document_title: Columbian Exchange

question_text: where did apples come from in the columbian exchange

text: Columbian Exchange

text: Origin of the term[edit]

text: In 1972 Alfred W. Crosby, an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin, published The Columbian Exchange.[2] This book covers the environmental impact of Columbus' landing in the new world.[3]

text: The term has become popular among historians and journalists, such as Charles C. Mann, whose book 1493 expands and updates Crosby's original research.[4]

text: Influence[edit]

text: Crops[edit]

text: Four plants native to the Americas have spread around the world: Potato, maize, tomato, and tobacco.[5] Before 1500, potatoes were not grown outside of South America. By the 1840s, Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the proximate cause of the Great Famine was a potato disease.[6] Potatoes eventually became an important staple of the diet in much of Europe. Many European rulers, including Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia, encouraged the cultivation of the potato.[7]

text: Maize and cassava, introduced to the Portuguese from South America in the 16th century,[8] have replaced sorghum and millet as Africa's most important food crops.[9] 16th-century Spanish colonizers introduced new staple crops to Asia from the Americas, including maize and sweet potatoes, and thereby contributed to population growth in Asia.[10]

text: Tomatoes, which came to Europe from the New World via Spain, were initially prized in Italy mainly for their ornamental value (see below). From the 19th century tomato sauces became typical of Neapolitan cuisine and, ultimately, Italian cuisine in general.[11] Coffee (introduced in the Americas circa 1720) from Africa and the Middle East and sugarcane (introduced from South Asia) from the Spanish West Indies became the main export commodity crops of extensive Latin American plantations. Introduced to India by the Portuguese, chili and potatoes from South America have become an integral part of Indian cuisine.[12]

text: Before the Columbian Exchange, there were no oranges in Florida, no bananas in Ecuador, no paprika in Hungary, no potatoes in Ireland, no coffee in Colombia, no pineapples in Hawaii, no rubber trees in Africa, no chili peppers in Thailand, no tomatoes in Italy, and no chocolate in Switzerland.

text: Tomatoes[edit]

text: It took three centuries after their introduction in Europe for tomatoes to become widely accepted. Of all the New World plants introduced to Italy, only the potato took as long as the tomato to gain acceptance. In large part this was due to 16th-century physicians believing that this native Mexican fruit was poisonous and the generator of "melancholic humours." In 1544, Pietro Andrea Mattioli, a Tuscan physician and botanist, suggested that tomatoes might be edible, but no record exists of anyone consuming them at this time. On October 31, 1548 the tomato was given its first name anywhere in Europe when a house steward of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence, wrote to the De' Medici's private secretary that the basket of pomi d'oro "had arrived safely." At this time, the label pomi d'oro was also used to refer to figs, melons, and citrus fruits in treatises by scientists.[13]

text: In the early years, tomatoes were mainly grown as ornamentals in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovan Vettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty" and were grown only in gardens or flower beds. Tomatoes were grown in elite town and country gardens in the fifty years or so following their arrival in Europe and were only occasionally depicted in works of art. However, in 1592 the head gardener at the botanical garden of Aranjuez near Madrid, under the patronage of Philip II of Spain wrote, "it is said [tomatoes] are good for sauces." Besides this account, tomatoes remained exotic plants grown for ornamental purposes, but rarely for culinary use. The combination of pasta with tomato sauce was developed only in the late nineteenth century. Today around 32,000 acres (12,950 ha) of tomatoes are cultivated in Italy, although there are still areas where relatively few tomatoes are grown and consumed.[13]

text: Livestock[edit]

text: Initially, at least, the Columbian exchange of animals largely went through one route, from Europe to the New World, as the Eurasian regions had domesticated many more animals. Horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, large dogs, cats and bees were rapidly adopted by native peoples for transport, food, and other uses.[14] One of the first European exports to the Americas, the horse, changed the lives of many Native American tribes in the mountains. They shifted to a nomadic lifestyle, as opposed to agriculture, based on hunting bison on horseback and moved down to the Great Plains. The existing Plains tribes expanded their territories with horses, and the animals were considered so valuable that horse herds became a measure of wealth.[15]

text: Still, the effects of the introduction of European livestock on the environments and peoples of the New World were not always positive. In the Caribbean, the proliferation of European animals had large effects on native fauna and undergrowth and damaged conucos, plots managed by indigenous peoples for subsistence.[16]

text: Disease[edit]

text: European exploration of tropical areas was aided by the New World discovery of quinine, the first effective treatment for malaria. Europeans suffered from this disease, but some indigenous populations had developed at least partial resistance to it. In Africa, resistance to malaria has been associated with other genetic changes among sub-Saharan Africans and their descendants, which can cause sickle-cell disease.[1]:164

text: Before regular communication had been established between the two hemispheres, the varieties of domesticated animals and infectious diseases that jumped to humans, such as smallpox, were substantially more numerous in the Old World than in the New due to more extensive long-distance trade networks. Many had migrated west across Eurasia with animals or people, or were brought by traders from Asia, so diseases of two continents were suffered by all occupants. While Europeans and Asians were affected by the Eurasian diseases, their endemic status in those continents over centuries resulted in many people gaining acquired immunity.

text: By contrast, "Old World" diseases had a devastating effect when introduced to Native American populations via European carriers, as the people in the Americas had no natural immunity to the new diseases. Measles caused many deaths. The smallpox epidemics are believed to have caused the largest death tolls among Native Americans, surpassing any wars[17] and far exceeding the comparative loss of life in Europe due to the Black Death.[1]:164 It is estimated that upwards of 80–95 percent of the Native American population died in these epidemics within the first 100–150 years following 1492. Many regions in the Americas lost 100%.[1]:165 The beginning of demographic collapse on the North American continent has typically been attributed to the spread of a well-documented smallpox epidemic from Hispaniola in December 1518.[16] At that point in time, approximately only 10,000 indigenous people were still alive in Hispaniola.[16]

text: Similarly, yellow fever is thought to have been brought to the Americas from Africa via the Atlantic slave trade. Because it was endemic in Africa, many people there had acquired immunity. Europeans suffered higher rates of death than did African-descended persons when exposed to yellow fever in Africa and the Americas, where numerous epidemics swept the colonies beginning in the 17th century and continuing into the late 19th century. The disease caused widespread fatalities in the Caribbean during the heyday of slave-based sugar plantation.[16] The replacement of native forests by sugar plantations and factories facilitated its spread in the tropical area by reducing the number of potential natural predators.[16] Yet, the means of the transmission was unknown until 1881, when Carlos Finlay suggested that the disease was transmitted through mosquitoes, now known to be female mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti.[16]

text: The history of syphilis has been well-studied, but the exact origin of the disease is unknown and remains a subject of debate.[18] There are two primary hypotheses: one proposes that syphilis was carried to Europe from the Americas by the crew of Christopher Columbus in the early 1490s, while the other proposes that syphilis previously existed in Europe but went unrecognized.[19] These are referred to as the "Columbian" and "pre-Columbian" hypotheses.[19] The first written descriptions of the disease in the Old World came in 1493.[20] The first large outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, among the army of Charles VIII, during their invasion of Naples.[19][21][22][23]

text: Cultural exchanges[edit]

text: One of the influences related to the migration of people were cultural exchanges. For example, in the article "The Myth of Early Globalization: The Atlantic Economy, 1500–1800" Pieter Remmer makes the point that "from 1500 onward, a 'clash of cultures' had begun in the Atlantic".[24] This clash of culture transferred European values to indigenous cultures. For example, the emergence of private property in regions where there were little to no rights to lands, the concepts of monogamy and the nuclear family, the role of women and children in the family system, and the "superiority of free labor".[25] An example of this type of cultural exchange occurred during the 1500s in North America. When these early European colonizers first entered North America, they encountered fence-less lands which indicated to them that this land was unimproved. For these Europeans, they were seeking economic opportunities, therefore, land and resources were important for the success of the mission. When these colonizers entered North America they encountered a fully established culture of people called the Powhatan. The Powhatan farmers in Virginia scattered their farm plots within larger cleared areas. These larger cleared areas were a communal place for naturally growing and useful plants. As the Europeans viewed fences as "hallmarks of civilization" they set about transforming "the land into something more suitable for themselves".[26] In implementing their practices, the Europeans enslaved, murdered, and exploited indigenous populations. Furthermore, in cases of enslaved peoples (and in particular, enslaved Africans) the Europeans simultaneously implemented their value system while at the same time justifying enslaving people through a philosophy which reduced the enslaved people to property. Thus, the slave traders and some of the plantation owners used the concept of family to exploit and control the enslaved people. In other subtle ways, which had a large impact the cultural exchanges involved sharing practices and traditions. An example of this can be found in the tobacco industry.

text: Tobacco was one of the luxury goods which was spread as a direct result of the Columbian Exchange. As is discussed in regard to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the tobacco trade increased demand for free labor and spread tobacco worldwide. In discussing the widespread uses of tobacco, the Spanish physician Nicolas Monardes (1493–1588) noted that "The black people that have gone from these parts to the Indies, have taken up the same manner and use of tobacco that the Indians have".[27] As the European colonizers and enslaved Africans traveled the globe and came into contact with indigenous peoples, they took with them the cultural practices related to tobacco, and spread them to additional regions. Therefore, demand for tobacco grew in the course of the cultural exchanges and increased contacts among peoples.

text: Organism examples[edit]

text:
Post-Columbian transfers of native organisms with close ties to humans

Type of organism
Old World to New World
New World to Old World

Domesticated animals

cat (domestic – wild species already present)
cattle
chicken
donkey
goat (the goats of the Old World, genus Capra, are different from the mountain goat of the New World, genus Oreamnos)
guineafowl
honey bee (European honey bee – other wild and domesticated species already present)
horse
rabbit (domestic)
pig
sheep (domestic)
water buffalo

alpaca
guinea pig
llama
Muscovy duck
turkey

Cultivated plants

almond
apple
apricot
asparagus
banana (including cooking banana)
barley
basil
beetroot
Brassica oleracea-derived vegetables

broccoli
Brussels sprout
cabbage
cauliflower
collard greens
kale

cantaloupe
carrot
celery
chickpea
citrus (orange, lemon, etc.)
coffee
common fig
coriander (also known as cilantro)
cucumber
cumin
eggplant
Elaeis (oil palm)
fennel
flax
garlic
ginger
hemp (including cannabis)
leek
lentil
lettuce
mango
millet
Momordica charantia (bitter melon)
oat
okra
olive
onion
opium
oregano
pea
peach
pear
pistachio
pomegranate
radish
rice
rye
sesame
sorghum
soybean
spinach
sugarcane and sugar beet
turmeric
turnip
watermelon
wheat
yam (sometimes misnamed "sweet potato")

