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Post by kinsm on Jul 7, 2015 22:56:51 GMT -5
Star Wars Schedule: Fall 2014: Rebels (animated - the years between Episode III and IV) December 2015: Episode VII December 2016: Rogue One spinoffMay 2017: Episode VIII May 2018: Solo spinoff2019: Episode IX 2020: Bobba Fett spinoff ---Cinema Blend While December’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens will jump ahead 30 years after Return of the Jedi to see how the denizens of that galaxy far, far away are doing, 2016’s Star Wars: Rogue One is taking fans back into prequel territory by following the Rebel Alliance’s battle with the Empire pre-A New Hope. Despite the secrecy surrounding Lucasfilm’s first so-called Anthology film, one thing that’s clear is that the film will include almost all original characters. However, now we can count on a certain heavy breathing, Dark Lord of the Sith popping his head in. Birth.Movies.Death. reports that Darth Vader will have a big presence in the spinoff, but stopped short of calling him the main antagonist. Instead, the Sith Lord is expected to be working behind the scenes, and will be seen via display screens and holograms. It’s also unclear whether the main protagonists will run into Vader during their adventures, though the Force help them if they do. Since this film takes place during the height of the Empire’s power, this means we’ll be seeing the badass Vader who won’t take incompetence from anybody, so I’ll be disappointed if we don’t seem him telekinetically choke at least one person. While it’s hard to imagine anyone other than James Earl Jones voicing the cyborg villain in a theatrical project, the article didn’t mention whether the actor will reprise the role or not. After meeting his demise in Return of the Jedi, Vader’s last live-action appearance was at the end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, with Jones returning to voice the character and Anakin Skywalker actor Hayden Christensen actually in the black armor. Jones recently reprised Vader in the Star Wars Rebels two-part Season 2 premiere, and cameoed as the character in the extended Season 1 premiere that aired on ABC last year. Although he still sounded intimidating and cold, you could tell that his voice isn't quite the same as it was in the late ’70s and early ‘80s, which is understandable given to his advanced age. We’ll have to wait and see whether Lucasfilm wants to bring Jones back for Rogue One or hires someone new to fill his shoes. Star Wars: Rogue One follows a group of Rebel soldiers that unite on a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans. The cast consists of Felicity Jones as the lead hero, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, and Forest Whitaker. Disney and Lucasfilm showed the first teaser trailer for the film at Star Wars Celebration in April, and it’s been described as darker and more grounded than its predecessors. ---Variety Disney had been promising a series of spinoffs to the powerful “Star Wars” franchise it acquired when it bought LucasFilm. Now the studio is preparing a new feature focusing on the life of young hero Han Solo, to be directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, the partners who gained acclaim by helming “The Lego Movie” and the “21 Jump Street” films, Walt Disney Studios announced Tuesday. The Han Solo standalone is slated for a May 25, 2018 release date and is written by Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan. The story focuses on how young Han Solo became the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi first encountered in the cantina at Mos Eisley. Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote other franchise entries “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Return of the Jedi,” and “The Force Awakens.” Jon Kasdan wrote and directed “The First Time,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and “In the Land of Women,” as well as writing for the television series “Freaks and Geeks” and “Dawson’s Creek.” “This is the first film we’ve worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with. We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience, and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us,” the directing duo said in a statement. “This is a dream come true for us. And not the kind of dream where you’re late for work and all your clothes are made of pudding, but the kind of dream where you get to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you’ve loved since before you can remember having dreams at all.” “We’re so excited to be working with Chris and Phil, who will bring a fresh new dimension to the ‘Star Wars’ universe,” said the Kasdans. “They’re two of the smartest, funniest and most original filmmakers around, and the ideal choice to tell the story of Han Solo, one of the coolest characters in the galaxy.” Kathleen Kennedy, who will produce the film, added, “It’s not just any filmmaker who can tell the story of such a beloved icon like Han Solo, and I’m excited to say we’ve found the perfect team to handle the task. Larry and Jon know all there is to know about the character, and Chris and Phil will bring their wit, style, energy and heart to tell Han’s story.” Lawrence Kasdan and Jason McGatlin will exec produce, with Will Allegra co-producing. The next release from the franchise, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is due out this Christmas
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Post by redsfanman on Jul 8, 2015 8:36:09 GMT -5
The biggest question about the newly announced Han Solo movie for 2018 (at least final confirmation of the topic is newly announced) is who they cast. Presumably they can pick almost anyone they want. Few young actors would decline such a big role, and Disney has plenty of money to spend.
