--- description: J.J. Abrams is “terrified” under pressure to make sure 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' delivers in the box office, Steven Spielberg said. title: J.J. Abrams is ‘Terrified’ Under Star Wars Pressure, Steven Spielberg Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # J.J. Abrams is ‘Terrified’ Under _Star Wars_ Pressure, Steven Spielberg Says  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 14, 2015 1:22 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 14, 2015 1:22 PM CUT Director J.J. Abrams is [“terrified” under enormous pressure](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-the-new-force-behind-star-wars/ "undefined") to make sure _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_ delivers in the box office, Steven Spielberg said Sunday. The seventh installment in the iconic film saga has to rake in over $1.5 billion to be considered a success, and the load of the daunting task is weighing on Abrams, Spielberg said in a _60 Minutes_ interview. “Oh, J.J. is terrified,” Spielberg said. “There’s a lot of pressure on J.J. to start paying Disney back for, you know, the franchise they bought from George Lucas.” Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion just as a new Star Wars trilogy was being planned. Spielberg also said he recommended Abrams to be the director of the latest film because “he just reminded me of a cartoon character that was so full of magnetic energy and ideas coming out of him.” _The Force Awakens_ hits theaters on Dec. 18\. Fans have already bought over $50 million in advance tickets, according to _60 Minutes_. Abrams said the highly anticipated film is “not a movie.” “It’s bigger than all of us. It’s almost a religion for people,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4147386/abrams-star-wars-speilberg/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4147386/abrams-star-wars-speilberg/"},"headline":"J.J. Abrams is ‘Terrified’ Under Star Wars Pressure, Steven Spielberg Says","datePublished":"2015-12-14T13:22:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:58:43.692Z","description":"May The Force be with him","url":"https://time.com/4147386/abrams-star-wars-speilberg/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4147386/abrams-star-wars-speilberg/","name":"J.J. Abrams is ‘Terrified’ Under Star Wars Pressure, Steven Spielberg Says"}}]}] ```