Category: star wars

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Kathleen Kennedy to get an honorary Oscar

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy will receive an honorary Oscar at the Motion Picture Academy’s 10th annual Governors Awards. Kennedy and her husband and producing partner, Frank Marshall, are being honored with Thalberg Award, given to producers “whose body of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” Kennedy will be the first woman to receive the award, which was last given to Francis Ford Coppola in 2010.

Kennedy has been nominated for 8 Oscars, due to Best Picture nominations for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Color Purple, The Sixth Sense, Seabiscuit, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, War Horse, and Lincoln.

Kennedy joined Lucasfilm in 2012 as George Lucas’ hand-picked successor.

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Domhnall Gleeson knows “everything” on Episode IX, and he’s terrified

They’re filming Episode IX, but Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac both have movies coming out (The Little Stranger and Operation Finale) and are making the press rounds. They can’t say much about IX, obviously, but there are a few things of note, plus a check-in with Keri Russell and Dominic Monaghan.

Continue reading “Domhnall Gleeson knows “everything” on Episode IX, and he’s terrified”

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Galaxy’s Edge cantina will feature return of original Star Tours droid Rex

Oga’s Cantina will be coming to the Star Wars parks at Disneyland and Disney World when they open next year, Disney says today.

Oga’s Cantina is the kind of establishment that attracts some of the most interesting and disreputable characters in the galaxy. And you never know when a stormtrooper or a familiar face will show up. Patrons of the cantina come from across the galaxy to sample the famous concoctions created with exotic ingredients using “otherworldly” methods, served in unique vessels. With choices for kids and libations for adults, the cantina will make for a great stop!

The big news here is that the cantina will serve alcohol, which is still a rarity at Disneyland. (Disney World, not so much.)

But for Star Wars fans, the headliner may be RX-24, the droid who piloted the original Star Tours, who will make his return as the cantina’s DJ. He was replaced by Artoo and Threepio when the ride was redone in 2011, but was last spotted on Rebels in 2014.

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Rumor: The most dangerous man in the Universe? Matt Smith is coming for Episode IX

And another big geek name reportedly joins Episode IX… Matt Smith (The Crown, Doctor Who in a “key role,” Variety reports.

Smith is best known as the Eleventh Doctor on Doctor Who from 2010-2013, while he most recently received an Emmy nomination for playing Prince Phillip in Netflix’s The Crown.

If this pans out, he’ll be the third Doctor to have a Star Wars role in recent years, though the first in a film. His Who predecessor, 10th Doctor David Tennant, voiced Jedi training droid Huyang in The Clone Wars, while 4th Doctor Tom Baker voiced the pivotal role of Bendu in S3 of Rebels. With two of the three trilogies filmed in the U.K., there’s a wealth of other crossovers between the two franchises, including a weird stint with Peter Cushing in the 60s. Other Who alumni to have appeared in Star Wars include Rogue One’s Felicity Jones, IX’s Richard E. Grant and Naomi Ackie. And going the other way around, Warwick Davis guest-starred in a 2013 episode during Smith’s tenure.

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Disney’s streaming service is (not) called “Disney Play”

In Variety’s cover story on Hollywood, Netflix and the other direct-to-consumer platforms being developed, Disney CEO Bob Iger reveals that the company’s streaming service will be called “Disney Play.” THR has since gone back and changed the quote to be “a Disney play” – so it’s likely not the service’s name after all. Back to Disneyflix!

Iger says the service is the company’s “biggest priority” for 2019, and the article explores the costs, stakes and other business concerns for not just Disney, but all the other companies in the game.

One estimate says Disney would need 40 million subscribers to break even if they went with a price of $6 a month. (No pricing has been officially announced yet, but Iger has previously said that the Disney service will be cheaper than Netflix, which runs $8-14.)

The Disney service, expected to launch in 2019, will be home to a new chunk of The Clone Wars and at least one brand-new live-action Star Wars show from Jon Favreau. Older episodes of TCW (currently on Netflix) are probably a good bet, and I have no doubt that Rebels (which has never streamed outside the Disney ecosystem) and the upcoming Resistance will be found there as well. One thing the new service won’t have is the older Star Wars films – and it might only get new ones like Episode IX for a limited time (ala Rogue One and The Last Jedi on Netflix), as there’s a broadcast deal with Turner that runs through 2024.

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Dominic Monaghan joins the Star Wars

Deadline reports that Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings) has snagged a role in Episode IX. Monaghan himself seemingly confirms: “The galaxy far far away has had almost as much influence as the one I live in, so I am delighted to be involved,” he said.

Yesterday, he posted this:

Seems apropos @starwars @ragandbone #becurious

A post shared by Dominic Monaghan (@dom_monaghan_) on

Monaghan was among the reams of actors who expressed an interest back when The Force Awakens was gearing up.