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The Force Awakens strikes out at the Oscars

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There were no wins for Star Wars at the Academy Awards tonight, but at least The Force Awakens lost (mostly) to fellow genre films. Mad Max: Fury Road pretty much swept the technical categories at the Academy Awards, shutting out The Force Awakens in Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Star Wars’ best chance was considered to be Visual Effects, which was instead won by Ex Machina in a surprising upset. John Williams lost out to The Hateful Eight’s Ennio Morricone, who paid tribute to 5-time winner Williams in his speech.

But hey, we did get an appearance by Threepio, Artoo and BB-8. Later, Daisy Ridley was joined by Dev Patel to present Best Documentary, and J.J. Abrams presented Best Director to The Revenant’s Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

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Wear Star Wars Every Day: Week Eight


For the eighth week of #WearStarWarsEveryDay, I wear a full seven days of shirts lent by my friend Tom. Is he a fan of the Empire? Perhaps so! This recap covers February 19 – 25 of my wearathon, and an update on fundraising for Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance, education, and community support to urban refugees. Sadly no donations this week, but if you want to make next week better, how about a Leap Day challenge: just chip in a dollar for each day in February, and you’ll be providing more than one month of food for one refugee!

Get more info on what Wear Star Wars Every Day is all about, or make a donation or a per-day pledge!

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Today in The Force Awakens: First Blu-ray cover spotted

tfa-bluray-walmleakThis morning, Stitch Kingdom spotted a cover on the pre-order page for The Force Awakens Blu-Ray from Walmart. The product page is still live, but not searchable. Some are reporting that this is the Walmart exclusive cover, but I don’t really see any sign of that. (Though it’s certainly possible we’ll see multiple covers – I hope not just slipcovers.)

Reports have the Blu-ray coming out April 5, with digital copies available as soon as March 15. We’re still waiting an an official announcement, maybe as soon as Tuesday.

→ J.J. Abrams talks about Harrison Ford and how he reacted to his big moment in The Force Awakens with Fandango.

→ Daisy Ridley and J.J. Abrams talked about Star Wars at the Oscar Wilde Awards, which was held at the Bad Robot office. Ridley got a bit more specific (maybe too specific) on Skellig Michael with Goss.ie.

→ The Hollywood Reporter looks at The Force Awakens’ chances at the VFX Oscar. Reminder: Daisy Ridley and J.J. Abrams will be presenting at the ceremony tomorrow tonight.

→ The Force Awakens publicity team, at least, has already won one honor: The Maxwell Weinberg Showmanship trophy.

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J.J. Abrams: “Of course” there will be gay Star Wars characters

60m-jjabramsThe Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams was asked about the future of gay characters in Star Wars Thursday. “Of course,” he told The Daily Beast. “When I talk about inclusivity it’s not excluding gay characters. It’s about inclusivity. So of course.”

By Abrams’ logic, the sprawling Star Wars universe couldn’t possibly exist without a gay populace—even if we haven’t seen a single character identified as gay thus far. “I would love it,” he said. “To me, the fun of Star Wars is the glory of possibility. So it seems insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.”

Of course, fans of the new Star Wars novels know that there are already canon gay and lesbian characters there (most notably, though not without ‘controversy,’ in Aftermath) but on film it’s a different story.

Abrams’ comments are far from a promise – or a confirmation – but he does say that discussions on diversity and inclusiveness are happening in Hollywood. And given what Lucasfilm’s done so far, I doubt they’re an exception.

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Editors: 7 deleted scenes on The Force Awakens DVD

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The Force Awakens editors Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon tell The Independent that 7 deleted scenes will appear on the Blu-ray and DVDs.

UPDATE: Here’s a list of possible special features.

“There aren’t a lot. There’s one with Harrison Ford, there’s one with Rey, but there aren’t a lot,” Maryann Brandon said. So no word if Maz Kanata handing the Skywalker lightsaber off to Leia – the shot that launched a thousand questions when it appeared in the second trailer – will be one of them.

We’re still waiting on an official announcement, but the Blu-ray is expected to be a three-disc set released on April 5.

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Today in The Force Awakens: Digital release in March?

rey-poster-cropLooks like The Force Awakens may be released for home digital (aka iTunes and the like) as early as March 15th, per Blu-ray.com (via). Interesting, but given that staggered release dates seem to be a big thing with this movie, not at all unprecedented. Signs point to the Blu-ray and DVD coming out April 5.

→ The Force Awakens is up for 15 Saturn Awards, including nods for J.J. Abrams, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Lupita Nyong’o.

→ ANOVOS’ Kylo Ren costume is available for pre-order. So many layers.

→ Here’s one way to make a more appetizing version of Rey’s green bread.

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Might-have-beens: A Ben Skywalker video game?

Ben Skywalker (Legends)Here’s a bullet I’m glad we dodged back in the day: Jordan Maison at Cinelinx reports of an Episode VII game idea that was floating around Lucasfilm in late 2004.

Episode VII: Shadows of the Sith would have put you in the role of an adult Ben Skywalker,” Haden explained, “who was walking the line between the light and dark sides of the Force, unleashing new Force powers never-before-seen in games or movies as he investigated a new threat to the galaxy (a Solo…).

The now decanonized Ben Skywalker was born close to the middle of the New Jedi Order series, in 2001’s Edge of Victory: Rebirth. At the time the idea was in play, The New Jedi Order series had ended with The Unifying Force almost a year before, with Ben still a toddler. His next appearance was the Dark Nest trilogy, which began with The Joiner King in July 2005.

The Solo could have been either Jacen and Jaina Solo, or the offspring of either. (Jacen did have a daughter, Allana, who was born during the Dark Nest trilogy.) It’s possible this idea fed into Legacy of the Force, which did turn Jacen into a Sith, but given the state of Lucasfilm collaboration at the time and the broadness of the idea, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Note again: This was just a pitch/concept, which makes it an interesting might-have-been, nothing more.

The idea of Episode VII being a game just doesn’t sit right at all… But if the game had made it to production I doubt that would have remained the title. Still, it’s interesting to imagine what we might have gotten if this had been in play for the increasingly disappointing final years of the Legends novels.