Category: star wars

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No new trailer, clips for The Force Awakens at SDCC

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Entertainment Weekly says the The Force Awakens panel at San Diego Comic-Con will have a behind-the-scenes focus, but not a new trailer or clips as we hoped. Still, that doesn’t mean we won’t learn anything – they claim “several actors who haven’t yet spoken publicly about their roles” will be on hand on Hall H.

Actors scheduled to be at the con for other projects include Oscar Isaac – who did show up at Celebration with John Boyega and Daisy Ridley – and Gwendoline Christie, who we’ve heard very little from. Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis and Domhnall Gleeson are also possible, but we’ll just have to wait and see… (As always, I never count on Harrison Ford… Stranger things have happened, but given how much we already know the character there’s probably not much that can be said.) The only confirmed panel members remain Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Lawrence Kasdan.

Don’t count on a new trailer at D23, either – EW says the next one won’t be out until fall. My bet is just before or soon after Force Friday on September 4…

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Rumor: Star Wars changes for Disney’s Hollywood Studios

echo-lakeWe heard the other day that Disneyland wants $1 billion for upgrades that will presumably include something Star Wars, but on the other side of the country it’s $3 billion worth of changes for Hollywood Studios in Orlando. According to Billy Donnelly (via) it’s for a pretty dramatic makeover that includes Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Pixar.

One addition? A Dagobah makeover for Echo Lake. How very Florida!

Details – and an official announcement – are expected at D23 in August.

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Spoilerphobes beware: New Maz Kanata concept art?

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There’s already one piece of supposed concept art for The Force Awakens character played by Lupita Nyong’o out there, but Making Star Wars has another that seems to be more connected to the tiny glimpse we get of her in the trailer.

Of course, we won’t know for sure until the powers-that-be choose to reveal her… Or some sort of product leaks. Start placing your bets now, I suppose.

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Sabine Wren only female finalist in Hasbro Fan’s Choice poll

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Well, the votes are in, and Rebels’ Sabine Wren was the only woman to make the finals in the Hasbro Fan’s Choice poll, up for vote now on StarWars.com. The other finalists are Ben Kenobi (A New Hope,) Lando Calrissian, Darth Revan from the Knights of the Old Republic games, General Grievous, a Gamorrean guard and a snowtrooper. When I voted, Revan had a strong lead, with Obi-Wan second and Sabine in third.

The winning character, to be announced at SDCC, will be made into a 6″ Black Series figure.

Several other women made the finals at individual sites: Mara Jade was #1 at Topless Robot , #2 at Making Star Wars and #3 at Yakface, among others. Asajj Ventress and Ahsoka Tano (The Clone Wars version) also made a strong showing – here’s an informal countup of all the sites that posted their results publicly.

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The Force Awakens roundup: Calm before the storm

tfa-teaser2-kylorenAs San Diego Comic-Con approaches, actual The Force Awakens news is thin on the ground. Here’s what we have so far:

→ That promo art from last week has now appeared on a basketball hoop, of all things. (Now 200% tackier and more cluttered!) But it is newsworthy if only because this version contains a few additional figures, most notably Threepio, confirming that his cosmetic change is not limited to Mexican soda cans.

→ In a new interview, Alan Dean Foster talks a bit about novelizing The Force Awakens.

→ Rumor has it that a Star Wars exhibit may be coming to Disneyland in November which probably means at least some of it will be themed to The Force Awakens. On that note, Disney’s also looking to invest a billion dollars at the park for ‘new attractions,’ among other things.

→ Record revenue for Pinewood this year, helped along by Star Wars and others.

→ Spoiler corner: On how Skellig Michael might fit into the rest of the sequel trilogy.

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SDCC: The Force Awakens panel to dominate Friday evening

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We’ve know that Lucasfilm would have a Friday Hall H panel for The Force Awakens at San Diego Comic-Con for some weeks now, but now we have a time: 5:30pm PDT, aka 8:30pm EDT. The panel description is exactly the same, teasing Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and “special guests.”

We’re expecting a big splash – one doesn’t take their franchise to Hall H after this many years without bothering to do that much, particularly when one’s parent company has their own con* a month later, and the sibling is sitting it out…

* Yes, we’re expecting TFA stuff at D23 too, but that’s also the first con after the Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation release that’s keeping LFL quiet on the Rogue One front, so that seems like it may get a big splash.