Celebration Anaheim is set for August 2020

Get out your calendars, we have the dates for next year’s Celebration Anaheim: August 27-30, 2020. First announced at Celebration Chicago, the con returns to the location of the 2015 Celebration, just down the road from Disneyland – and the just-opened Galaxy’s Edge.

August is also a bit of a flashback for the con: Celebration VI and V, both held in Orlando, were also in that timeframe. V was also host to “Last Tour to Endor,” a special night event held as a farewell to the original Star Tours before it was closed for upgrades. The big question on everyone’s minds now: Will the park hold a special con-only event for Galaxy’s Edge? Given the amount of interest there’ll no doubt be – far more than there was for the closing of a older ride – it’s bound to be a thorny dilemma for Disney.

Without any new movies coming until 2022, Galaxy’s Edge is likely to be the biggest thing going – particularly with a captive audience of tourists. My bet – and this is only speculation – is that they’ll do something similar to the reservation system that Disneyland is using right now – but for badge-holders. (I’d also expect to pay more, naturally, for theme park admission.) Under the current system, people with reservations get assigned a time period of four hours to explore Galaxy’s Edge. But with the high attendance of modern Celebrations, I don’t expect everyone would get in.

In any case, tickets for Celebration Anaheim will be on sale June 21 at 9 a.m. PT (Noon ET.) Prices are a little less this time around – an adult 4-day badge is $195 this time, as opposed to $215 for Chicago’s 5-day badge. 1-day adult badges are still $75.

Rise of Skywalker editing done on-set

The Rise of Skywalker editor Maryann Brandon talks about editing the film on-set – over J.J. Abrams’ initial objections.

“I was like, ‘just try it, so I can start turning over shots.’ So I was on the set the entire time, and he got so used to it that he was like, ‘you need to be less than ten feet away from me at all times’ – so if the camera would move 10 feet, I would move 10 feet. I was everywhere! Outside, in a water tank…”

The timeline for this one was tighter than The Force Awakens, which Brandon also edited, by four months. The Rise of Skywalker is in theaters on December 20, 2019.

Star Wars out this week: Alphabet Squadron

This week brings a out latest hardcover, one brand new comic, an Insider, two reprints and a Legends collection.

First up, on Tuesday, June 11 is Alexander M. Freed’s Alphabet Squadron, first of a new post-ROTJ trilogy.

Coming Wednesday, June 12 is Vader: Dark Visions #5 and second printings of Age of Rebellion: Han Solo and Age of Rebellion: Boba Fett. In trade is Legends Epic Collection: Rebellion Vol. 3 which collects the Dark Horse-era River of Chaos miniseries and Empire #28-40, plus 1987’s Star Wars 3-D #1-3. It’s also time to keep an eye out for Star Wars Insider #190.

Our next novel will be July’s Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn. For more of what’s upcoming, see the book release schedule.

Videos: Two tours of Galaxy’s Edge

The Star Wars Show devoted the entirety of today’s episode to Galaxy’s Edge. Pablo’s role in the park revealed!

For some tips and tricks from Disney experts – or an unbiased opinion – check out the Disney Food Blog’s latest video. Send this one to your pals who haven’t been pouring over all the coverage.

Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland is open, mostly: Here are the reviews, the details, and the nerdiest question answered

The first Star Wars land opened this week in California. Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland only has one ride running, but that didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm. (Though at least one review did mention it. More reviews: StarWars.com, EW, /Film, Polygon and Hypable.)

But maybe the neatest was seeing the reaction of some of the first fans allowed into the land:

Continue reading “Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland is open, mostly: Here are the reviews, the details, and the nerdiest question answered”

Star Wars out this week: Marvel flashes back to the ’80s

Two comics are coming out on Wednesday, May 29, 2019. As part of their 80th anniversary celebration, Marvel goes Legends for Star Wars #108, a new edition to their classic Star Wars series. The original series ended with #107 back in 1986, though #108 is actually a sequel to #50’s ‘Crimson Forever’ storyline. Also out is Darth Vader: Dark Visions #4.

Continue reading “Star Wars out this week: Marvel flashes back to the ’80s”

Report: Laeta Kalogridis penning KOTOR film for Lucasfilm

There’s a little more grist for the Old Republic being the subject of an upcoming Star Wars film – and that a Star Wars film may have a woman screenwriter for the first time in decades. Buzzfeed News reports that Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Alita: Battle Angel) is writing a film based on the Star Wars video game Knights of the Old Republic. It’s possibly the first film in a trilogy, their sources say.

The last woman to have a screenplay credit on a Star Wars film was Leigh Brackett, who developed early versions of The Empire Strikes Back.

This isn’t the first time KOTOR has come up in the context of the post-Skywalker world – Kathleen Kennedy seemed very open to the concept last month, and there’s a shaky rumor that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were heading in that direction as well.

Buzzfeed says Kalogridis was brought on last spring. They don’t say which of the currently announced filmmakers Kalogridis would be working with – if any. The initial announcements for both Benioff and Weiss – who we know are helming the 2022 film – and Rian Johnson say they’re doing their own writing, so Kalogridis’ film could be something completely separate, or perhaps the plans have changed.

A straight adaption of the game seems unlikely, but even something inspired by it would be welcome among a large group of fans who played the games. (Well… Maybe. With this fandom, you never know.)

What we learned about The Rise of Skywalker from Vanity Fair

Per usual, the Vanity Fair story on the upcoming Star Wars film – The Rise of Skywalker, the final episode of “the Skywalker saga,” the grand finale of all three trilogies, etc. – was chock full of information. Granted, most of it’s peicemeal, but that’s where we tiny fan blogs live, isn’t it? Let’s dig in.

Continue reading “What we learned about The Rise of Skywalker from Vanity Fair”