Acca sellowiana (feijoa, pineapple guava, Brazilian guava, guavasteen)
Annona reticulata (custard apple)
agave
allspice
amaranth (as grain)
annatto
arrowroot or Maranta arundinacea
avocado
bell pepper
Calathea allouia (leren)
Canna indica (achira)
cashew
cassava (manioc, tapioca, yuca)
chili pepper
cherimoya
cocoa bean
cotton (long-staple species)
cranberry (large cranberry, or bearberry species)
cucurbita (squash)
Eryngium foetidum (culantro, Mexican coriander)
guava (common)
Helianthus (sunflower)
Jerusalem artichoke
Pachyrhizus erosus (jícama)
maize (corn)
Manilkara zapota (sapodilla)
Opuntia ficus-indica (prickly pear)
papaya
passionfruit
peanut
pecan
Phaseolus vulgaris (beans: pinto, lima, kidney, etc.)
pineapple
pitaya (dragon fruit)
potato
pumpkin
quinoa
soursop
stevia
strawberry (commercial varieties)
sugar-apple
sweet potato
tobacco
tomato
vanilla
yerba mate
yucca
zucchini (courgette)

Infectious diseases

bubonic plague
chickenpox
cholera
diphtheria
influenza
leprosy
malaria
measles
pertussis
scarlet fever
smallpox
typhoid fever
typhus
yaws
yellow fever

Chagas disease
Nonvenereal endemic syphilis
pinta
syphilis (disputed)

text: Later history[edit]

text: Plants that arrived by land, sea, or air in the times before 1492 are called archaeophytes, and plants introduced to Europe after those times are called neophytes. Invasive species of plants and pathogens also were introduced by chance, including such weeds as tumbleweeds (Salsola spp.) and wild oats (Avena fatua). Some plants introduced intentionally, such as the kudzu vine introduced in 1894 from Japan to the United States to help control soil erosion, have since been found to be invasive pests in the new environment.

text: Fungi have also been transported, such as the one responsible for Dutch elm disease, killing American elms in North American forests and cities, where many had been planted as street trees. Some of the invasive species have become serious ecosystem and economic problems after establishing in the New World environments.[28][29] A beneficial, although probably unintentional, introduction is Saccharomyces eubayanus, the yeast responsible for lager beer now thought to have originated in Patagonia.[30]

text: In addition to these, many animals were introduced to new habitats on the other side of the world either accidentally or incidentally. These include such animals as brown rats, earthworms (apparently absent from parts of the pre-Columbian New World), and zebra mussels, which arrived on ships.[31] Escaped and feral populations of non-indigenous animals have thrived in both the Old and New Worlds, often negatively impacting or displacing native species. In the New World, populations of feral European cats, pigs, horses and cattle are common, and Burmese pythons are considered problematic. In the Old World, Eastern gray squirrel have been particularly successful in colonising Great Britain and populations of raccoons can now be found in some regions of Germany, the Caucasus and Japan. Fur farm escapees such as coypu and American mink have extensive populations. Canada geese are also common.


document_title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

question_text: where was the star wars the force awakens filmed

question_tokens: where was the star wars the force awakens filmed

root

text: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

text: Plot[edit]

text: Thirty years after the destruction of the second Death Star and the Galactic Civil War, the First Order has risen from the fallen Galactic Empire and seeks to eliminate the New Republic. The Resistance, backed by the Republic and led by General Leia Organa, opposes them while searching for her brother, Luke Skywalker.

tag: p

text: Resistance pilot Poe Dameron meets village elder Lor San Tekka on the planet Jakku to obtain a map to Luke's location. Stormtroopers commanded by the mysterious Kylo Ren destroy the village and capture Poe, while Ren kills Tekka. Poe's droid, BB-8, escapes with the map and encounters a scavenger named Rey near a junkyard settlement. Ren tortures Poe using the Force, and learns of BB-8. Reticent stormtrooper FN-2187 frees Poe, and they escape in a stolen TIE fighter; Poe dubs FN-2187 "Finn". They crash on Jakku; Finn survives, but he believes that Poe was killed in the crash. Finn encounters Rey and BB-8, but the First Order tracks them and launches an airstrike. Finn, Rey, and BB-8 flee the planet in the Millennium Falcon, which they steal from a junkyard.

text: The Falcon is captured by a larger ship piloted by Han Solo and Chewbacca, looking to reclaim their former vessel. Two rival gangs, seeking to settle debts with Han, board and attack, but Han and his allies flee in the Falcon. The gangs inform the First Order. At the First Order's Starkiller Base – a planet converted into a superweapon that harnesses energy from stars – Supreme Leader Snoke orders General Hux to use the weapon for the first time. Snoke questions Ren's ability to deal with emotions relating to his father, Han Solo; Ren says Solo means nothing to him.

text: The Falcon crew views BB-8's map and determines it is incomplete. Han explains that Luke attempted to rebuild the Jedi Order, but exiled himself when an apprentice turned to the dark side, destroyed the temple, and slaughtered all the other apprentices. The crew travels to the planet Takodana and meets with cantina owner Maz Kanata, who offers assistance in getting BB-8 to the Resistance. Rey is drawn to a vault on the lower level and finds the lightsaber that once belonged to Luke and his father, Anakin Skywalker. She experiences disturbing visions and flees into the woods. Maz gives Finn the lightsaber for safekeeping.

text: Starkiller Base fires and destroys the Republic capital and a portion of its fleet. The First Order attacks Takodana in search of BB-8. Han, Chewbacca, and Finn are saved by Resistance X-wing fighters led by Poe, who survived the earlier crash. Leia arrives at Takodana with C-3PO and reunites with Han and Chewbacca. Meanwhile, Ren captures Rey and takes her to Starkiller Base. However, when he interrogates her about the map, she is able to resist his mind-reading attempts. Discovering she can use the Force, she escapes using a Jedi mind trick on a nearby guard.

text: At the Resistance base on D'Qar, BB-8 finds R2-D2, who has been inactive since Luke's disappearance. As Starkiller Base prepares to fire on D'Qar, the Resistance devises a plan to destroy the superweapon by attacking a critical facility. Leia urges Han to return their son alive. Using the Falcon, Han, Chewbacca, and Finn infiltrate the facility, find Rey, and plant explosives. Han confronts Ren, calling him by his birth name, Ben, and implores him to abandon the dark side. Ren refuses and kills Han, enraging Chewbacca, who fires and hits Ren. He sets off the explosives, allowing the Resistance to attack and destroy Starkiller Base.

text: The injured Ren pursues Finn and Rey to the surface. A lightsaber battle between Ren and Finn ensues, leaving Finn badly wounded. Rey takes the lightsaber and uses the Force to defeat Ren, before they are separated by a fissure as the planet begins to disintegrate and implode. Snoke orders Hux to evacuate and bring Ren to him to complete his training. Rey and Chewbacca escape with Finn in the Falcon. On D'Qar, the Resistance celebrates while Leia, Chewbacca, and Rey mourn Han's death. R2-D2 awakens and reveals the rest of the map, which Rey follows to the oceanic planet Ahch-To. She finds Luke and presents him with the lightsaber.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Harrison Ford as Han Solo:

tag: ul

text: Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker:

text: Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa:

text: Adam Driver as Kylo Ren:

text: Daisy Ridley as Rey:

text: John Boyega as Finn:

text: Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron:

text: Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata:

text: Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke:

text: Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux:

text: Anthony Daniels as C-3PO:

text: Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca:

text: Max von Sydow as Lor San Tekka:

text: Tim Rose and Mike Quinn reprise their respective roles as Admiral Ackbar and Nien Nunb, both from Return of the Jedi.[32][33] Kipsang Rotich returns as the voice of Nien Nunb[34] and Erik Bauersfeld returns to voice Ackbar. This was Bauersfeld's final film role before his death in April 2016.[35] Kenny Baker, originally announced as part of the cast, was credited as "consultant" for R2-D2,[36][37] with Jimmy Vee performing some of the work for R2-D2.[38] Ewan McGregor has an uncredited vocal cameo as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Rey's vision sequence, while archival audio of Frank Oz and Alec Guinness as Yoda and Kenobi, respectively, are also used in the same scene; Oz recorded new dialogue for the film, but it was replaced with pre-existing audio from The Empire Strikes Back.[39]

text: Gwendoline Christie portrays Captain Phasma, the commander of the First Order's legions of stormtroopers.[40] Dave Chapman and Brian Herring served as puppeteers for BB-8,[41] with Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz credited as "Vocal Consultants".[42] Ken Leung appears as Statura, an admiral in the Resistance.[43] Simon Pegg appears as Unkar Plutt, the Junkyard dealer on Jakku.[26][44] Greg Grunberg plays Temmin "Snap" Wexley, an X-wing pilot.[45][46] Kiran Shah plays Teedo, a scavenger on Jakku who rides a semi-mechanical Luggabeast.[47] Jessica Henwick appears as Jess "Testor" Pava or Jess Testor, an X-wing pilot.[48][49][50] Brian Vernel appears as Bala-Tik, the leader of the Guavian Death Gang.[51][52] Yayan Ruhian, Iko Uwais, and Cecep Arif Rahman appear as Tasu Leech, Razoo Qin-Fee, and Crokind Shand, members of the Kanjiklub Gang, a criminal organization.[53][54][55] Warwick Davis appears as Wollivan, a tavern-dweller in Maz Kanata's castle.[56][57] Anna Brewster appears as Bazine Netal, a First Order spy, also at Maz Kanata's castle.[58] Thomas Brodie-Sangster[59] and Kate Fleetwood[60] play First Order Petty Officers, Thanisson and Unamo, respectively. Billie Lourd, daughter of Carrie Fisher, appears as Connix, a lieutenant in the Resistance.[61][62] Members of the Resistance include Emun Elliott as Brance[63] and Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Korr Sella[64] while Harriet Walter appears as Kalonia, the doctor who tends to Chewbacca.[65][66] Mark Stanley appears as a Knight of Ren.[66] Sebastian Armesto portrays Lieutenant Mitaka and Pip Torrens portrays Colonel Caplan, both serving the First Order.[67]

