Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Good Morning America has another sneak peek at ‘Secrets of The Force Awakens,’ the documentary from the upcoming Blu-ray.
StarWars.com has posted a somewhat more streamlined (and higher res) version of the footage as a teaser.
The doc debuted at SXSW this afternoon, and Entertainment Weekly has the highlights (some of which we’ve already heard,) while Making Star Wars has a breakdown.
The Force Awakens Blu-ray will be out April 5 in the U.S.
Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo is on the latest Tosche Station, talking about The Force Awakens, his Visual Dictionary, and how Rogue One is going to change how people look at different eras of the franchise.
As a tease for the upcoming Blu-ray release, StarWars.com has posted a brief look at The Force Awakens table read, one of the behind-the-scenes features.
The footage debuted this morning on Good Morning America.
Stitch Kingdom has short blurbs for the two new stories that will be featured in the print edition of Landry Q. Walker’s Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away Volume I: Aliens.
The first features Unkar Plutt, played by Simon Pegg in The Force Awakens:
The repugnant scrap trader Unkar Plutt may finally have met his match in the twisty tale ‘True Love.’
And the second features Strono “Cookie” Tuggs:
When his sous chef turns up dead, the cook at Maz Kanata’s castle holds an unusual competition to find the culprit in ‘A Recipe for Death.’
The four other stories in the book – ‘The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku’, ‘High Noon on Jakku’, ‘The Face of Evil’ and ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ – were released as eBooks in December. Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away Volume I: Aliens will be out in hardcover on April 5.
Secrets of ‘The Force Awakens’: A Cinematic Journey will be available to all when The Force Awakens Blu-ray drops in April, but folks attending the South by Southwest festival will have a chance to see it on March 14 at its official world premiere. The screening will also have a Q&A with Roger Guyett, Matthew Wood and co-producer Michelle Rejwan.
→ Speaking of the Blu-ray, here’s a supposed list of the deleted scenes.
→ The Force Awakens has scored a whole pile of nominations at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards. The 11 nods include movie of the year and ensemble cast, plus performance nods for Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, and Lupita Nyong’o. Kylo Ren and Rey’s face-off is up for best fight. So we (well, some of us) actually have to watch the MTV Movie Awards, but The Rock is co-hosting so hopefully it won’t be all bad. It airs Sunday, April 10, and you can vote here.
→ In other award news, the Saturn Awards bumped John Boyega’s nomination from supporting to lead after fan outcry.
→ If you’ve been pulling your hair out about why Leia and Chewbacca didn’t hug in TFA, well, J.J. Abrams has explained/apologized, /Film reports. I hope you’re happy, you little monsters.
→ Weird Al tells Rolling Stone he’s not doing a third Star Wars song. Sorry.
My apologies to those still clinging to the Rey Solo theories: I think Daisy Ridley just scuttled you, telling Entertainment Tonight that the parentage issue – or rather, the lack thereof – was the hardest secret to keep for The Force Awakens. Of course, knowing this fandom, the theories are just going to get even more elaborate… Here’s the video:
She also talked about the difference between J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson when it comes to secrecy, and yes, there’s stuff in this you can use, theorists. Have at it.
Rey Skywalker theorists, please be gracious. Your case may be pretty good, but nothing is set is stone just yet.
StarWars.com has The Force Awakens home release details, confirming that the Blu-ray and DVD will be out in April 5, with the digital download coming April 1. The special features include a full-length documentary and deleted scenes – including one of Kylo Ren on the Millennium Falcon.
Target, Walmart and Best Buy will have retailer exclusive packaging.
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.
This 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.
Variety has a story looking at how Ireland is getting a boost from film, but we all know the most important thing is a new behind the scenes picture from The Force Awakens featuring Mark Hamill on Skellig Micheal.
Bonus: I’m pretty sure this puts that whole ‘gravestone’ speculation to bed.