Alan Horn Discusses Episode VII Filming, Budget, Release Date, Skateboards, and More

Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn spoke at the Bloomberg and TriBeCa Film Festival Business of Entertainment Breakfast Tuesday in New York, and he discussed many subjects surrounding Episode VII.  First he confirmed that the second unit had been filming in Abu Dhabi (sight of the famous potential Episode VII set pictures), saying, " We have to give that the ‘Star Wars’-ian look, if I can use that as an adjective — we need to go to these places."

He also reiterated that casting is "almost done".  He also stated that he expects Episode VII to have a budget of around $175 million to $200 million.  He also made the interesting comment that Episode VII could revert to its original May 2015 release date (from its current December 2015 release date) if all goes smoothly with production.  So for those of you still holding out hope for keeping the May release date tradition alive, it sounds like Disney would to continue that as well.

 And finally, Horn joked with the media saying "I’ve learned to be very careful about ‘Star Wars.  If I say, ‘There will be no skateboards in ‘Star Wars’… that gets headlines."  So they're you have it!  Our first official confirmation that there will be no skateboards in Star Wars!