Tag: licensees

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Confirmed: Del Rey has the Star Wars license through 2013; Fate of the Jedi series is post-LOTF

The contract renewal we’ve all been expecting has finally been announced, (45 books: 35 novels!) along with the Fate of the Jedi series which has been burning up all the rumor mills. Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, and SW newcomer Christie Golden will be handling author duties on the post-LOTF series, but perhaps the biggest surprise here is that it will be entirely in hardcover. The first book, Allston’s Outcast, will be out in April.

Also name-dropped is The Making of The Empire Strikes Back coming in 2010, though whether it’s a reprint or reworking of previous material we’ve yet to learn.

There’s no mention of several other projects we’re awaiting official word on, like Cunningham’s Blood Oath or Traviss’ Fett standalone, but further Essential Guides are mentioned.

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In the news: Live-action something, maybe; George; Amira Sa’id; Happy Meals; Mark Hamill

Rumorville: Perth Now is reporting that the music for a Star Wars TV series filmed in Sydney that “could have 400 half-hour episodes” (umm…) will be recorded in Perth by Malcolm Luker. Okay then! Of course, George Lucas (or a good impersonator) was spotted down under last week. I guess we’ll get the full story (or not) in November.

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eFX Collectibles website is live

eFX Collectibles

The new company and licensee launched their website today – so if you’re dying to get a jump on one of their 500 full-size Stormtrooper helmets (on sale tomorrow) you can beat the competition by registering today. Or you can simply check out upcoming products, like a Darth Vader ‘concept’ helmet (which even I can admit is kind of neat) and an Ashoka lightsaber.

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Del Rey contract renewal confirmation?

Not an official announcement, and not really a huge surprise either given what we’ve been finding on RandomHouse.com, but Rebelscum is saying that Star Wars Action News is reporting (I can’t find it on their site, and life is too short for podcasts. It’s on their message boards.) that someone at Del Rey confirmed that they did renew their contract with Lucasfilm.

We’ll no doubt get additional details when the official announcement is made… Hopefully soon.

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More on The Clone Wars tie-in books

Publisher’s Weekly looks into the busy world of The Clone Wars tie-ins. The pertinent bits:

Grosset & Dunlap will be the primary licensee for children’s formats including junior novelizations, 8x8s, readers, movie photo books and activity books, starting with movie tie-ins this summer—the on-sale date for all books and merchandise is July 26—followed by TV-based titles in the fall. Other juvenile licensees include DK for sticker books, Visual Guides and DK Readers and Dalmatian for coloring and activity books. For older readers, Random House’s Del Rey imprint will publish one movie and four TV novelizations, and Dark Horse will release monthly comics and digest-size graphic novels. An “Art Of” title is expected as well.

Meanwhile, classic Star Wars publishing will continue; Scholastic will introduce a new series next year.

Paul over at TFN speculates that the Traviss and Miller mystery books may be the first wave of novelizations.

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The Clone Wars for young readers

We’ve never had much interest in the doings of the young kids books, but Paul over at TFN (via Once Upon a Galaxy) has an interesting find: The Clone Wars books for ‘young readers’ and ‘readers’ and published by Penguin’s Grosset & Dunlap imprint. I don’t think this would really effect the adult novels – clearly there are a variety of different contracts at work here. (Including the one with Dorling Kindersley, which is also an imprint of Penguin.) Still, an interesting development.

As for the books themselves, you can check out the lineup on their Star Wars sell sheet (Warning: PDF.) It lists six books with a July 26th release date, and even less plot details than TV Guide.

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Sue Rostoni has ‘no comment’ on mystery books: Idle speculation on the new contract

Not the most surprising comment in the world, but hey, at least it’s something:

I can’t comment on this yet because the contract (a different one than the “main” contract) has not yet been signed. And “first announcements” will appear on starwars.com first, so if you haven’t read it from the main site, I can’t comment on it here.

As for ongoing contract issue that she also addresses, it should be noted that both books are listed as Del Rey releases on Amazon and also appear on RandomHouse.com (with the Del Rey logo) just like all the currently announced upcoming books. Would LFL pursue a secondary contract with Del Rey if they weren’t planning on renewing the main one? (And for that matter, why is Del Rey adding them to the catalog if the contract isn’t signed? Solicitation requirements?)

We have had dual book contracts before (Del Rey/Bantam in the 90’s) but I’m not really inclined to believe that LFL would go back in that direction.

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Toy Fair: Hasbro, Gentle Giant, Muggs and etc.

Rebelscum has the Hasbro presentation. Comic pack details start at slide 16. There’s also some new figures of interest in the Evolutions line – X-Wing fans, you can finally have a Hobbie to hang out with your Wes and Fel.

IMAGE: The whinest Luke you’ve ever seen.