Disney Issues Press Release Confirming JJ Abrams as Star Wars Episode VII Director and As Most Envied Man in the World

Even though it seemed as confirmed as possible late last week that Star Trek resurrector JJ Abrams would be leaving the bridge of the Enterprise to take over the helm of the Millenium Falcon as the director of Star Wars Episode VII, there has been no confirmed word from Disney on the matter. Late Friday night the House of Mouse finally issued a press release confirming the news.

The press release was mostly boilerplate with well wishes from producer Kathleen Kennedy and human ATM George Lucas. One of the more interesting parts of it however was the confirmation of sorts of Lawrence Kasdan's role in the upcoming films:

Also consulting on the project are Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. Kasdan has a long history with Lucasfilm, as screenwriter on The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi. Kinberg was writer on Sherlock Holmes and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

I think it's a terrific choice for director, albeit kind of obvious and almost a little too risk-free, and hopefully Abrams is smart enough to give his Star Wars a look far different from the universe he's created in Star Trek so that fanboys' two favorite franchises don't begin to occupy the same space and rip a whole in the fabric of the space-time continuum a la Ron Silver in Time Cop.

And just try not to get goosebumps watching this clever trailer mash-up for a JJ Abrams' Star Wars movie: