Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
We got an early announcement that Celebration Orlando will be livestreamed, just like the last two. Straight from the most correct time zone! (For those not on EDT, here’s a handy tool. Customize it!)
All that, plus a few more guests, newspaper comic reprints, and ILM’s Hal Hickel talks about Rogue One on today’s Star Wars Show.
There will be no Celebration in 2018, Reed announced today. The next Celebration – after April’s Celebration Orlando – will be in 2019.
That’s the year Episode IX is due, and the Star Wars Lands are expected to open, and so far, U.S. Celebrations have been held in the years saga films are released. A return to Anaheim is probably the best bet – I doubt we’re ever going to see a domestic Celebration not held within a few miles of a Disney theme park ever again.
We don’t have a location yet, but these things have in the past few years been announced at the closing ceremonies of the preceding Celebration, so we may find out April 16. Skipping years in nothing new, either – Celebrations started at 3-year intervals with the prequels and swapped to every other year until Celebration Anaheim in 2015.
Meanwhile, we also got details on Rebels programming and new guests for Orlando.
To the surprise of no one, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and director Rian Johnson will be on a Celebration Orlando panel on Friday, April 14. The Last Jedi panel is expected debut the film’s first trailer, or at the very least a behind-the-scenes feature, as the con is expected to launch the movie’s first wave of publicity. Expect some other “special guests” to appear as well.
For the past few Celebrations, the first big movie panel has featured the upcoming release, while a second on Sunday focuses on the other upcoming films.
The new Star Wars Show also features more Rogue One behind-the-scenes and a visit to Sideshow.
UPDATE: Johnson took the occasion to post a new behind-the-scenes shot on Tumblr:
As revealed on this week’s Star Wars Show, the Barnes & Noble edition of Aftermath: Empire’s End will come with posters featuring Norra Wexley and Grand Admiral Rae Sloane. Also, more Rogue One behind-the-scenes action with Pablo Hidalgo, and Ando chats with the film’s co-producer, John Swartz.
It sure is… Something.
The Star Wars Show goes behind the scenes at the Rogue One red carpet and takes a look at the film’s weapons.
→ Entertainment Weekly has a roundup of the major publication reviews. They’re a little more mixed than seems the standard, but there are honestly so many reviews out there that I lost track. (Lots of “best Star Wars since Empire!” Again. A new yearly tradition?)
→ Speaking of traditions, Lining Up is still at it (and sold out,) though only for 48 hours this time.
→ Ben Mendelsohn is all about the cape. The real world fashion is all over the blogs: Although they think she started strong, Tom and Lorenzo are increasing disappointed in Felicity Jone’s dresses. (And the men get dinged for showing up in jeans while she’s in full formalwear, which is pretty par for the course.) The Fug Girls cast a wider, but less critical, net. No one likes the lavender.
→ FYI, I know the film was shown in some international markets today, and I’ll have a discussion post up on the site tomorrow, just ahead of the first U.S. showings at 7 p.m. EDT.
The cast was on The Star Wars Show! And here’s even more interviews: Gareth Edwards on how they filmed the X-wing battle. John Knoll is also talking space battles and the full-size X-wings and the (not so full-sized) Star Destroyer models. Ben Mendelsohn on where Krennic ranks on the Star Wars villain scale and addresses his relationship with Tarkin. And finally, Mads Mikkelsen on fighting Darth Vader.
→ Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican on the origins of K-2SO. Speaking of the Brez, check out his interview on the latest Steele Wars, a must-listen for anyone curious about Star Wars journalism.
→ The film has a release date in China: January 6, 2017.
→ More takes on the Rogue One press event from /Film and Fangirl Blog.
→ Shockingly, Reddit Neo-Nazis are pissed about Rogue One. More seats for us, dude.
With only 15 days to go, The Star Wars Show goes all in on Rogue One. Shockingly, StarWars.com will be live-streaming the premiere red carpet on December 10, but for now Andi has a new interview with Gareth Edwards. (He also pre-reveals a couple of Easter eggs.)
→ A bunch of new stills have been released! Check them out at Comicbook.com. (Yes, that’s one above, and another on the left.)
→ Diego Luna and Felicity Jones were interviewed on SiriusXM, talking about meeting other Star Wars actors, action figures, Rogue One’s benchmark, diversity and their favorite characters. Luna appeared on Good Morning America, while Riz Ahmed talked to Variety.
→ Tony Gilroy is taking home a nice paycheck for his work on Rogue One, The Hollywood Reporter says.
→ Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican on the U-wing.
In the latest Star Wars Show, it’s been 20 years of StarWars.com. The site itself has a nice oral history, and on the show there’s a chat with Pablo Hidalgo and Lynne Hale.
Fun fact: One of the reasons I started this blog was that a lot of Jaders weren’t keeping up with news on the official site. Also, I was a message board moderator there, for some reason. Never again.
But seriously, the official site has been a boon to fans, and I’m very happy that it’s continued to grow and change. Happy 20 years, StarWars.com!
There’s a great interview with Doug Chiang on the latest Star Wars show, where he talks about learning from Ralph McQuarrie and working on Rogue One. There’s also another J.J. Abrams commentary preview, Rogue One trailer reactions, and some Battlefront stuff.