Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
We heard the other day that Disneyland wants $1 billion for upgrades that will presumably include something Star Wars, but on the other side of the country it’s $3 billion worth of changes for Hollywood Studios in Orlando. According to Billy Donnelly (via) it’s for a pretty dramatic makeover that includes Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Pixar.
One addition? A Dagobah makeover for Echo Lake. How very Florida!
Details – and an official announcement – are expected at D23 in August.
There’s already one piece of supposed concept art for The Force Awakens character played by Lupita Nyong’o out there, but Making Star Wars has another that seems to be more connected to the tiny glimpse we get of her in the trailer.
Of course, we won’t know for sure until the powers-that-be choose to reveal her… Or some sort of product leaks. Start placing your bets now, I suppose.
As San Diego Comic-Con approaches, actual The Force Awakens news is thin on the ground. Here’s what we have so far:
→ That promo art from last week has now appeared on a basketball hoop, of all things. (Now 200% tackier and more cluttered!) But it is newsworthy if only because this version contains a few additional figures, most notably Threepio, confirming that his cosmetic change is not limited to Mexican soda cans.
→ In a new interview, Alan Dean Foster talks a bit about novelizing The Force Awakens.
→ Rumor has it that a Star Wars exhibit may be coming to Disneyland in November which probably means at least some of it will be themed to The Force Awakens. On that note, Disney’s also looking to invest a billion dollars at the park for ‘new attractions,’ among other things.
→ Record revenue for Pinewood this year, helped along by Star Wars and others.
→ Spoiler corner: On how Skellig Michael might fit into the rest of the sequel trilogy.
Making Star Wars looking into some important questions about Rey and her oh-so-mysterious parentage. Not the exact wordings of the quotes!
Thanks to Planete Star Wars, we now know that the French edition of Vanity Fair’s Star Wars issue has concept art of Han Solo and Poe Dameron, similar to the art we saw of Rey and Finn (who’s also featured) at Celebration. Why only in French, Vanity Fair? (For that matter, why no Poe outfit on display at Celebration?)
→ A Morgan Stanley analyst believes that The Force Awakens could become the third highest grossing film ever, behind Avatar and Titanic. Is he under or overestimating the film’s chances?
→ Star Wars 7 News says that Ken Leung (Lost) has a small role in The Force Awakens. It’s not a big leap to think he might, but this is SW7N.
If it’s leaked images from The Force Awakens that you crave, well, this may be your lucky day, because we’ve seen several today that may be real. (And one really obvious fake.)
Continue reading “Spoilerphobes beware: The Force Awakens image leaks and the return of #beardwatch”
We’re now six months out from The Force Awakens, Jason Ward at Making Star Wars points out. Six months! Crazy. And will we really see a full-sized Falcon at SDCC? (They did have a Hasbro-themed one at the China Toy Expo in 2013, but that rumor does feel awfully familiar… Still, now that we’re in the real run-up to the movie, it’s hard to predict exactly how high they’re willing to go.)
→ Speaking of highs, The Force Awakens’ second trailer was one for the record books – literally. Guinness World Records today said that the trailer set a new world record: With 30.65 million views in it’s first day, it’s the most viewed movie trailer on YouTube in 24 hours.
→ Emerging yesterday on Jedi Temple Archives was a TFA toy list with not a single recognizable name – No Kylo Ren, no Rey, no Finn, no Poe, no Millennium Falcon. Bizarre, no? I wondered if it was a prank at the time, but it appears they may be in code. Phew.
The Hashtag Show has a leaked image of Princess Leia’s new costume from The Force Awakens. It does greatly resemble the outfit of the figure widely assumed to be Leia in the second trailer, as well as a sketch that Making Star Wars had a few months back.
You can see the new picture in The Hashtag Show’s video or in image form at iKwiz
Actor Forest Whitaker is “in negotiations” to join Rogue One, Variety reports today. The trade isn’t sure of his role just yet.
An Oscar winner for 2006’s The Last King of Scotland, Whitaker would be the biggest name to join the film thus far. Felicity Jones is still the only confirmed cast member, but solid reports also place Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Sam Claflin and Ben Mendelsohn in the ensemble.
Making Star Wars has some info from the John Williams scoring sessions. There are some references to rumors/possible spoilers at the link, but according to what Jason has heard the music “is brilliant so far” and “Williams has topped himself.”
→ Mark Hamill did the narration at the cast read-through, Peter Mayhew said at Star Wars Weekends.
→ An interview with Adam Driver’s stunt double, Gyula Tóth has been floating around.
→ Spoiler corner: Back to MSW, this time for some rumors on the Resistance and a sequence leading up to a major battle.