Rumor: The Force Awakens trailer to debut during Monday Night Football?

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I really didn’t want to keep chasing this dragon, but there have been several reports today that the new trailer for The Force Awakens is coming on Monday. That’s the 19th, a date which has been floating around for a while, mainly because that’s when the tickets go on sale, per many, many theaters.

First at bat this morning was Screencrush, later joined later by Making Star Wars, who added a key detail: Monday Night Football. (io9 pitched in on Thursday, saying we’ll see the poster Sunday morning.)

(Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican also hinted at Monday recently, and their own article plays it vague.)

Now, I really don’t like Monday for a trailer drop, tickets or no tickets. But when you add in Monday Night Football, (which airs on ESPN, which is owned by ABC) okay. Fine. I get it. I guess. You can’t really get more mainstream than Monday Night Football. (And hell, at least it isn’t Dancing With The Stars.)

Of course, if this does come to pass, we also expect the trailer to drop online immediately or very soon after it does on ESPN, so no one has to watch football. And it would also mean that it won’t come during the workday (for many of us) which is also nice.

But. Monday. Man.

Regardless of when and where the trailer actually happens, we are hoping for at least some official forewarning, and maybe even a significant news drop from Lucasfilm within the next few days, once the Rebels premiere gets out of the way. I’m hoping for a poster – it’s noteworthy that the MSW post also hints at a new logo. Still, all they really have to do is tell us about MNF, the marathon and tickets going on sale to get headlines through Sunday.

But for now, we wait. At least John Boyega has our back:

UPDATE: Reddit user ‘DatESPNGUY’ (via) claims this is how it’ll go down:

This Monday Disney is releasing the full trailer for The Force Awakens after the first quarter of your game. The whole night from graphics and scoreboard are Star Wars themed. The intro to the game gets an opening crawl detailing your hated rivalry.

Seriously it’s the coolest thing Monday Night Football has ever done.

Oh and one more thing.

The trailer will play on the screen at Lincoln Financial so that those in attendance don’t miss out!

Rumors: Rating and runtime for The Force Awakens?

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We’re seeing some signs of The Force Awakens rating and runtime. Nothing is really official yet, and there are some inconsistencies, but such is the nature of internet gossip.

Following the Nerd claims they have UK details for the film, which is to-be-announced at 12A, or their equivalent to PG-13. On that note, Yakface spotted that the film is listed as PG-13 on the AMC theaters app.

Whether this is likely or they’re just using the Revenge of the Sith rating as a placeholder… We don’t know. It does seem unlikely we’ll get anything gruesome as crispy Anakin this early in the trilogy, but who knows?

Perhaps more believably, the FTN report claims the film is 136 minutes, which puts it on the long side for a Star Wars movie (only Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are longer, if not by much) but not particularly long for huge blockbusters in general these days.

(AMC is also listing a Star Wars marathon for December 17, something we’ve heard rumblings of before.)

In other theater-based news, it seems like The Force Awakens may be playing at both Disney’s El Capitan Theatre and the Chinese Theatre across the street in Hollywood.

Video: J.J. Abrams on The Force Awakens, Disney


J.J. Abrams was recently part of a Vanity Fair talk with producer Brian Grazer and Apple’s Jony Ive. In addition to telling the story of how he turned it down at first yet again, he also confirms that he has final cut on The Force Awakens – although Disney being Disney, the contract would allow otherwise.

He also praises the Disney folks, saying “I cannot say enough about how Bog Iger and Alan Horn have understood this thing that is now part of the Disney company. And they’re not trying to Disney-fy it, they’re not doing anything other than, I think, an incredibly smart thing, which is letting Kathleen Kennedy — who is a remarkable person and producer — run and lead Lucasfilm to a place where I think it wants to go. They let us make the movie we wanted to make.” (via)

John Boyega: Racist backlash to first The Force Awakens appearance was “unnecessary”

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John Boyega talks about getting cast in The Force Awakens, being on set, and the racist reaction to the first trailer with V Magazine:

“It was unnecessary,” he says of the negativity. “I’m in the movie, what are you going to do about it? You either enjoy it or you don’t. I’m not saying get used to the future, but what is already happening. People of color and women are increasingly being shown on-screen. For things to be whitewashed just doesn’t make sense.”

He says his career choices have been about sidestepping sterotypical roles for black actors. “All the films I’ve done have had a secret commentary on stereotypical mentalities,” he says. “It’s about getting people to drop a prejudiced state of mind and realize, ‘Oh shit we’re just watching normal people.’”

Star Wars costume exhibit going to New York City

The Force Awakens costumes, BB-8 on display at Celebration Anaheim.
The Force Awakens costumes, BB-8 on display at Celebration Anaheim.

The Smithsonian’s Star Wars traveling exhibition is heading to New York next, StarWars.com has announced. Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen, Star Wars and the Power of Costume, which debuted in Seattle last year, will open at Discovery Times Square in November.

They’re also adding “select costumes” and a BB-8 from The Force Awakens. We’ve previously seen a number of costumes from the new film at Celebration Anaheim and D23 Expo.

Reveals and hints for The Force Awakens characters in this week’s releases

This week’s new releases gives us a pair of links to characters from The Force Awakens. One is in Shattered Empire #2, doubling down on what we learned from #1, while the other is in Jason Fry’s Servants of the Empire #4: The Secret Academy.

Neither has been out very long, so the relevant info is below the cut. I can’t see either of these things staying quiet for long, though, so consider yourself warned and be sure to grab these books ASAP if you’re spoilerphobic.

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