In other Star Wars news, there was a rumor going around that another trailer for The Force Awakens would be released this Friday, for Comic-con, but apparently that wasn't true. The next trailer is apparently due in the fall.
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Post by kinsm on Jul 11, 2015 4:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by kinsm on Aug 16, 2015 5:11:02 GMT -5
www.yahoo.com/movies/star-wars-captain-america-and-captain-jack-126783174727.htmlWalt Disney CEO Bob Iger, the architect of the company’s acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, revealed plans to leverage its most popular property. “We are bringing Star Wars to life in a big way,” Iger said, announcing a Star Wars-themed land that will be built concurrently at both the Orlando and Anheim parks, the resorts largest expansion ever. The 14-acre, completely immersive parks will feature shops and eateries based (yes, there will be a cantina, presumably with a Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes cover band); alien species new and old; and two rides, including one that will put visitors behind the controls of the Millennium Falcon.
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Post by breakerslim on Aug 16, 2015 21:13:40 GMT -5
The biggest question about the newly announced Han Solo movie for 2018 (at least final confirmation of the topic is newly announced) is who they cast. Michael B. Jordan
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Post by kinsm on Aug 28, 2015 4:45:54 GMT -5
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Box-Office Predictions Are Out of This Galaxy
By Anthony D'Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione
When Disney revives the long slumbering Star Wars franchise on December 18, The Force Awakens will take the global tentpole opening to a history-making high. How high? Many are already predicting a record $615M worldwide opening, and they have plenty of reason to be confident in that number. The first Star Wars in 1977 gave birth to the blockbuster era of filmmaking — and grosses.
As we come off a summer where Jurassic World set the record with a $524.4M global opening and a record $1B haul in 13 days — the fastest film to cross that mark — experts believe the seventh Star Wars film, a long-anticipated sequel to 1983’s Return Of The Jedi, will surpass the dinosaurs’ feat and recoup its estimated $200M production cost in historic time.
In a digital world where screen counts can be increased at a last moment’s notice to meet theater demand of walk-up business, a record opening of $300M stateside and $315M abroad is possible for Force Awakens. Insiders say that in any given 20-plex in December, Force Awakens will be on at minimum 10 screens. Like Jurassic World‘s success this summer, the key driving force to Force Awakens remains its multi-generational appeal. Disney has smartly planted the film in the year-end holiday corridor when families head to the cinema in bulk. The expectation is that Force Awakens will play in north of 4,000 theaters on at least 10,000 U.S. screens stateside and in every overseas territory. All except for China, which has a blackout period on Hollywood films during December. Both Furious 7 and JW played respectively on giant global screen counts of 14,687 and 23,886 in their first frames, with the latter including China.
If this seems like heady forecasting consider how big Disney has bet on a franchise that’s been dormant for 10 years. Typically, sequels and theme park plans follow in the wake of box office success. Disney is doing it the other way around. At D23 this month, Disney announced that two 14-acre Star Wars Lands at both Disneyland’s California theme park and Disney World’s Hollywood Studios are in the works. Upon purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012 in $4.06B, Disney promptly announced sequels and film offshoots. The first, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, about the events leading up to the 1977 film, will be released December 16, 2016. That is a signal that Disney is staking out the holiday season, and not summer, as Star Wars terrain. There is precedent for success for this strategy, namely all-time box office champ Avatar ($760.5M domestic B.O., $2.79B worldwide). James Cameron’s groundbreaking 3D saga launched during the 2009 holiday season, and, as one industry watcher put it, “nailed two financial quarters” back-to-back for News Corp. Disney is looking at the same outcome. Theaters will be delighted by the ringing cash registers. The only quadrant positioned to gripe will be the makers of Oscar-bait movies, who once thought of the holiday corridor as the place for their fare. If Star Wars dominates the screens, and conversation, will distributors continue to think year end is the place for prestige movies?
How do you compete with this? Disney recently held a Star Wars Celebration fan gathering in April which drew 60,000. Their first teaser trailer during Thanksgiving last year attracted 100M, between theatrical and online play. The crowd at Comic-Con was so enthused about the Hall H Force Awakens presentation, they followed Abrams through the streets of San Diego to a special outdoor symphony concert of the Star Wars music. Disney is further priming fans around the world with a global live Star Wars toy unboxing YouTube event taking place in 15 global locations including Sydney, Hong Kong, Berlin, Tokyo and New York the eve before Force Friday, September 4, when the new line of toys are dropping.
