7. It Needs A Young, Hungry Director
When George Lucas came out of the gate in 1977 and delivered Star Wars: A New Hope, he was a young, hungry director who wanted to prove himself in the genre, much like Spielberg in his prime, and the results were, needless to say, extraordinary (even if he handed over the rest of the trilogy to other directors). However, it's clear with the new trilogy that Lucas got complacent, and without a counter-balancing force ready to say "no" to him, he was allowed to basically do whatever he wanted, which as know now, is a terrible, terrible idea. Though it would be massively unfair to say that Abrams has gone the Lucas route, his Star Trek Into Darkness did suggest a little complacency, coasting on what had been established in his vastly superior original movie, but not really pushing the bar in the ways that a bombastic sequel
should. Perhaps what Episode VII needs more than anything is a young director with a real hunger for a project like this, such as Matthew Vaughn, Neil Blomkamp or Edgar Wright. While these talented filmmakers are still proving themselves, that's precisely the point; sometimes it takes a bold gamble to reinvent a franchise, just as happened when Abrams successfully injected life back into Star Trek. Remember that at the time, Star Trek was only Abrams' second feature film, and so he wasn't massively experienced at the big-budget Hollywood feature; he still had the hunger.