Behind the Celebration Anaheim poster, first look at badges. StarWars.com speaks to artist Craig Drake about his work for the con. There’s a Rebels variation, but I wonder how long we’ll have the wait for The Force Awakens one? (Presumably after we get a real teaser poster..?)
Report: Why Whitta left the first Star Wars spinoff
Cinelinx says they know why screenwriter Gary Whitta is off Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars film: Because, as many of us guessed, that’s exactly what he was hired to do. They also maintain that Simon Kinberg is coming on.
And, for the record, none of this is particularly unusual:
This isn’t a new thing, by any stretch of the imagination, as studios have long used this model to develop their films, bringing in writers to finish a script from the basic draft, and we hear about it all the time. The reason this seems like such a big deal is that it’s freaking STAR WARS, and people seemed to want to sensationalize the news.
Their source has also heard that Whitta’s script was too expensive for the film’s budget. (Budget? Star Wars? Well, yeah: It’s still a business, and if anyone is getting a blank check here it’s certainly not a standalone.) That’s likely to be one of the things that Kinberg deals with.
Did the first poster for The Force Awakens emerge in Japan? Not really.
This Japanese Star Wars poster has been floating around social media for a bit now, but it hit the fansites yesterday… Except TheForce.Net’s Eric Geller contacted Lucasfilm, who told him it’s not a poster for TFA, just “use of existing text style for local promotion.”
Honestly, I haven’t thought the poster was that big a deal – even if it was our ‘first poster,’ the only thing it’s showing is the Japanese version of the logo. A curiosity? Sure. But not exactly groundbreaking.
George Lucas’ original plan was to see first sequel film through before selling Lucasfilm
USA Today’s Brian Truitt catches up with the elusive George Lucas, who talks about his youngest daughter Everest, Strange Magic and, of course, Star Wars.
There’s not too much about Star Wars, but we do learn one thing: He originally planed to see the first film of the new trilogy through before selling the company, but Disney’s interest happened at just the right moment.
“The only thing I really regret about Star Wars is the fact I never got to see it — I never got to be blown out of my seat when the ship came over the screen,” Lucas says. “The next one, I’ll be able to enjoy it like anybody else.”
Is The Force Awakens’ sand planet Tatooine or not?
Jason Ward at Making Star Wars draws on the concept art that he’s seen to explore if there’s evidence there of the sand planet we saw in the trailer being GFFA/Skywalker mainstay Tatooine or not.
Billy Dee Williams brings Lando to Rebels
Lando Calrissian is probably Rebel’s worst-kept secret – particularly since the episode in question, ‘Idiot’s Array’ went up on the Disney XD site/app this morning. But, if you were waiting for official word, here it is via Entertainment Weekly: Billy Dee Williams is the latest to reprise his film character for the cartoon.
‘Idiot’s Array’ will air on Disney XD proper next Monday.
Rumor: Kinberg taking over for Whitta on Spinoff #1?
We know that Gary Whitta is done with his part on Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars spinoff, but could Simon Kinberg be stepping in? That’s what /Film has heard. Kinberg is already firmly entrenched in the franchise, and was even originally announced as the writer of an eventual standalone, though he hasn’t been officially attached to any of the films as of yet.
In other words, he’s the perfect person to tweak and polish Whitta’s script – perhaps that was the plan all along?
Out this week: Marvel’s new Star Wars #1
The first new Star Wars of 2015 is Marvel’s flagship Star Wars #1 on Wednesday. It features an utterly insane number of variant covers and sales to match.
It’s not the only Marvel release this week either, per Diamond. There’s also the first volume of Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years, an 880-page hardcover that collects Star Wars #1-44 and the series’ first Annual. Amazon lists it as coming out January 27, but your comic shop may have it Wednesday.
Speaking of January 27, that’s when Joe Schreiber’s Darth Maul: Lockdown will come out in paperback. Our first new (and canon) novel of the year, Kevin Hearne’s Heir to the Jedi, will be out March 3.
Writer Gary Whitta moves on from first Star Wars spinoff
According to The Hollywood Reporter and Gary Whitta himself, his time on director Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars spinoff is up.
THR says there will be a new writer, but Lucasfilm isn’t naming anyone just yet. Whatever the case, this doesn’t appear to be quite as dramatic as what we saw with Michael Arndt* and Episode VII, and the new writer may very well just be tweaking Whitta’s script.
I don’t expect we’ll hear anything definitive until/if Lucasfilm chooses to give us their crew breakdown, assuming they follow a similar template to The Force Awakens‘ announcements… Though at this point, I’m not expecting anything until they actually begin filming. That’s expected to happen in a matter of months, given the December 16, 2016 release date.
* Granted, Michael Arndt was not on Twitter. Whitta is pretty awesome at it, Star Wars or no Star Wars.
Rumor: Detours to finally be released in the spring?
Detours, the humor series from Lucasfilm Animation and Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, could be released this coming spring, Jedi News says.
The show was in the works as early as 2010, but it was shelved following the Disney sale. Before that, a trailer and clips emerged from the last Celebration, to mostly mixed reviews.
Green said back in 2013 that 39 episodes were produced, with an additional 62 finished scripts. And certainly stranger things have happened – but if Disney is indeed building a digital Star Wars library, it certainly makes sense to include it.