text: Actor Daniel Craig, composer Michael Giacchino and record producer Nigel Godrich cameo as stormtroopers.[68][69] Abrams' assistant, Morgan Dameron, appears as a Resistance officer,[70] while his father, Gerald W. Abrams, appears as Captain Cypress.[71] The film's dialect coach, Andrew Jack, appears as Major Ematt of the Resistance.[72] Additionally, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen,[73] Christina Chong,[74] Miltos Yerolemou,[75] Amybeth Hargreaves,[76] Leanne Best,[77] Judah Friedlander,[78] and Kevin Smith[79] were cast in minor roles. Abrams has a vocal cameo,[80] singing with Lin-Manuel Miranda on two songs, "Jabba Flow" and "Dobra Doompa", performed by Shag Kava, consisting of Abrams, Miranda and musicians.[81][82] Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels cast members Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter, Tom Kane, Catherine Taber, Matthew Wood, Sam Witwer, Meredith Salenger, James Arnold Taylor, show runner Dave Filoni, Michael Donovan, Devon Libran, Elle Newlands, Terri Douglas, Robert Stambler, Verona Blue, TJ Falls, Michelle Rejwan, Eugene Byrd, Fred Tatasciore, David Collins, Amanda Foreman, Christopher Scarabosio, Patrick Correll, Karen Huie, Orly Schuchmacher, Emily Towers, Jonathan Dixon, Kat Sheridan, Salacious Crumb actor Mark Dodson, and Gavyn Sykes actor Christian Simpson were the additional voices used in the film.[66][83] Riot control stormtrooper FN-2199, who calls Finn a traitor during the battle on Takodana, was portrayed by stunt performer Liang Yang and voiced by sound editor David Acord.[84]

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: Star Wars creator George Lucas discussed ideas for a sequel trilogy several times after the conclusion of the original trilogy, but denied any intent to make it.[85] In October 2012, he sold his production company Lucasfilm, and with it the Star Wars franchise, to The Walt Disney Company.[86] Speaking alongside Lucasfilm's new president, Kathleen Kennedy, Lucas said: "I always said I wasn't going to do any more and that's true, because I'm not going to do any more, but that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to turn it over to Kathy to do more."[87]

text: As creative consultant on the film, Lucas attended early story meetings and advised on the details of the Star Wars universe.[86] Among the materials he turned over to the production team were his rough story treatments for Episodes VII–IX, which Lucas requested would only be read by Kennedy, Bob Iger, Alan Horn, and Kevin Mayer.[88] Lucas later stated that Disney had discarded his story ideas[89][90] and that he had no further involvement with the film.[91] Lucas' son Jett told The Guardian that his father was "very torn" about having sold the rights to the franchise, despite having picked Abrams to direct, and that his father was "there to guide" but that "he wants to let it go and become its new generation".[92]

text: The Force Awakens's first screenplay was written by Michael Arndt.[93][94][95][96] Early drafts had Luke appear midway through the film, but Arndt found that "every time Luke came in and entered the movie, he just took it over. Suddenly you didn't care about your main character anymore."[97] Luke became the film's MacGuffin and does not appear in person until the final scene.[97] Several directors were considered, including David Fincher,[98] Brad Bird,[99] Ben Affleck and Guillermo del Toro;[100] after a suggestion by Steven Spielberg to Kennedy,[101] J. J. Abrams was named director in January 2013, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg as project consultants.[102][103]

text: Arndt worked on the script for eight months, but said he needed 18 more, which was more time than Disney or Abrams could give him.[96] The production announced Arndt's exit from the project on October 24, 2013, and Kasdan and Abrams took over script duties.[104] Abrams expressed relief that the release date was announced for December 2015 instead of a previously discussed summer release.[105] He and Kasdan planned the story while walking in Santa Monica, New York City, Paris and London. The first draft was completed in six weeks.[106] Abrams said that the key for the film was to return to the roots of the first Star Wars film and be based more on emotion than explanation.[107] In January 2014, Abrams confirmed that the script was complete.[108] In April 2014, Lucasfilm clarified that Episodes VII–IX would not feature storylines from the Star Wars expanded universe, though other elements could be included as with the TV series Star Wars Rebels.[109]

text: Abrams stated that he purposely withheld some plot elements from The Force Awakens, such as Finn and Rey's last names and their backgrounds. Kennedy admitted that "we haven't mapped out every single detail [of the sequel trilogy] yet", but said that Abrams is collaborating with The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, and that Johnson would work with Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow, to ensure a smooth transition and that "everybody's got a say in how we move forward with this".[110] A fictional language was developed for use in the film by YouTube star Sara Forsberg, who created the viral video series "What Languages Sound Like To Foreigners"; Forsberg developed the language by studying languages such as Hindi and Gujarati.[111]

text: In November 2015, Lucas recorded an hour-long interview with CBS News reporter Charlie Rose in which he said Disney had not been "keen" to involve him and conceded: "If I get in there, I'm just going to cause trouble because they're not going to do what I want them to do, and I don't have the control to do that any more, and all it would do is just muck everything up."[112] He also stated: "They wanted to do a retro movie. I don't like that. Every movie, I worked very hard to make them different … I made them completely different—different planets, different spaceships to make it new."[113][114] In early December 2015, Kathleen Kennedy told The Hollywood Reporter that Lucas had seen the movie and "liked it".[115] In the same month, at the Kennedy Center Honors, Lucas said: “I think the fans are going to love it, It’s very much the kind of movie they’ve been looking for."[116] Abrams felt that, as the first in a new trilogy, the film had "needed to take a couple of steps backwards into very familiar terrain" and use plot elements from previous Star Wars films.[117]

text: Pre-production[edit]

text: In May 2013, it was confirmed that The Force Awakens would be filmed in the United Kingdom.[118] Representatives from Lucasfilm met with Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to agree to produce The Force Awakens in the UK.[118] Osborne committed £25 million of public money towards the film, claiming it was a boost for British culture and the film industry.[119] According to production company account filings in the United Kingdom, The Force Awakens ultimately received a total of £31.6 million ($47.4 million) from the government.[4][3]

text: Beginning in September 2013, production spaces at the Bad Robot facility were converted for shooting of The Force Awakens for the benefit of shooting a minor portion of the film in the United States.[120] The film's costume designer was Michael Kaplan, who had previously worked with Abrams on Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness films.[121] Film editors Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon, also long-term collaborators with Abrams, were also signed.[122] In August 2013, it was announced that cinematographer Daniel Mindel would be shooting the film on 35 mm film (specifically Kodak 5219).[123] In October 2013, other crew members were confirmed, including sound designer Ben Burtt, director of photography Daniel Mindel, production designers Rick Carter and Darren Gilford, costume designer Michael Kaplan, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, re-recording mixer Gary Rydstrom, supervising sound editor Matthew Wood, visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett, and executive producer Jason McGatlin.[124][125][126][127]

text: Casting[edit]

text: Casting began around August 2013, with Abrams meeting with potential actors for script readings and screen tests. Open auditions were held in the UK, Ireland, and the United States in November 2013 for the roles of Rachel and Thomas.[128][129][130] Casting began in earnest in January 2014, because of changes to the script by Kasdan and Abrams.[131] Screen tests with actors continued until at least three weeks before the official announcement on April 29, 2014, with final casting decisions made only a few weeks prior. Actors testing had strict non-disclosure agreements, preventing them, their agents or publicists from commenting on their potential involvement.[132]

text: Though Lucas intimated that previous cast members Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill would return for the new film as early as March 2013,[86] their casting was not confirmed until over a year later.[36] Saoirse Ronan,[133] Michael B. Jordan,[134] and Lupita Nyong'o[135] auditioned for new characters; industry publications reported Jesse Plemons was considered, possibly for Luke Skywalker's son;[136] Adam Driver for an unnamed villain;[137] and Maisie Richardson-Sellers for an unknown character.[138] In March 2014, actor Dominic Monaghan said that Abrams was looking for three unknown actors to play the leads in The Force Awakens and that rumors of bigger-name stars were untrue.[139]

text: Daisy Ridley was chosen for the film by February 2014, and by the end of that month a deal had been worked out with Driver, who was able to work around his Girls schedule. By March 2014, talks with Andy Serkis and Oscar Isaac began and continued into April 2014. In April, John Boyega began talks after dropping out of a Jesse Owens biopic.[132] Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy, declined to reprise his role, stating that it would have "bored" him.[140]

text: On April 29, 2014, the cast was announced with a photo of the first table read of the script at Pinewood Studios near London,[36] picturing director Abrams with Ford, Ridley, Fisher, Peter Mayhew, producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm president and producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Hamill, Serkis, Oscar Isaac, Boyega, Driver, and writer Lawrence Kasdan. The announcement was originally planned for May 4 (Star Wars Day), but was announced early for fear of media leaks. In June 2014, cast additions Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie were announced.[141]

text: To prepare for his role, Hamill was assigned a personal trainer and a nutritionist at the request of the producers, who wanted him to resemble an older Luke.[142] Fisher was also assigned a personal trainer and a nutritionist.[142] Abrams initially considered using Daniels only in a voice role for C-3PO,[143] but Daniels opted to reprise the role physically as well; the production team built a new C-3PO suit to accommodate him.[144]

text: In May, Abrams announced a donation contest for UNICEF from the Star Wars set in Abu Dhabi; the winner was allowed to visit the set, meet members of the cast and appear in the film.[145] In October 2014, Warwick Davis, who played Wald and Weazle in The Phantom Menace and Wicket in Return of the Jedi, announced that he would appear in The Force Awakens, but did not reveal his role.[146] In November 2014, Debbie Reynolds confirmed that her granddaughter (Fisher's daughter), Billie Lourd, is in the film.[61] Isaac's uncle, a Star Wars fan, was cast as an extra at the invitation of Abrams upon visiting the set.[147]