Across six films that racked up $4.3B, the Star Wars franchise traditionally played in the summer. When the first Star Wars opened on May 25, 1977, it changed the way that the major studios opened big budget films. Rather than play a big film out over six months before going wider, Star Wars proved that a studio could make more money, faster by going out in more theaters. Disney moving the Star Wars franchise to December with Episode VII this year and Rogue One next year is a ruthless and brilliant course that Darth Vader would find admirable. It’s akin to introducing a whale into a pond of minnows, as Oscar contending prestige fare populates the calendar at this time. By playing Force Awakens during this time, it won’t face any tentpole rivals like it would in the summer, shortening its play period, particularly as it heads into the desert January period.
As we’ve seen this summer with big holdovers such as Jurassic World, The Force Awakens is bound to have a Sith lord’s chokehold on No. 1 until the end of January, making it difficult for any wide release to ascend to the top spot. Between Avatar‘s opening on December 18, 2009 and the end of January, the James Cameron film held the top spot at the domestic B.O. for seven weekends in a row. That doesn’t necessarily mean that other films can’t breathe. The consensus stateside is that there’s plenty of screen inventory for Force Awakens and the seven other wide entries counter-programmed against, six of which are opening Christmas Day: Sisters, Joy, The Revenant, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, Concussion, Point Break, Daddy’s Home and Snowden. The reason why is because there’s so little ahead of Force Awakens: There’s only two wide entries prior to Force Awakens opening – Universal’s Krampus (Dec. 4) and Warner Bros.’ In The Heart of the Sea (Dec. 11) — and by the time the J.J. Abrams movie opens, most of the November titles will have played out. In addition, giving further hope for the competition, three Christmas releases broke out to big grosses when they went up against Avatar: Sherlock Holmes ($62.3M opening, $208M final domestic), Alvin & The Chipmunks 2 ($48.9M/$219.6M) and It’s Complicated ($22.1M/$112.7M). It’s a similar set-up overseas for Force Awakens in December with little competition. Fox’s The Peanuts Movie is going out around Christmas in the UK, Australia, Brail, France, Germany and Mexico.
Sources say that a China release for Force Awakens is bound to happen, however, the lead-up time is a plus for Disney so that they can re-establish the brand more there. Star Wars isn’t as well known like in other countries such as Japan, which was the No. 1 territory for the last trilogy: Phantom Menace ($110M), Attack Of The Clones ($78M) and Revenge Of The Sith ($82.7M). The first three films (Episodes IV-VI) were never released in China, while Episodes I-III cumulatively grossed $18.7M. To raise awareness for Star Wars, Disney played all six titles at June’s Shanghai International Film Festival. Further amplifying Star Wars to Chinese audiences, Disney cast local superstars Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen in Rogue One, a move that earned them national headlines in the Middle Kingdom. It’s not uncommon for a studio tentpole to delay its release in China. Furious 7 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 posted respective overseas openings of $250M and $314M without having China as part of its initial go-round. Overseas, the two highest-grossing Star Wars films are Phantom Menace ($549.3M) and Revenge Of the Sith ($466.7M) with UK, Germany, Australia, France and Italy being the series’ top territories.
The hyper projection for Force Awakens isn’t just prompted by the recent success of Jurassic World, but the exhibition landscape has made leaps and bounds in its advancement since Avatar played. The James Cameron film put Imax on the map as a catalyst for tentpole grosses, and the large format exhibitor plans to up its 800 screens worldwide to 920 by the time Force Awakens opens. In addition 420 deluxe premium large format digital venues which didn’t exist in 2009 are contributing an additional $400M to the domestic box office this year; those hubs will also goose Force Awakens gross. 3D, which repped 71% of Avatar‘s opening weekend B.O. at 3,500 screens, has settled to a norm this summer in the upper 40% range for big films such as Jurassic World, Mad Max: Fury Road from 16,000+ screens. One factor which could crimp Force Awakens’ opening record could be its running time which is still to be determined. If the film goes from a two-hour running time to two-and-a-half, it could cut its showtimes down from 27 to 21 at an average multiplex. The last worry — which is one shared by any studio playing a major franchise — are millennials’ unpredictable nature to crucify a film on social media after seeing it on opening day.
However, given their fervent response toward Force Awakens online and at fanboy confabs, that doesn’t seem to be a problem. In the meantime, most distribution and exhibition executives are taking their Force Awakens record projections to Las Vegas.
Adds the exhibition president, “Less than four months and counting and nothing is broken so far. All the marketing by Disney is disciplined and methodical as planned. There are no terrible stories from the set. The cast is getting along and showing up at events. J.J. Abrams has a body language about him that’s positive. The story to me is that Disney and Lucasfilm are acting rationally, confidently and not cocky. They’re going about their business instead of reacting.”
