BDA, I couldn't agree with you more.

I am so fucking tired of "competent" and "average" summer action movies with no vision, originality, or personality to them. The whole Comic Book movie explosion was honestly the worst thing that could've happened to blockbuster film-making. The 90s had its share of shitty action movies and die hard knock-offs, but at least every movie was self-contained and tried to 100% deliver on its premise (I'm thinking of stuff like The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, Speed). Now everything is a goddamn origin story, or a setup for a more interesting story that "we'll totally get around to in the sequel guys".

If anybody except James Cameron had made Avatar, it would've ended before the big battle even took place, with a post-credits scene hinting at what was to come. I miss movies that just go all out and deliver on their premise, walking out of the theater feeling satisfied instead of thinking "well the sequel will probably be good".

My specific fear about the new Star Wars is that we'll get a situation similar to Tron Legacy. That's a dangerously close parallel, where it's taking a 40 year old franchise and trying to make a direct sequel to it while also re-introducing it as a big Disney franchise. That's a movie that is to me at least, totally boring, that doesn't at all deliver on the promise of it's premise, and seems to exist to setup a better sequel in the future instead of being a good adventure movie on its own. I really, really hope that doesn't happen here. The smartest thing they could do is to really tell a good self-contained Star Wars story, with a satisfying finale that ties up everything from THIS movie, instead of leaving us hanging.

Well, I don't necessarily agree with that either, at least for these first 3 (god that does feel weird even saying that). 

The originals aren't that sacred to me, only 2 of them are any good in my opinion, so if they can capture the spirit of the originals and blow our minds with 40 years of vfx innovation, that could be a big success.
I actually really like the idea of getting the original cast back, which it sounds like it will be the case.

Just imagine, whoever is the big bad in this one has been tearing shit up the whole movie, and Luke has to finally come in and face off with him. Tells Han and everyone to leave them, walks forward and pulls out that green sabre. Could be amazing if handled right. If handled wrong, could be Tron Legacy.

Tentpoles will always be safe. If that bothers you, stop watching them.

By "original", the imaginary movie studio head just meant stuff that wasn't from traditional comic books, the '80s, or a hugely popular book series.

He didn't mean ORIGINAL original. That's contrary to the idea of starting with proven material, except where the writer himself is a proven commodity.