text: In December 2015, The Mail reported that Ford would be paid $25 million, plus a 0.5% share of the revenue. Ridley and Boyega each would receive $460,000, plus a share if the movie grossed over $1 billion. Fisher received $1.5 million; Abrams was paid $5.1 million, plus a 2% share of the revenue. For the original 1977 film, Ford was paid $10,000 (equivalent to $40,000 in 2016).[148]

text: Filming[edit]

text: In February 2014, Abrams said filming would begin in May and last about three months.[107] The official announcement came in March, when Disney and Lucasfilm announced that principal photography would commence in May and be based at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.[149] That month, it was revealed that pre-production filming would take place in Iceland prior to the start of official filming in May, consisting of landscape shots that would be used for scenery in the film.[150] In April, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn confirmed that filming had begun,[151] filming in secret in the U.A.E. emirate of Abu Dhabi by a second-unit.[152][153] Later that month, it was revealed that in addition to 35mm film, segments of the film were being shot in the 65mm IMAX format.[154] In July, Bad Robot reported on Twitter that the film would be at least partially shot on IMAX cameras.[155]

text: On May 4, 2014 (Star Wars Day), the studio posted a selfie taken by Iger with an unidentified actor in a Chewbacca costume.[156] Iger stated the photo was taken when he visited Pinewood Studios two weeks earlier to discuss the shoot, "which was just about to start", with Abrams, Kennedy, and Horn.[157] Principal photography began in Abu Dhabi on May 16, 2014.[158][159][160] Abrams and the cast members went to Abu Dhabi in early-May, where large sets were built on location — including a shuttle-like spacecraft, a large tower, and a big market — and where explosives were used to create a "blast crater". Cast members were spotted practicing driving vehicles that would be used during filming.[161] Production moved to Pinewood Studios in June.[162]

text: That same month, Harrison Ford fractured his leg while filming at Pinewood after a hydraulic door on the Millennium Falcon set fell on him and was taken to a hospital. According to Abrams, Ford's ankle "went to a 90-degree angle".[96] Production was suspended for two weeks to accommodate Ford's injury.[163] Ford's son Ben stated that the ankle would likely need a plate and screws and that filming could be altered slightly, with the crew needing to shoot Ford from the waist up for a short time until he recovered.[164] A month later, Jake Steinfeld, Ford's personal trainer, said that Ford was recovering rapidly.[165] Abrams also suffered a fractured vertebra in his back when he was trying to help lift the door after Ford's accident.[96] However, he kept this to himself and did not tell anyone about it for over a month.[166] In February 2016, it was reported that the Health and Safety Executive brought four criminal charges against Disney subsidiary Foodles Production (UK), Ltd. for alleged health and safety breaches relating to Ford's accident.[167] Foodles Production (UK) Ltd was subsequently fined $1.95 million in October 2016 for two health and safety breaches, after admitting the counts at an earlier hearing.[168]

text: Storyboard artists Simon Duric said "The security on the film was a challenge. That script was locked in a safe. Most of the time on a film you can sit at your desk with a copy of the script next to you. On this, you couldn’t. That’s fine but it was tricky in places. We had people flying drones over Pinewood studios trying to take photographs. It was nuts. If a prop was being moved we had to have them covered in a big black sheet. We were told in an email to be [wary] of drones."[169]

text: In July 2014, filming took place over three days at Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland, with a cast including Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley.[170][171] Landscape shots for the planet Takodana were shot in July in the Lake District in the north west of United Kingdom.[172] Production was halted for two weeks in early August 2014 so Abrams could rework shooting in Ford's absence and resumed with a fully healed Ford during mid-August.[173][174] In September 2014, the former RAF Greenham Common military base in Berkshire was used and featured set constructions of several spaceships from the Star Wars Universe.[175][176] Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean was used for forest scenes.[177][178] Principal photography ended on November 3, 2014.[179]

text: Post-production[edit]

text: Cinematographer Daniel Mindel stated that The Force Awakens would use real locations and scale models over computer-generated imagery to make it aesthetically similar to the original Star Wars trilogy.[180] Rian Johnson, director of The Last Jedi, reiterated that Abrams would use little CGI and more practical, traditional special effects, saying: "I think people are coming back around to [practical effects]. It feels like there is sort of that gravity pulling us back toward it. I think that more and more people are hitting kind of a critical mass in terms of the CG-driven action scene lending itself to a very specific type of action scene, where physics go out the window and it becomes so big so quick."[181] Abrams' intention in prioritizing practical special effects was to recreate the visual realism and authenticity of the original Star Wars.[182] To that end, the droid BB-8 was a physical prop that was developed by Disney Research,[183] created by special effects artist Neal Scanlan and operated live on set with the actors.[184][185]

text: In February 2014, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) announced plans to open a facility in London, citing Disney's Star Wars films as a catalyst for the expansion. ILM's Vancouver branch also worked on the special effects for the film.[186]

text: Abrams supervised post-production and editing of the film at Bad Robot Productions' headquarters in Santa Monica.[96] In August 2015, Abrams gave the estimated running time of the film as 124–125 minutes.[187] Abrams made changes to the film's plot in the editing process to simplify the film, by removing some sequences shown in trailers: "At one point, Maz used to continue along with the characters back to the Resistance base, but we realised that she really had nothing to do there of value, except to be sitting around."[188] The film was converted to 3D in post-production.[189]

text: Music[edit]

text:
It's all a continuation of an initial set of ideas. It's a bit like adding paragraphs to a letter that's been going on for a number of years. Starting with a completely new film, a story that I don't know, characters that I haven't met, my whole approach to writing music is completely different—trying to find an identity, trying to find melodic identifications if that's needed for the characters, and so on.

—John Williams on returning to the Star Wars universe[190]

tag: div

text: In July 2013, John Williams was confirmed to compose the score.[191] The music for the film's first two trailers was reworked from earlier Williams compositions.[192][193][194] He began working on the film in December 2014, and by June 2015 had been through most of the film reels, working on a daily basis.[194][195] In May 2015, Williams stated that he would return to themes from the previous films, such as ones for Luke, Leia and Han, in ways that "will seem very natural and right in the moments for which we've chosen to do these kinds of quotes. There aren't many of them, but there are a few that I think are important and will seem very much a part of the fabric of the piece in a positive and constructive way." He said that working with Abrams was similar to the process he went through with Lucas in the earlier films.[190]

text: Recording sessions for The Force Awakens began in June 2015 at the Sony Pictures Studios' Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage in Culver City, with William Ross conducting most of the music.[196] The first day of recording was June 1, 2015.[197] Williams attended the sessions and conducted the remainder of the recordings.[198][199]

text: Williams said the recording process was "very luxurious", with 12 sessions scattered over a five-month period between June and November. The score was recorded by the Hollywood Studio Symphony, a freelance orchestra, with sessions continuing on and off over that five-month period. The 90-piece orchestra recorded 175 minutes of music, although nearly an hour of that was discarded, modified, or rerecorded as Abrams re-edited the film. Williams's theme for Snoke was recorded by a 24-voice men's chorus. Gustavo Dudamel conducted the opening and end title music for the film at Williams' behest.[200] Recording of the score was completed on November 14, 2015.[194][195][201] The film's soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on December 18, 2015.[202] Williams's score is more than two hours long.[195]

text: Lin-Manuel Miranda and Abrams contributed music to the film's cantina scene, similar to the Mos Eisley Cantina. Abrams met Miranda at a performance of his Broadway musical Hamilton, where Miranda jokingly offered to compose the cantina music, should it be needed. Unknown to Miranda, Williams had previously told Abrams that he did not want to compose the music for that scene, wanting to focus on the orchestral score for the film. Abrams then contacted Miranda, and the two began to collaborate on the music for the scene, over a period of two months.[203]

text: South Korean boy band EXO released their song "Lightsaber" in collaboration with the film for its release in their home country on November 11.[204] The promoted track was subsequently released as part of their Sing for You album with a Chinese version,[205] as well as also being released in Japanese.[206] Chinese pop singer Luhan provided the Chinese theme "Inner Force" for the Chinese release of the film.[207]

text: Release[edit]

text: Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiered in Los Angeles at the TCL Chinese Theatre, El Capitan Theatre and Dolby Theatre on December 14, 2015.[208] A white tent stretched along Hollywood Boulevard from Orange Drive to Highland Avenue, covering the "massive" premiere event that hosted more than five thousand guests.[209] The film was released in 12 countries, including European nations (such as Italy and France, releasing it on a Wednesday), the Philippines and Thailand on December 16; 32 countries including the United Kingdom (releasing on a Thursday), Mexico and additional European, Asian, African, South American and Oceania countries on December 17; and in North America, Japan, Spain, and Venezuela on December 18,[210] in 3D and IMAX 3D.[211] It was released in India on December 25[212] and in China on January 9, 2016.[210]

text: In North America, it had the widest release of December across 4,134 theaters of which 3,300 were 3D locations, a record 392 IMAX screens (13 of which were 70mm), 451 premium large format screens, 146 D-Box locations,[213][214] as well as releasing in the Dolby Vision format (High dynamic range, Rec. 2020 color) in Dolby Cinema.[215] Worldwide, it was released across 940 IMAX theaters, a new record.[214] On December 18, 2015, the film began playing on every IMAX screen in North America for four straight weeks up to January 14, 2016. This made it the first film since Warner Bros. Pictures' The Hobbit trilogy to receive such a release.[216] The film finally shed some of its IMAX screens with the release of The Revenant and The Finest Hours in mid-January 2016.[217]

