan appreciation. Less than a year, actually. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is coming. It’ll be here on December 18, 2015!
