Suvudu Universe

It’s hard to keep up with all the rumors surrounding Episode VII, but fear not brave reader as I have done the heavy lifting for you. Below you will find what we know, what we think we know and what people are claiming they know about where Episode VII will be shot.

The Locations:

1) The United Kingdom: Pinewood Studios:

On May 10, 2013 Lucasfilm announced that production of Episode VII would take place in the United Kingdom.

The Hollywood Reported claims sources had confirmed to them that Pinewood Studios would be the primary location for filming Episode VII, this was confirmed by Episode VII producer Bryan Burk in August to Variety. Pinewood Studios features 15 stages, three back lot areas, and two water tanks for filming.

Pinewood Stages:

007 STAGE (PW)59,092 sq ft (interior tank) Expand
THE RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH STAGE30,044 sq ft Expand
R STAGE (PW)19,140 sq ft Expand
S STAGE (PW)19,140 sq ft Expand
A STAGE (PW)18,150 sq ft (interior tank) Expand
D STAGE (PW)18,150 sq ft (interior tank) Expand
E STAGE (PW)18,150 sq ft (interior tank) Expand
L STAGE (PW)9,450 sq ft Expand
M STAGE (PW)9,450 sq ft Expand
B STAGE (PW)8,910 sq ft Expand
C STAGE (PW)8,910 sq ft (interior tank) Expand
N & P STAGE (PW)8,320 sq ft Expand
F STAGE (PW)7,500 sq ft (interior tank) Expand
H STAGE (PW)3,200 sq ft Expand
G STAGE (PW)1,760 sq ft Expand

Pinewood Lots:

North Lot: 16 acres behind 007 stage can handle big standing sets.

Orchard Lot: 2 acres of flat ground.

Paddock Lot: 4 acres south of underwater stage and exterior tank.

Water Tanks:

Pinewood features an enclosed underwater stage as well as an exterior water tank.

The underwater stage measures 66ft x 33ft x 20ft deep (20m x 10m x 6m deep). The exterior tank measures “228 ft (67.14 m) narrowing to 108 ft (31.45 m) wide, 213 ft (63 m) long, 4 ft (1 m) deep” and features both a smaller inner tank as well as a blue screen backing to the tank.

Pinewood Studios has been attempting to pursue a £200 million expansion over 100 acres of land that would double the studios production space, but has not yet been able to overcome local government opposition to the project.

Jedinews.uk reported that sources had told them that Lucasfilm has signed a 10 year contract with Pinewood and would be building offices and facilities on site.

The website Latino Review which has been pumping out rumors like crazy, reported that a Millennium Falcon set is already under construction at Pinewood and that 90% of filming would take place there.

2) Los Angeles:

J.J. Abrams is renovating his production company’s offices in Santa Monica to create some new production spaces dedicated to Star Wars Episode VII.

A green room, sound studios and other new facilities will be developed within the three-story, 18,000-square-foot Santa Monica building, which already includes editing bays, a workshop for making props, a screening room that can double as a set and Abrams’ personal suite of offices.

Presumably this facility will be for post-production and a substitute for flying up to the Ranch and doing post-production at Lucasfilm’s facilities there.

We don’t have any reports that they have reserved any studio space in L.A. for shooting, but it seems possible that they could use Walt Disney Studios’ Burbank sound stages for any shooting in L.A.

3) New Mexico:

The latest rumor to surface is that some shooting would take place in New Mexico. In August, Albuquerque Studios President talked about Star Wars and New Mexico to Variety.

That hasn’t stopped the rumor mill. Albuquerque Studios president Dana Arnold says there has been talk for two years that parts of “Star Wars” may shoot in New Mexico, his facility’s home state. He’s also heard talk of locations as disparate as Iceland, Jordan, Scotland and Ireland.

This week a local New Mexico film blog, One Headlight Ink claimed that;

Disney returns to the desert and to New Mexico’s class A-1 studio facilities and crew base to shoot the first of THREE pending sequels to add to the mega-galactic franchise.

New Mexico will share production duties with Los Angeles and London when filming gets underway in 2014. Original cast members scheduled to return include Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill…all of whom are slated to somehow reprise their roles from the original 1977 film.

One would think that a film blog like One Headlight Ink would know to write Lucasfilm instead of Lucas Film, alas not.

This report was followed up by a similar report from Latino Review which refined the rumor to a specific location within New Mexico, the city of Las Cruces.

According to my source, very little will be shot in Las Cruces along with Los Angeles and 90% will be done in London when filming gets underway in 2014.

Latino Review goes on to speculate that Las Cruces could be a good setting for the Sith world of Korriban.

What is interesting about Las Cruces is the diversity of potential shooting locations.  From White Sands, to deserts, to beaches, to snow-covered mountains.

The New Mexico rumors have the least amount of verifiable information at this point. Which is a good point to remind everyone that nothing is officially confirmed until it is confirmed by Lucasfilm. I will note however that we have alternate sources of information now from both Bad Robot and from Disney that have either fueled some rumors or provided confirmation in cases like Pinewood.

I leave you with some shots of Las Cruces.