text: On November 6, 2014, the film's title was announced as Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[218] Similarly to The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, "Episode VII" was included in the film's opening crawl, but not in its official title.[219][220] In December 2015, Pablo Hidalgo, the creative executive at the Lucasfilm Story Group which handles all the canonical continuity for the Star Wars universe, revealed that the working title for the film was Shadow of the Empire "for the longest time".[221] Advance ticket sales for the film began on October 19, 2015,[222] and were in strong demand, resulting in online movie ticket sites crashing.[223][224] Vue Cinemas, the United Kingdom's third-largest theater chain, sold 45,000 tickets in 24 hours, 10,000 of which were sold in 90 minutes, a record for the theater.[225] In the United States, the film pre-sold a record-breaking $6.5 million worth of IMAX ticket sales on a single day. IMAX has never previously registered more than $1 million in pre-sales on a single day.[226] In total it sold over $50 million in pre-sales breaking the record.[227][228] This number was raised to $100 million including $50–60 million in advance ticket sales by December 14.[228][229] However, not all tickets that were pre-sold were for the film's opening weekend, with Fandango President Paul Yanover saying "people have set aside tickets for screenings in January, weeks after the big opening… We have people buying Star Wars [The Force Awakens] into 2016. It's not just an opening-weekend phenomenon."[227] Similarly, the film broke pre-sales records in the UK,[230] Canada,[231] and Germany.[232]

text: The film is the first live-action Star Wars film not to be released theatrically by 20th Century Fox; accordingly the film is not introduced with either that company's logo, or its signature fanfare composed by Alfred Newman.[233] Shortly following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, the studio had indicated that the then-untitled film would be released under the "Disney|Lucasfilm" branding,[234] similar to the branding used for Star Wars Rebels, and akin to the "Disney·Pixar" co-branding of Pixar-produced films released by Walt Disney Pictures.[235] Ultimately, Disney's logo was largely absent from the film's marketing—but nonetheless, appeared on merchandise—and the film was released with only Lucasfilm's production logo shown silently before the main titles;[236] Disney chairman Bob Iger explained the change by saying it was "for the fans".[237]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Disney backed The Force Awakens with extensive marketing campaigns.[238][239] On November 28, 2014, Lucasfilm released an 88-second teaser trailer. It was screened in selected cinemas across the United States and Canada and in theaters worldwide in December 2014. It was also released on YouTube and the iTunes Store,[240] generating a record 58.2 million views on YouTube in its first week.[241] Critics compared the brief footage favorably to the production values of the original trilogy. The Hollywood Reporter called the trailer "perfectly potent nostalgia", praising its mix of old and new.[242] Empire was impressed by the continuity with the first films – "the feel of classic Star Wars" – but noted the absence of Hamill, Ford, and Fisher and speculated about the significance of the new characters.[243] The Guardian wrote that the use of the Star Wars fanfare by John Williams reinforced brand loyalty among fans.[244]

text: On December 11, 2014, Abrams and Kennedy released a series of eight mock Topps trading cards revealing the names of several characters.[245] On April 16, 2015, a second teaser trailer, this one lasting two minutes, was shown at the opening panel at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said the reaction to the trailer was "staggering… the entire room of almost eight thousand people just leapt to their feet and roared, I mean I can't think of anything I've ever been to – other than a rock concert – that felt quite like that".[246] The trailer was viewed over 88 million times within the first 24 hours of release, breaking the record.[247][248] According to the Guinness World Records, the second teaser trailer amassed 30.65 million in 24 hours, setting a new world record for the "most viewed movie trailer on YouTube in 24 hours".[249] The event was broadcast live by Verizon on YouTube, StarWars.com and in movie theaters. The trailer shows many of the new characters and the first footage of Chewbacca and Han Solo. The Huffington Post's Graham Milne wrote that the trailer "was an affirmation of something that we'd long been told was never going to happen. This was a gift. This was faith rewarded. About damn time."[250]

text: Vanity Fair was the first magazine to release an exclusive cover issue devoted to The Force Awakens. The magazine, released on May 7, 2015, featured exclusive interviews and photos of the cast photographed by Annie Leibovitz.[251][252] At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International, in addition to a panel with many of the actors, a behind-the-scenes look at the film demonstrated the film's use of practical sets and effects. It was positively received, with Nigel M. Smith of The Guardian writing: "The featurette's angle is a strong one and connects with fans of the original trilogy in an incredibly poignant way. It also does a sly job of teasing Fisher's new look as Leia and Simon Pegg's mysterious involvement as a rumored alien in the movie, without actually showing the actors in action." Smith compared the marketing strategy for the film to that of a previous Abrams film, Super 8, saying "the promos… are notable for what they tease, not what they give away."[253]

text: Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm presented a look at The Force Awakens at Disney's D23 Expo in August 2015.[254] Drew Struzan—who designed the poster artwork for the previous Star Wars films—produced a commemorative poster given to the event's attendees.[255] In October 2015, Lucasfilm unveiled the theatrical release poster and a third trailer.[256] The poster omitted Luke Skywalker and revealed a Death Star-like "orb".[257] The trailer debuted during the halftime break of Monday Night Football, before being released online.[258] The reaction to the trailer by fans on social media was "frenzied", with Lizo Mzimba of the BBC writing that "perhaps the most significant thing about the final trailer before the film's release is how little of the story it reveals."[259] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph felt the trailer was "a perfect blend of old and new, in keeping with the old-fashioned Star Wars aesthetic".[260] The trailer received 128 million views in 24 hours, a new record for the most views of a trailer in 24 hours. 16 million of the views came from its airing on Monday Night Football.[261] At the end of October, Air France announced a "Flight and Cinema" package, providing customers who book select flights to Paris transportation to a theater to see the film, since France is one of the first countries to release the film.[262] On November 6, a Japanese trailer for the film was released.[263][264] After seeing the new trailer Forbes' Ollie Barder stated the trailer gave him "hope" that the film would not "let us all down like the prequels did… [with] a worthwhile story this time".[265] On November 23, a partnership with Google was announced, in which Google users could choose to affiliate themselves with either the Dark or Light Side, which would change the appearance of their Google websites. Additionally, Disney teamed up with Verizon to create a virtual-reality experience for Google Cardboard.[266]

text: On December 17, 2015, select theaters across North America aired a Star Wars marathon, airing the six previous Star Wars episode films in 2D, followed by The Force Awakens in 3D. Attendees received a special lanyard featuring exclusive marathon art.[267]

text: Tie-in literature and merchandise[edit]

text: Disney Publishing Worldwide and Lucasfilm announced a series of at least 20 books and comics, "Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens", with releases from multiple publishers starting in late 2015, prior to the film's premiere. The series includes books by Del Rey and Disney-Lucasfilm publishers and comic books from Marvel Comics. All titles under the program are canonical to the Star Wars universe.[268][269][270] Alan Dean Foster wrote a novelization of The Force Awakens which was released in e-book form on December 18.[271] In an effort to avoid revealing plot details before the film's release, the print release of the novelization was delayed until January 2016.[271] Marvel Comics published a six-issue comic book adaptation of The Force Awakens between June and November 2016.[272]

text: Disney Consumer Products and Lucasfilm announced that September 4, 2015 would be deemed "Force Friday" and would be the official launch of all the merchandise for The Force Awakens. Beginning at 12:01 am, fans could buy toys, books, clothing and various other products at Disney Stores and other retailers throughout the world.[273] Disney and Maker Studios hosted an 18-hour live-streaming presentation on YouTube, showcasing multiple merchandise products beginning on September 3, 2015.[274][275] Among these products were a remote-controlled BB-8 developed by Sphero.[183] Sphero had participated in a Disney-run startup accelerator in July 2014, where they were invited into a private meeting with Disney CEO Bob Iger, in which they were shown on-set photos and imagery of BB-8 before its public unveiling.[276][277] Many retailers were unable to meet demand for Star Wars products.[278]

text: Video games[edit]

text: The Force Awakens is the first Star Wars film to not have a direct tie-in game to accompany it.[279] Instead, select characters, scenes and/or locations from the film became part of other Star Wars video games, as described below:

text:
Characters from the film were added to an update to the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, available for iOS and Android and released by Electronic Arts.[280]
Free downloadable content for Electronic Arts' Star Wars Battlefront reboot allowed players to battle on the planet Jakku,[281] which was where the remaining Imperial forces took their last stand at the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War.
An update to the mobile game Star Wars Commander, released by Disney Mobile for iOS, Android and the Windows Store, allowed players to battle on the planet Takodana during the Galactic Civil War era.[282]
A condensed version of the film's plot becomes an add-on "playset" in the toys-to-life game Disney Infinity 3.0, with Finn and Rey becoming its starting characters. Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren are also playable add-on characters.[283]

text: Eventually, the film got a full Lego video game adaptation, titled Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in the summer of 2016.[284] In addition to fully adapting the film, the game also includes bonus levels that also take place a few years before the events of the film.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Star Wars: The Force Awakens via download and Disney Movies Anywhere on April 1, 2016, with a Blu-ray and DVD release on April 5.[285] The home media release contains additional footage.[286] As with the videodisc releases of all of the first six films in the saga, the videodisc release of The Force Awakens splits the film into fifty chapters.[287] On March 23, 2016, the film was leaked online prior to its original Blu-ray release and was downloaded more than two million times in twelve hours.[288]

text: In January 2016, it was confirmed that Starz would hold the U.S. premium television rights for The Force Awakens, having been released just before the end of Starz's output deal covering most Disney-released films, which includes releases through the end of 2015.[289][290] The Force Awakens will be broadcast on all the Starz channels beginning on September 10, 2016.[291] The equivalent rights in Canada will be held by Netflix.[292]

text: A Blu-ray 3D "collector's edition" of the film was released on November 15, 2016, including all the features of the original home releases, as well as several new bonus features, including new deleted scenes and audio commentary by Abrams. The package includes a Blu-ray 3D, regular Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy of the film, as well as an additional Blu-ray disc for the bonus features.[293]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Star Wars: The Force Awakens grossed $936.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.132 billion in other countries for a worldwide total of $2.068 billion.[5] Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold close to 110 million tickets in North America,[294] the most tickets sold by any film in North America since Titanic in 1997.[295] The Force Awakens earned 8.6% of the total 2015 releases in North America, second only to the 8.8% of the box office earned by Titanic in 1997.[296] The film is the highest-grossing film of 2015, the highest-grossing film in the franchise (surpassing The Phantom Menace), the highest-grossing film released by Walt Disney Studios,[297] the highest-grossing film in North America (dethroning Avatar), and the third-highest-grossing film of all time. It was the 24th film in cinematic history to gross $1 billion worldwide, standing as the fastest film to surpass the mark, doing so in 12 days.[298][299] It was also the third film in history to surpass $2 billion worldwide, doing so on its 53rd day of release.[300] Deadline.com calculated the net profit of the film to be $780.1 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the most profitable film of 2015 and the most profitable film in the last seven years.[301][302]

