→ Need new gear? Target and a Force for Change have teamed up to offer ten t-shirts, with $5 from each sale going to UNICEF. They’re available through the end of the year.
→ Another new behind-the-scenes featurette has emerged, this time focusing on Diego Luna:
U.S. Rogue One tickets will go on sale Monday, November 28, Lucasfilm announced last night. They’re expected to be available at 12:01 a.m. from most ticket retailers. If you have a Regal theater, you can get an “Ultimate Ticket” for $100 that will let you see the film once a day as long as it’s in their theaters. Tickets for the film are already on sale in the U.K.
In the meantime, another trailer with a few additional bits of footage debuted on a Disney ABC special yesterday. Here’s a look:
Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican has the most extensive interview yet with composer Michael Giacchino on Rogue One. Giacchino says the film is “in many ways a really great World War II movie” with “this huge, huge heart.” He reveals that he does use “little moments” of the classic John Williams, but ” the score is 95 percent original.” Read
→ While EW gives us extended chunks of coverage, Empire magazine dribbles out a new photo and a few quotes regarding Gareth Edwards’ being hands-on with filming. But hey, they do have a bunch of character covers.
→ Rogue One is tracking for a big debut – in the range of $120M-150M. If this bears out, it could be the second-biggest December opening – after The Force Awakens.
But overall, there’s not really that much to say right now about the future. Because even Lucasfilm isn’t sure yet:
“There are [possible movies] that we have been talking a lot about,” Kennedy says. “But we are planning to sit down in January, since we will have had The Force Awakens released, now Rogue One, and we’ve finished shooting Episode VIII. We have enough information where we can step back a little bit and say, What are we doing? What do we feel is exciting? And what are some of the things we want to explore?”
It’s certainly an interesting question. I doubt we’ll be waiting 10 years for Episode X, but how long should they wait? Will the fanbase stand for an uninterrupted string of non-Episode films?
And which standalones? Perhaps the most interesting parts of this piece look back. First, it confirms the long-standing rumors that Josh Trank’s canceled standalone was about Boba Fett. (Ugh.) They even had a teaser reel ready to show us at Celebration Anaheim in spring 2015. A Fett film still might happen – Breznican calls it “backburnered” – but it’ll no doubt have to wait until the right director comes along. (And yes, the possibility of an Obi-Wan Kenobi film is mentioned. Again, Lucasfilm knows you want it.)
Secondly, Kennedy also mentions that the idea for the Han Solo standalone wasn’t one that George Lucas mentioned as a spinoff. We’ve previously heard otherwise, which makes me wonder if the original idea came from George in a different context, like the never-produced live-action series. (After all, Saw Gerrera made the jump from there to The Clone Wars to Rogue One – why not a major character like Han?)
In another article, this time at Variety, Kennedy talks about some of the Han film’s inspirations:
“This moves closer to a heist or Western type feel,” says Kennedy. “We’ve talked about [Frederic] Remington and those primary colors that are used in his paintings defining the look and feel of the film.”
She also talks about her desire to bring in more women to direct Star Wars films.
“We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do “Star Wars,” they’re set up for success,” says Kennedy. “They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”
With only weeks to go, Rogue One gets a second Entertainment Weekly cover. (The Darth Vader version is a Barnes & Noble exclusive.) They’ve already dropped some things online, including a space battle detail and a gallery of new stills. We learn the names of some of the new senators glimpsed in the trailer, plus a new Vader shot.
We’re still sitting in suspense here in the U.S., but Rogue One tickets will go on sale tomorrow (November 21) just after midnight. in the U.K. (The rumor mill for the states remains vague.)
→ One of the new Mon Calamari glimpsed in the behind-the-scenes video was inspired by Winston Churchill. Creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan talks Admiral Raddus in EW.
The filename contains the term ‘Delos,’ which jumped out at me – too much Westworld? – but a quick Google search shows it’s a codename that’s been in use for a while regarding the early part of the project, with ‘Atlantis’ being used for the next phase.
Also part of the announcement is news that they’re working on an Episode VIII addition to Star Tours. (Given how much filming was done in Ireland, Ahch-To might be a good bet, but it’s probably far too early for solid guessing.) There’s no mention of Rogue One – and if they were adding something for 2016, we’d probably have heard by now. Given that Star Tours has a rather loose relation to timeline or canon, I wonder if they’re waiting to see how the film is received? Or perhaps until after the events of Rogue One are less spoilery?
A new behind-the-scenes Rogue One featurette appeared today. It features director Gareth Edwards, stars Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, plus several new pieces of footage.
It also appears to be the first to reveal that the film is rated PG-13 for “extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action.” Well, it is a war movie! Rogue One is the third PG-13 Star Wars film, after Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens.
→ Alexander Freed’s Rogue One novelization is moving up! The hardcover version will now be in stores on December 20, instead of January 3. The eBook release date hasn’t changed – it’ll still be out on December 16, same as the film. (Also, I think this got lost in the shuffle for me, but we did finally see the novelization cover last week. Surprise! It’s basically the poster.)
We got a pair of new posters this week; The first for IMAX, the second for Dolby. Both are more adventurous than the standard one-sheet, but there’s still plenty of that shiny digital smoothness that’s de rigueur these days. A late addition: New character posters from Japan, on a Spanish website because why not.
→ Rogue One’s first tie-in novel, Catalyst, came out this week and there are interviews with author James Luceno over at StarWars.com (by our own James) and The Verge (by Andrew Liptak.) You can also check out reviews at Big Shiny Robot and Tosche Station. And finally, if you just want the summary/spoilers/infodump, there’s io9. (Or Chris Taylor at Mashable.)
