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Rumor: Multiple films still in development, Lucasfilm “licking their wounds”

And in day 3 of the ongoing rumor rounds regarding Lucasfilm’s plans for the unannouced Star Wars spinoff films, we finally have a trade weighing in. The Hollywood Reporter’s source says that development hasn’t slowed down, but the company is “licking their wounds”.

They say the Boba Fett project is “still being developed” with Simon Kinberg and James Mangold, though it may be “reconfigured” and “scaled down” – smaller budget, less risk. The Obi-wan situation (which reportedly involves director Stephen Daldry, plus a returning Ewan MacGregor) is less clear.

So basically: Lucasfilm is reevaluating, things are fluid, and they’re being generally more cautious. Or: Don’t expect any announcements to be forthcoming.

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Rumor: A Star Wars spinoff has been shelved, but it’s not one we’d heard of

In another wrinkle to yesterday’s big report that standalone films are being put on hold, Jason over at Making Star Wars says it was only one film – and it wasn’t something fans have heard about yet.

The genesis of the earlier report was prompted by studio space being canceled for a film based around the denizens of Mos Eisley, Jason says. I could also note that a Mos Eisley story could involve Boba Fett, but that’s probably my bias speaking, as Jason says both the Obi-wan and Fett films are likely safe.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm sources tell ABC that “multiple” films are still in development and that yesterday’s report is “inaccurate”, though they naturally decline to share any details about the (unannounced) projects in question.

A more interesting nugget is that up sometime after Episode IX will be a film from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which “be a little more grown up”, while Rian Johnson’s trilogy will be later, and more “all ages”. The timing is certainly something I find far more interesting here, but the tone concepts are more than we had before.

My own thoughts on this is that I wouldn’t expect a hard-R Star Wars film (though who can say), but perhaps PG-13 more along the lines of Revenge of the Sith, with Rian Johnson aiming for a more traditional PG or a softer PG-13 along the lines of what we’ve seen in the new trilogy so far.

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Rumor: Star Wars spinoffs “on hold”?

Collider reports today that future “A Star Wars Story” spinoff films that were in the works at Lucasfilm have been put “on hold.” Films focusing on Obi-Wan and Boba Fett have been rumored, but not yet officially annouced or confirmed in any way by Lucasfilm. (Meaning that, short of actually announcing one of the films, we’re unlikely to get any confirmation or denial of this report any time soon.)

This seems a rather dramatic move after Solo’s underperformance at the box office, but none of the former “Anthology” films have gone smoothly behind the scenes – Rogue One’s production issues, Josh Trank’s departure from what was reportedly the first version of a Fett film, and Solo‘s surprising director swap.

Lucasfilm is instead choosing to focus on Episode IX and other projects, like the trilogy from The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson and a “series” from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which are unaffected by this decision. No timeline has been given for either set of films.

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Marvel’s Poe ongoing ends in September

Marvel’s Poe Dameron ongoing is due to end with issue #31 in September, per that month’s solicitations.

“In this final chapter of the POE DAMERON series, we see what may be BLACK SQUADRON’S last mission, as they desperately attempt to find allies for GENERAL LEIA ORGANA’S decimated RESISTANCE,” the blurb says. So perhaps we’ll see what the “missing” pilots from The Force Awakens were up to during the events of The Last Jedi?

“This is about the story ending in a nice, tidy place based on everything else happening” in Star Wars, writer Charles Soule tweeted.

Continue reading “Marvel’s Poe ongoing ends in September”

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5-day passes for Celebration Chicago sold out

Passes for Celebration Chicago went on sale Tuesday, and it doesn’t seem like the price increase has had any effect on demand. 5-day passes were sold out by Thursday morning, and 1-day passes for Saturday are 60% sold out..

Despite fan speculation, the amount of whole con passes hasn’t been limited since Orlando in 2017; The official Celebration account says they’re seeing “much higher demand” this time around. (It’s worth noting that there hasn’t been a Celebration in the Midwest since Celebration III in 2005, which was held in Indianapolis a month ahead of the release of Revenge of the Sith.)

It took months for those to sell out for Orlando in 2017; 4-days for Anaheim in 2015 sold out just before the con began. At this rate, the Celebration after this one is going to be like SDCC. (AKA: Utterly ridiculous.)

Hotel rooms have also been an issue, but keep checking back. I didn’t get anything Tuesday, but I managed to nab one Wednesday. Good luck!

The con is being held April 11-15, 2019 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

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Media analysts: Solo’s main problem was marketing

Media analysts Doug Creutz and Stephen Glagola (via) thinks that Solo‘s lackluster performance at the box office comes down to the film’s marketing not being able to sell audiences on lead Alden Ehrenreich. They compare the Solo teaser trailer with Rogue One’s:

The first 35 seconds of the trailer almost exclusively focuses on Felicity Jones as the protagonist Jyn Erso, selling her as a new franchise hero. The second half is dominated by the Imperial alert klaxon and Forest Whitaker’s voice over, and practically screams ‘EPIC’ at the viewer, before closing on another hero shot of Jones.

Solo’s, on the other hand:

The teaser, by our count, only had about 10 seconds of screen time where Ehrenreich’s face was clearly in the picture – not, in our opinion, nearly enough. In general, we felt like the Solo marketing campaign didn’t get fully up to speed until about a month before the movie came out, and that is simply too short of a window for a big franchise picture.

Ehrenreich did figure much more prominently as the campaign went on, but maybe it was a case of too little, too late? They dismiss the effect of Star Wars fatigue, mixed reaction to The Last Jedi, and production worries as fairly minor concerns.

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Women in Star Wars, by the numbers

Glasgow University academic Dr. Rebecca Harrison analysed most of the Star Wars films by the percentage of screen time for women. The Last Jedi (43%), The Force Awakens (37%) and Rogue One (35%) top the list, with A New Hope (15%) and Revenge of the Sith (17%) having the least. The rankings only take into account characters with speaking parts, she tells the BBC.

Her initial tweet on the subject went viral, but that the analysis will be part of a book examining race and gender in the saga. There’s even more details on her blog.

Meanwhile, here’s what the box office is telling Lucasfilm, in the wake of Solo‘s less-than-stellar take: More women, please.