According to a story in Vulture Michael Arndt, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Toy Story 3” had already written about 40-50 pages of a treatment for the seventh chapter of the “Star Wars” franchise long before the announcement of the acquisition of Lucasfilm Disney.

He would therefore be in a great position—might even be at the top of the list—to be selected among the writers tapped to potentially write the screenplay for this new episode of the cult saga, principal photography for which is set for 2014. The fact that Arndt earned Disney an Oscar nomination for best screenplay for “Toy Story 3” two years ago probably won’t hurt him, either.

Arndt also wrote the second part of “Hunger games,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”