text: Theatrical run[edit]

text: The Force Awakens was released in the United States and Canada on December 18, 2015. It made a record-breaking $57 million from Thursday night previews,[N 1] of which IMAX screenings generated a record-breaking $5.7 million from 391 screens.[306] On its opening day, the film grossed $119.1 million, marking the biggest single and opening day record[307] and the first time a film has earned more than $100 million in a single day.[308] Without Thursday night grosses, the film earned the second largest opening-day gross ($62.1 million).[309] In total, it earned a record $247,966,675 (surpassing the original Sunday weekend estimate of $238 million by almost $10 million) for its opening weekend from around 14,400 screens at 4,134 theaters, for an average of $59,982 per theater (or $17,220 per screen).[310] The debut was 19% bigger than the previous record holder(s) Marvel's The Avengers ($207 million) and Jurassic World ($208 million).[311] The opening weekend figure included an IMAX opening-weekend record of $30.1 million (12.65%) from 391 IMAX theaters,[312][313] which nearly amounts to the $252.5 million total earned by Return of the Jedi – the 2nd lowest-grossing film in the series – in its original run.[314] Minus the $57 million it earned from Thursday previews, the film earned $190.8 million on straight Friday to Sunday, giving it an average of $63.6 million per day.[309] 2D screenings accounted for 53% of the total opening gross while 3D accounted for 47%. RealD 3D comprised $78 million of the opening gross, setting a new record.[312] Other records set by the film include the biggest weekend per-theater average for a wide release ($59,982 per theater from 4,134 theaters),[315] biggest holiday opening,[316] biggest PG-13 rated opening,[317] and biggest December opening.[318] The opening-weekend audience was evenly split among those under and over the age of 25, with 58% of the audience male, 71% adults, 20% families and 9% teenagers.[309]

text: Internationally, the film was released in over 30,000 screens.[319] It opened on December 16, 2015 in 12 international markets and earned $14.1 million on its opening day, debuting at first place in all of them.[320] It expanded in an additional 42 countries on December 17, generating $58.6 million for a two-day international total of $72.7 million, reaching first place in all 44 markets.[321] It grossed a total of $129.5 million in three days after adding $56.8 million on its third day, topped the daily box office in all countries except for South Korea and Vietnam where it was the second,[321][322] and set a new midnight record in the United Kingdom with $3.6 million.[323] It broke opening day records in the UK, Ireland and Malta ($14.3 million), Germany ($7.1 million), Australia ($6.8 million), Sweden ($1.7 million), Norway ($1.1 million) and in 16 other countries.[306][320][323][324] Other markets which generated large opening days were Spain ($3.5 million), Mexico ($3.4 million), Italy ($3.1 million) and Japan ($3 million).[321] After the five days, The Force Awakens had a total international opening gross of $281 million from 30,000 screens in 72 markets, a new record for December opening[319][325] and the third biggest international opening of all time.[326] International markets generating opening weekend tallies of at least $10 million were the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta ($50.6 million), Germany ($27.5 million), France ($22.5 million), Australia ($19.6 million) and Japan ($13.4 million) and Russia ($12.3 million). The film had the biggest opening of all time in 18 countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Russia and Sweden.[319][327] IMAX generated $17.9 million from 276 IMAX theaters.[313]

text: After five days, the film had a total worldwide opening record of $529 million from 74 territories, which was the biggest worldwide opening, making it only the second time in cinematic history – after Jurassic World – that a film had opened to more than $500 million globally.[325][328] This included an IMAX opening record of $48 million.[328]

text: Revenues in the film's second weekend decreased by only 39.8% in the United States and Canada, earning $149.2 million, to remain in first place at the box office[329] and recording the biggest second weekend of all time.[330] Revenues from IMAX also dipped slightly, generating $19 million in its second weekend, for a record total of over $70 million in 10 days.[331] Internationally, the film had a steeper decline in its second weekend, falling 51% to $136.9 million.[332] Of the notable major markets, the film had an unsuccessful opening in India where it opened third against two local blockbusters with a mere $1.51 million.[333] As of February 21, the largest markets outside of the United States and Canada are the United Kingdom ($180.7 million), China ($124.5 million), Germany ($109.7 million), Japan ($92.6 million) and France ($88.2 million).[334]

text: The Force Awakens crossed the $1 billion mark on the 12th day of its general release (December 26, 2015), making it the fastest film to reach this mark. It became the twenty-fourth film grossing more than $1 billion worldwide, and the fifth film of 2015 to do so, making 2015 the first year to have five films gross more than $1 billion.[331] The film experienced another decrease in revenue in its third weekend, dropping 39.5% to $90.2 million domestically, remaining in first place at the box office,[335] to set a third-weekend record.[336]

text: On January 2, after just 16 days of release, it became the second film (following Avatar) to gross over $700 million in North America,[337] and on January 6 became the highest-grossing film of all time domestically, doing so in 20 days.[338] On January 9, it became the first film in cinematic history to cross $800 million domestically unadjusted for inflation,[339] and in the same weekend set a Saturday to Sunday opening weekend record for the studio in China with $52.6 million.[340] On January 17, 2016, it passed the $1 billion mark overseas becoming the first film of Disney, the third film of 2015 and the fifth film overall to achieve this feat.[341] It topped the international box office chart for five consecutive weekends, becoming the first film since Avengers: Age of Ultron to have five straight wins, before being dethroned by The Revenant in its sixth weekend.[342] In Japan, it topped the box office for six straight weekends.[342]

text: On February 5, the fiftieth day of release, The Force Awakens became the first film to earn over $900 million, unadjusted for inflation, in the United States and Canada.[343][344] On the following day, it became the third film in cinematic history to pass $2 billion in ticket sales worldwide (after Titanic and Avatar) and the second in original release (after Avatar).[345] Also, it became the third film to earn over $600 million in Europe.[345] In North America and the United Kingdom and Ireland, it fell outside of the top ten for the first time in its eleventh weekend during the weekend February 26–28, 2016,[346][347] and in the U.S. it did not achieve $1 million in ticket sales for the first time in its fourteenth weekend.[348]

text: Commercial analysis[edit]

text: With a production budget of $306 million,[2] plus $175 million for marketing, printing and advertising costs, The Force Awakens was predicted to be a major box office success.[349] The cost of the film was subsidized by £31.6 million ($47 million USD) from the UK film incentive program.[4] Total costs, after accounting for profit participations, production and distribution of home videos, as well as other ancillary mediums, is expected to run $423 million.[350] Reports in April 2015 from The Hollywood Reporter and Amboee Brand Intelligence predicted the film would earn up to $540 million worldwide for its opening, breaking the record for the biggest worldwide opening, as well as breaking the record for the biggest U.S. opening. They also believed that The Force Awakens would have the widest release ever, across 4,500 theaters in North America.[351] Instead, it received a total of 4,134 theaters, and had the widest December opening.[213] Box office analyst Phil Contrino likened the film to Avatar (2009), which opened to $77 million in North America and went on to earn $2.8 billion worldwide, saying The Force Awakens would earn $1 billion "without blinking" and could gross $2 billion.[351] In August 2015, Deadline.com predicted an opening weekend of $615 million worldwide could be possible, including a $300 million opening in North America.[352] In November, box office analysts reported opening weekend projections were at $175–250 million.[213][353][354] In December, capital analyst Barton Crockett suggested that the film will be the first to gross over $3 billion worldwide at the box office.[355]

text: Analysts said that the box office receipts of the film, when compared to predecessors, must be adjusted for inflation, and that the first Star Wars film made more when this adjustment is made.[356] It has further been observed that each of the first three films in the series was more profitable in calculating revenue against production costs.[356] Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said that while Avatar and The Force Awakens were both released on the same date of December 18, higher ticket prices in 2015 and IMAX screenings could push Star Wars "into the box office stratosphere".[357] On December 23, Mark Hughes of Forbes stated that The Force Awakens had matched the most optimistic projections for its opening, and he predicted that The Force Awakens would likely surpass Titanic as the second-highest-grossing film of all time. He also stated that The Force Awakens could catch Avatar as the top-grossing film of all time, but only if it managed to avoid major week-to-week declines in ticket sales.[358]

text: By January 13, analysts concluded that it was unlikely that The Force Awakens would surpass Avatar's global gross.[359][360] While The Force Awakens was very successful in North America, the same success was not witnessed in many overseas individual markets such as Germany, India, Latin America, and parts of Asia. One cited reason for this is that overseas audiences do not have the same nostalgia or affinity for the film as those in the U.S.[359][360][361] The Star Wars franchise has also traditionally lacked resonance with filmgoers in China, which is why part of the marketing for The Force Awakens heavily focused on appealing to that territory.[360][362] Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter stated that, for these territories, Star Wars "doesn't have the same legacy as it does in North America and more mature markets. It's also a faster burn, meaning it likely won't stay in theaters as long as Avatar did."[359] Dergarabedian said, "As in all box-office trajectories, the higher the altitude, the tougher it becomes to rack up sales at the kind of breakneck pace as in the beginning of the run."[359]

text: Nancy Tartaglione of Deadline.com argued that, if accounting for its 40/60 domestic to international split, The Force Awakens did well overseas.[361] Avatar did well internationally because of its novelty, the marketing campaign advertising it as showcasing the newest 3D technology that can only be fully appreciated in the theaters, and because of its extended time in overseas theaters.[360] While The Force Awakens had appeal with its special effects, analysts feel that it lacked the novelty factor; they also cite that its gross was additionally stilted due to markets making way for new films sooner than was previously done. Films do not play in overseas theaters as long as they did back when Avatar was released.[360] Dergarabedian stated, "No matter what, [The Force Awakens] is an absolute, all-out blockbuster without peer in terms of the sheer speed at which it has crossed all of these major box-office milestones."[359] Moreover, Mike Fleming of Deadline.com argued that the movie was the "most valuable movie" of the year, with "the net profit to Disney an astounding $923M, and the Cash on Cash Return twice that of any other film [released in 2016], at 2.31".[363]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Star Wars: The Force Awakens received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.[364] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 93% approval rating based on 374 reviews, with a rating average of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads "Packed with action and populated by both familiar faces and fresh blood, The Force Awakens successfully recalls the series' former glory while injecting it with renewed energy."[365] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 54 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[366] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale; women, under-25s and under-18s gave it an "A+", while 98% of audiences gave it either an "A" or a "B".[367]

