Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Mark Hamill narrowly avoided a dangerous fall during The Force Awakens filming on Skellig Michael last year, the Times (via the Daily Mail) reports. He was caught by a guide from from the Irish Office of Public Works.
Star Wars crew are returning to the island to film scenes for Episode VIII within the month. (Or even sooner!)
I’ve resisted writing about this ‘rumor’ because it’s from a source I don’t trust much (at all,) but what the hell, it’s Saturday.
Schmoes Know claim that The Force Awakens end credits will contain “a small clip and teaser” for Rogue One. And to their credit, even they seem a bit doubtful.
Now, obviously, it’s not out of the question that The Force Awakens will carry a Rogue One teaser at all – hell, it’d be foolish if it didn’t. But in the end credits? That seems like a bad idea to me, period. You don’t want to distract the audience fresh off the first real Star Wars film in a decade – all those potential buyers of books and soundtracks and action figures – with a sideline movie that’s set on the other end of the timeline.
Do you give us a Rogue One teaser? Yes, of course. But you do it before the film, as is traditional.
The bantha in the room here is Marvel, who’ve undoubtedly made the credit scenes an expected thing. And I’m not against an end- or mid- credit scene for Star Wars at all – just that it needs to be relevant to both films in question. (Something regarding Episode VIII? Sure.) I find it probable that they may break tradition somehow, but a TFA/RO matchup simply doesn’t pass the smell test.
Disney COO Tom Staggs said in a talk today that construction will begin on the new Star Wars-themed areas in Orlando and Anaheim next year, per The Hollywood Reporter. Opening dates for the expansions in Disneyland and at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios have not yet been announced, but fans estimate 2020 at the very earliest.
Both parks, in addition to incorporating the existing Star Tours ride, will have a Millennium Falcon attraction and a cantina, Disney said last month.
We’ve been hearing for quite a while now that a return to Ireland’s Skellig Michael was in the cards for very soon now, and now Lucasfilm themselves have confirmed (to Entertainment Weekly) that Star Wars will be shooting on the island this month for Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII.
J.J. Abrams and at least two actors filmed for three days on Skellig Michael in July 2014.
EW also reports that some reshoots for The Force Awakens have already occurred, including some around the time of D23.
It’s officially 100 days until The Force Awakens arrives on screens – at least here in the U.S. (International dates are a bit more varied.) Auspiciously, it also seems that Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow is beginning work, or at least taking some notes…
Back to school. #IX pic.twitter.com/zgPR2677dn
— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) September 8, 2015
StarWars.com has announced that John William’s soundtrack for The Force Awakens will drop the same day the movie does – December 18.
This doesn’t mean they won’t pull a ‘Qui-Gon’s Noble End’ on us – it’s highly likely we’ll get packaging leaks well ahead of time. (If not an actual, official track release.) But it’s also worth noting that they managed to avoid spoilers with the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith soundtracks, so save your concern trolling for other matters.
Force Friday has unleashed some talking toys on us, which means our first time actually hearing some of the new characters speak. Here’s Finn (and some interpretation,) Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma. Only one of them actually sounds like I’d expect…
→ A new image banner, has been spotted – it’s made up of two fairly familiar pieces, though: The First Order images we saw on Empire and the First Order assembled. (via)
→ An analyst estimates that The Force Awakens “could generate $5 billion in consumer merchandise sales in its first year of release,” per The Hollywood Reporter. In $150 increments, I expect.
→ Speaking of merchandise, there have been a handful of reviews of the Cover Girl line poping up. Today’s is from Tracy and Amanda at Making Star Wars, and another of a couple of the lipsticks from Love for Lacquer.
→ Five questions with John Boyega.
→ ComicBook.com has a preview of Shattered Empire #1
→ Spoiler(ish) corner: Indie Revolver has some luggabeast concept art.
Sphero’s BB-8 toy was officially revealed this morning on the Force Friday livestream and on Good Morning America. There’s a Wall Street Journal story if you want details:
Would it be possible to make a version of the existing Sphero with a head that stayed on top as it rolled? he asked.
As it turns out, yes. I asked Sphero’s marketing senior vice president Kelly Nyland how the company managed to get the head to stay upright. “The Force,” she told me with a straight face.
And a video of BB-8 with puppies if you don’t, thanks to Vanity Fair.
There’s also a review over at Gizmodo.
If $150 is a bit steep for your blood (or you don’t want to hand kids your smartphone,) there will also be a significantly cheaper Hasbro version that comes with a controller. But who are we fooling here? We know the audience for this, and it’s totally us.
This past week, a few seconds of footage drove us nuts, we wondered just how much of a fanboy Kylo Ren is, how to pronounce AT-AT canonically, and some goofiness in first class.