text: Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave The Force Awakens five stars out of five and wrote that it "sets out to shake Star Wars from its slumber, and reconnect the series with its much-pined-for past. That it achieves this both immediately and joyously is perhaps the single greatest relief of the movie-going year."[368] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it five stars out of five, writing that it was "both a narrative progression from the earlier three films and a shrewdly affectionate next-gen reboot … ridiculous and melodramatic and sentimental of course, but exciting and brimming with energy and its own kind of generosity."[369] Variety's Justin Chang wrote that the film has "sufficient style, momentum, love and care to prove irresistible to any who have ever considered themselves fans".[370] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, describing it as "a beautiful, thrilling, joyous, surprising, and heart-thumping adventure".[371] Tom Long of The Detroit News wrote that though some may find the film too similar to the original Star Wars, it leaves "the ungainly and unneeded clumsiness of the subsequent prequels far behind … the energy, humor and simplicity of direction [has] been recaptured".[372] The Associated Press called it "basically the same" as the original film but "isn't that what we all wanted anyway?"[373]

text: Ann Hornaday, writing for The Washington Post, thought the film had "enough novelty to create yet another cohort of die-hard fans … The Force Awakens strikes all the right chords, emotional and narrative, to feel both familiar and exhilaratingly new."[374] Christopher Orr, writing in The Atlantic, called the film "a mashup masterpiece" that "may be completely derivative" but is "a delight nonetheless".[375] The Charlotte Observer's Lawrence Toppman said Abrams had "pulled off a delicate balancing act, paying clever homage to the past."[376] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film his highest rating and called it "the best Star Wars sequel yet and one of the best films of 2015".[377] Frank Pallotta, reviewing the film for CNN Money, found it was the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy and that it "is bound to be a film experience long remembered by fans and non-fans alike".[378] Jack Bottomley, writing for Starburst, awarded the film a 10 out of 10 score, saying "From old joys to fresh twists, this is a unique blockbuster experience that celebrates the franchise whilst also expanding it."[379]

text: Some critics found the film too derivative of previous Star Wars films.[113] Andrew O'Hehir wrote for Salon that it was "the work of a talented mimic or ventriloquist who can just about cover for the fact that he has nothing much to say".[380] Stephanie Zacharek of TIME wrote that Abrams had delivered "everything we expect, as opposed to those nebulous wonders we didn't know we wanted".[381] Reviewing for Forbes, Scott Mendelson cited the film's "top-tier production values and a strong sense of scale and scope", but felt it was so much "an exercise in fan service [that] it is only due to the charisma and talent of our newbies and J. J. Abrams' undeniable skill as a visual storyteller that the Mad Libs narrative doesn't outright destroy the picture".[382] Brian Merchant of Motherboard wrote that "Science fiction is supposed to be all about exploring the unexplored, not rehashing the well-trod … one of the most unabashedly creative enterprises of the 20th century has been rendered another largely enjoyable, but mostly forgettable Hollywood reboot."[383]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: Several awards held their nominations before the December release of The Force Awakens, making the film ineligible for the 73rd Golden Globe Awards and some other awards ceremonies.[384] However, the film was added to the 21st Critics' Choice Awards's slate of best picture nominees after a special vote by the board of directors,[385] and the announcement of the 2015 American Film Institute Awards was delayed until after the release of The Force Awakens,[384] where it was named one of Top Ten Films of the year.[386]

text: The film received five Academy Award nominations at the 88th Academy Awards, including Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects.[387] The film garnered four nominations at the 69th British Academy Film Awards for Best Original Music, Best Sound, and Best Production Design, including two wins, one for Best Special Visual Effects and a BAFTA Rising Star Award for John Boyega.[388] It was nominated for Best Picture at the 2016 Critics' Choice Awards.[389] The film received seven Visual Effects Society Awards nominations, winning four, including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture.[390] It received the most nominations at the 21st Empire Awards, including Best Film, Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film, Best Director for J.J. Abrams, Best Male Newcomer for John Boyega, and Best Female Newcomer for Daisy Ridley.[391] It became the most nominated film in Saturn Award history with a total of 13 nominations at the 42nd Saturn Awards, where it won in eight categories, including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Writing, Best Actor for Ford, Best Supporting Actor for Driver, Best Music, Best Special Effects, Best Editing, and Best Make-Up.[392][393]

text: Daisy Ridley and John Boyega each received several nominations and accolades for their performances. They were nominated as Best Newcomers at various critics circle and associations, including the Alliance of Women Film Journalists,[394] and the Florida Film Critics Circle,[395] The Force Awakens received eleven nominations at the MTV Movie Awards, the most for the ceremony, including Movie of the Year, Best Female Performance for Ridley, Best Breakthrough Performance for Boyega, and Best Virtual Performance for Lupita Nyong'o and Andy Serkis.[396]

text: Top ten lists[edit]

text: In addition to several awards and nominations, The Force Awakens appeared on several critics' lists of the ten best films of 2015.[397]

text:
1st – Peter Howell, The Toronto Star
2nd – Bob Thompson, The Vancouver Sun
3rd – Total Film
4th – Digital Spy
4th – Rod Pocowatchit, The Wichita Eagle
4th – Troy L. Smith, The Plain Dealer
5th – Empire
5th – Wired
5th – Collin Souter, RogerEbert.com
6th – Michael Smith, Tulsa World
6th – Twitch Film
7th – Matthew Jacobs, The Huffington Post
7th – Peter Debruge, Variety
8th – Matt Fagerholm, RogerEbert.com
9th – Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune
9th – Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
9th – Richard Roeper, The Chicago Sun-Times
9th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
10th – Robbie Collin, The Daily Telegraph
10th – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – American Film Institute
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – Joe Leydon, Variety
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – Katherine Tulich, RogerEbert.com
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top 10 (ordered alphabetically) – Brian Truitt, USA Today

text: Sequels[edit]

text: The Last Jedi[edit]

text: Rian Johnson confirmed in August 2014 that he would direct Episode VIII,[181] later titled The Last Jedi.[398] It is scheduled for release on December 15, 2017.[399] Some second-unit filming took place in September 2015 in Ireland,[400][401] with principal photography beginning in February 2016 at Pinewood Studios.[402][403][404] Hamill, Fisher, Driver, Ridley, Boyega, Isaac, Nyong'o, Gleeson, Daniels, Christie, Serkis, Vee, and Mayhew will reprise their roles in the film, and are joined by Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran.[405][38][38]

text: Episode IX[edit]

text: Episode IX is scheduled for release on December 20, 2019.[406] Abrams will direct the film and co-write it with Chris Terrio.[407]


document_title: Offer and acceptance

question_text: what is the definition of offer in contract law

text: Offer and acceptance

text: Offer[edit]

text: Treitel defines an offer as "an expression of willingness to contract on certain terms, made with the intention that it shall become binding as soon as it is accepted by the person to whom it is addressed", the "offeree".[1] An offer is a statement of the terms on which the offeror is willing to be bound.  It is the present contractual intent to be bound by a contract with definite and certain terms communicated to the offeree.

text: The expression of an offer may take different forms, such as a letter, newspaper advertisement, fax, email and even conduct, as long as it communicates the basis on which the offeror is prepared to contract.

text: Whether the two parties have reached agreement on the terms or whether a valid offer has been made is an issue which is determined by the courts using criteria known as 'the objective test' which was explained in the leading English case of Smith v. Hughes.[2][3] In Smith v. Hughes, the court emphasised that the important thing in determining whether there has been a valid offer is not the party's own (subjective) intentions, but how a reasonable person would view the situation.

text: Unless the offer included the key terms of the contract, it cannot be the basis of a binding contract. For example, as a minimum requirement for sale of goods contracts, a valid offer must include at least the following 4 terms: Delivery date, price, terms of payment that includes the date of payment and detail description of the item on offer including a fair description of the condition or type of service. Unless the minimum requirements are met, an offer of sale is not classified by the courts as a legal offer but is instead seen as an advertisement.

text: Unilateral contract[edit]

text: A unilateral contract is created when someone offers to do something "in return for" the performance of the act stipulated in the offer.[4] In this regard, acceptance does not have to be communicated and can be accepted through conduct by performing the act.[5] Nonetheless, the person performing the act must do it in reliance on the offer.[6]

text: A unilateral contract can be contrasted with a bilateral contract, where there is an exchange of promises between two parties. For example, when (A) promises to sell her car and (B) promises to buy the car.

text: The formation of a unilateral contract can be demonstrated in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co.[5] In order to guarantee the effectiveness of the Smoke Ball remedy, the company offered a reward of 100 pounds to anyone who used the remedy and contracted the flu. Once aware of the offer, Carlill accepted the offer when he purchased the Smoke Ball remedy and completed the prescribed course. Upon contracting the flu, he became eligible for the reward. Therefore, the company's offer to pay 100 pounds "in return for" the use of the Smoke Ball remedy and guarantee not to contract the flu was performed by Carlill.

text: Invitations to treat[edit]

text:
An invitation to treat is not an offer, but an indication of a person's willingness to negotiate a contract. It's a pre-offer communication. In Harvey v. Facey,[7] an indication by the owner of property that he or she might be interested in selling at a certain price, for example, has been regarded as an invitation to treat. Similarly in Gibson v Manchester City Council[8] the words "may be prepared to sell" were held to be a notification of price and therefore not a distinct offer, though in another case concerning the same change of policy (Manchester City Council underwent a change of political control and stopped the sale of council houses to their tenants) Storer v. Manchester City Council,[9] the court held that an agreement was completed by the tenant's signing and returning the agreement to purchase, as the language of the agreement had been sufficiently explicit and the signature on behalf of the council a mere formality to be completed. Statements of invitation are only intended to solicit offers from people and are not intended to result in any immediate binding obligation.
The courts have tended to take a consistent approach to the identification of invitations to treat, as compared with offer and acceptance, in common transactions. The display of goods for sale, whether in a shop window or on the shelves of a self-service store, is ordinarily treated as an invitation to treat and not an offer.[10][11]

text: The holding of a public auction will also usually be regarded as an invitation to treat. Auctions are, however, a special case generally. The rule is that the bidder is making an offer to buy and the auctioneer accepts this in whatever manner is customary, usually the fall of the hammer.[12][13] A bidder may withdraw his or her bid at any time before the fall of the hammer, but any bid in any event lapses as an offer on the making of a higher bid, so that if a higher bid is made, then withdrawn before the fall of the hammer, the auctioneer cannot then purport to accept the previous highest bid.  If an auction is without reserve then, whilst there is no contract of sale between the owner of the goods and the highest bidder (because the placing of goods in the auction is an invitation to treat), there is a collateral contract between the auctioneer and the highest bidder that the auction will be held without reserve (i.e., that the highest bid, however low, will be accepted).[14] The U.S. Uniform Commercial Code provides that in an auction without reserve the goods may not be withdrawn once they have been put up.[15]

text: Revocation of offer[edit]

text: An offeror may revoke an offer before it has been accepted, but the revocation must be communicated to the offeree (although not necessarily by the offeror,[16]). If the offer was made to the entire world, such as in Carlill's case,[5] the revocation must take a form that is similar to the offer. However, an offer may not be revoked if it has been encapsulated in an option (see also option contract), or if it is a "firm offer" in which case it is irrevocable for the period specified by the offeror.

text: If the offer is one that leads to a unilateral contract, the offer generally cannot be revoked once the offeree has begun performance.

text: Acceptance[edit]

text: A promise or act on the part of an offeree indicating a willingness to be bound by the terms and conditions contained in an offer. Also, the acknowledgment of the drawee that binds the drawee to the terms of a draft.

text: Test of acceptance[edit]

text: For the acceptance, the essential requirement is that the parties had each from a subjective perspective engaged in conduct manifesting their assent.  Under this meeting of the minds theory of contract, a party could resist a claim of breach by proving that he had not be intended to be bound by the agreement, only if it appeared subjectively that he had so intended. This is unsatisfactory, as one party has no way to know another's undisclosed intentions. One party can only act upon what the other party reveals objectively (Lucy V Zehmer, 196 Va 493 84 S.E. 2d 516) to be his intent. Hence, an actual meeting of the minds is not required. Indeed, it has been argued that the "meeting of the minds" idea is entirely a modern error: 19th century judges spoke of "consensus ad idem" which modern teachers have wrongly translated as "meeting of minds" but actually means "agreement to the [same] thing".[17]

text: The requirement of an objective perspective is important in cases where a party claims that an offer was not accepted and seeks to take advantage of the performance of the other party. Here, we can apply the test of whether a reasonable bystander (a "fly on the wall") would have perceived that the party has impliedly accepted the offer by conduct.

text: Rules of acceptance[edit]

text: Communication of acceptance[edit]

text: There are several rules dealing with the communication of acceptance:

text:
The acceptance must be communicated.[18][19] Theisger LJ said in Household Fire and Carriage that "an acceptance which remains in the breast of the acceptor without being actually and by legal implication communicated to the offeror, is no binding acceptance".[20] Prior to acceptance, an offer may be withdrawn.
As acceptance must be communicated, the offeror cannot include an Acceptance by Silence clause. This was affirmed in Felthouse v Bindley,[21] here an uncle made an offer to buy his nephew's horse, saying that if he didn't hear anything else he would "consider the horse mine". This did not stand up in court, and it was decided there could not be acceptance by silence.
An exception exists in the case of unilateral contracts, in which the offeror makes an offer to the world which can be accepted by some act. A classic instance of this is the case of Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. [1893] 2 Q.B. 484 in which an offer was made to pay £100 to anyone who having bought the offeror's product and used it in accordance with the instructions nonetheless contracted influenza. The plaintiff who was Mrs Carlill bought the smoke ball and used it according to the instructions but she contracted influenza.She sued the Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. for £100. The court held that the inconvenience she went through by performing the act amounted to acceptance and therefore ordered  £100 to be given to Mrs.Carlill. Her actions accepted the offer - there was no need to communicate acceptance. Typical cases of unilateral offers are advertisements of rewards (e.g., for the return of a lost dog).
An offer can only be accepted by the offeree, that is, the person to whom the offer is made.
An offeree is not usually bound if another person accepts the offer on their behalf without his authorisation, the exceptions to which are found in the law of agency, where an agent may have apparent or ostensible authority, or the usual authority of an agent in the particular market, even if the principal did not realise what the extent of this authority was, and someone on whose behalf an offer has been purportedly accepted may also ratify the contract within a reasonable time, binding both parties: see agent (law).
It may be implied from the construction of the contract that the offeror has dispensed with the requirement of communication of acceptance (called waiver of communication - which is generally implied in unilateral contracts).[22]
If the offer specifies a method of acceptance (such as by post or fax), acceptance must be by a method that is no less effective from the offeror's point of view than the method specified. The exact method prescribed may have to be used in some cases but probably only where the offeror has used very explicit words such as "by registered post, and by that method only".[23]
However, acceptance may be inferred from conduct.[24][25]

text: Counter-offers and correspondence[edit]

text: The "mirror image rule" states that if you are to accept an offer, you must accept an offer exactly, without modifications; if you change the offer in any way, this is a counter-offer that kills the original offer and the original offer cannot be accepted at a future time.[26]

text: However, a mere request for information about the terms of the offer is not a counter-offer and leaves the offer intact.[27] It may be possible to draft an enquiry such that it adds to the terms of the contract while keeping the original offer alive.

text: Under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Sec. 2-207(1), a definite expression of acceptance or a written confirmation of an informal agreement may constitute a valid acceptance even if it states terms additional to or different from the offer or informal agreement. The additional or different terms are treated as proposals for addition into the contract under UCC Sec. 2-207(2). Between merchants, such terms become part of the contract unless:

text:
a) the offer expressly limits acceptance to the terms of the offer,
b) material alteration of the contract results,
c) notification of objection to the additional/different terms are given in a reasonable time after notice of them is received.

text: Material is defined as anything that may cause undue hardship/surprise, or is a significant element of the contract.

text: If there is no contract under 2-207(1), then under UCC Sec. 2-207(3), conduct by the parties that recognize there is a contract may be sufficient to establish a contract. The terms for this contract include only those that the parties agree on and the rest via gap fillers.

text: Battle of the forms[edit]

text: Often when two companies deal with each other in the course of business, they will use standard form contracts. Often these standard forms contain terms which conflict (e.g. both parties include a liability waiver in their form). The 'battle of the forms' refers to the resulting legal dispute arising where both parties accept that a legally binding contract exists, but disagree about whose standard terms apply. Such disputes may be resolved by reference to the 'last document rule', i.e. whichever business sent the last document, or 'fired the last shot' (often the seller's delivery note) is held to have issued the final offer and the buyer's organisation is held to have accepted the offer by signing the delivery note or simply accepting and using the delivered goods.

text: In U.S. law, this principle is referred to as the last shot rule.

text: Under English law, the question was raised in Butler Machine Tool Co Ltd v Ex-Cell-O Corporation (England) Ltd,[28] as to which of the standard form contracts prevailed in the transaction. Lord Denning MR preferred the view that the documents were to be considered as a whole, and the important factor was finding the decisive document; on the other hand, Lawton and Bridge LJJ preferred traditional offer-acceptance analysis, and considered that the last counter-offer prior to the beginning of performance voided all preceding offers. The absence of any additional counter-offer or refusal by the other party is understood as an implied acceptance.

text: In Leicester Circuits Ltd. v. Coates Brothers plc (2002) and GHSP Incorporated v AB Electronic Ltd (2010) the English High Court has found that companies may have not agreed on any terms, and so the 'last document rule' may not apply. In the GHSP case, there was no situation where one company could have been said to have accepted the other's standard terms, as they remained in unresolved dispute. The court held that neither party's terms applied and therefore the contract was governed by the implied terms of the UK Sale of Goods Act 1979.

text: Postal Rule[edit]

text: As a rule of convenience, if the offer is accepted by post, the contract comes into existence at the moment that the acceptance was posted.[29] This rule only applies when, impliedly or explicitly, the parties have post in contemplation as a means of acceptance.[30] It excludes contracts involving land, letters incorrectly addressed and instantaneous modes of communication. The relevance of this early 19th century rule to modern conditions, when many quicker means of communication are available has been questioned, but the rule remains good law for the time being.

text: Knowledge of the offer[edit]

text: In Australian law, there is a requirement that an acceptance is made in reliance or pursuance of an offer.[6]

text: Rejection of an offer or lapse of time[edit]

text: An offer can be terminated on the grounds of rejection by the offeree, that is if the offeree does not accept the terms of the offer or makes a counter-offer as referred to above.

text: Also, upon making an offer, an offeror may include the period in which the offer will be available. If the offeree fails to accept the offer within this specific period, then the offer will be deemed as terminated.

text: Death of offeror[edit]

text: Generally death (or incapacity) of the offeror terminates the offer. This does not apply to option contracts.

text: The offer cannot be accepted if the offeree knows of the death of the offeror.[31] In cases where the offeree accepts in ignorance of the death, the contract may still be valid, although this proposition depends on the nature of the offer. If the contract involves some characteristic personal to the offeror, the offer is destroyed by the death.

text: Death of offeree[edit]

text: An offer is rendered invalid upon the death of the offeree.[32]

text: Time of contract formation[edit]

text: A contract will be formed (assuming the other requirements for a legally binding contract are met) when the parties give objective manifestation of an intent to form the contract.

text: Because offer and acceptance are necessarily intertwined, in California, offer and acceptance are analyzed together as subelements of a single element, known either as consent of the parties or mutual assent.[33]