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Post by redsfanman on Aug 28, 2015 12:31:12 GMT -5
I read an interesting article the other day about how the extremely high expectations ($615m opening) being set on The Force Awakens are setting the movie up to fail, so that people will be disappointed even if it blows away all previous records. When you look predictions being several times the record profits of any December release... wow. Heck, here's the article... www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/08/27/box-office-star-wars-the-force-awakens-is-being-set-up-to-fail/Box Office: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Is Being Set Up To Fail Aug 27, 2015 @ 10:00 AM The biggest opening weekend of all time stands at $208 million for Jurassic World, closely followed by $207 million for The Avengers. The biggest opening weekend in December is the $84 million haul for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, after which they are all $77 million or below. In the 18 years since James Cameron’s Titanic, there has not been a single film save James Cameron’s Avatar that has surpassed the original 1997 $1.8 billion worldwide cume for the Oscar winning boat sinking romance. The Avengers couldn’t do it. Jurassic World couldn’t do it. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King couldn’t do it. So when I read articles like this one from Deadline swearing that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is going to earn $615 million in its global debut weekend and may well earn $300 million on its domestic opening weekend (and others of its ilk), I have to wonder if we are setting the movie up for box office failure. Will it be considered a whiff if it merely performs like a top-tier blockbuster? After all, we’ve done that before when it came to new Star Wars movies. Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace was going to make $240 million on its opening weekend. That was the calculation that my father and I had come to in the months leading up to release. It was a mathematical solution to the question of how much could the new Star Wars film gross if it sold out every theater of every showing during its Friday-to-Sunday opening weekend. Yes, this was before Lucasfilm made the last minute choice to open on a Wednesday. Like many box office pundits young and old, we saw the proverbial sky as the limit for how much George Lucas’s prequel could gross. Would it dethrone Titanic? Could it break $100 million in a single weekend? Surely it would demolish the $26 million single-day record set by The Lost World: Jurassic Park, right? And there is nothing wrong with pie-in-the-sky box office predictions among fathers and sons, or among fellow film nerds online, at the water cooler, or in school cafeterias. But what was merely playful speculation on our part was all-but-repeated elsewhere as ironclad analysis and foolproof predictions. Mainstream media outlets reported not just that the film would break records but that basically every single seat would be sold out on May 19th, 1999 until May 23rd, 1999. And thus when it did open, with surprisingly mixed reviews and on a weekend when kids were still in school, it was initially written off as a disappointment for merely doing really well. Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace broke the single day record ($28 million opening on a Wednesday) and became the first film to cross $100 million in five days with a $105m Wed-Sun total. But the Fri-Sun weekend was “only” $64 million, so The Lost World: Jurassic Park‘s $72 million Fri-Sun record still stood. The film was unquestionably a smash, but yet it was discussed as a disappointment because it wasn’t unquestionably the biggest movie ever. The professional pundits hemmed and hawed about why this might have happened. My dad and I joked that the talk of overcrowding may have led to a Yogi Berra effect (“Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore, it’s too crowded!”). And that may have been the case, as the film dropped just 25% on its second weekend, racked up another $66m over the Fri-Mon Memorial Day weekend, and crossed the $200 million mark in a then-record 13 days. The film played all summer long, with minimal drops, and eventually earned $431 million domestic, second only to Star Wars and Titanic at the time, but the picture never escaped the notion that it coulda/shoulda done better. As irrelevant as that may be in hindsight, there can be a price when would-be professional pundits (often quoting unnamed box office analysts or unaffiliated financial experts who don’t generally study the movie business) start throwing out fantasy baseball box office predictions which are then treated not just as serious analysis but the would-be bar for success. Avengers: Age of Ultron earned $191 million on opening weekend and $1.4 billion worldwide. But there are still those who swear it was supposed to earn $250 million on opening weekend and $2 billion worldwide and consider its performance an example of Marvel’s waning popularity and/or superhero fatigue. The notion that the film is going to open with $300 million in America, in a month where no movie has ever opened with more than $84 million, in an industry where no movie has ever opened with more than $208 million, is so fantastical that it almost resembles an act of industrial sabotage by setting a bar that the film will probably not even approach. Is it realistic to presume that J.J. Abrams’s sci-fi sequel will open 44% bigger on opening weekend than any other movie ever, or 3.5x larger than any December weekend ever? If Walt Disney wanted a new opening weekend record, they would have opened the film in the summer, just as 20th Century Fox gave away Phantom Menace‘s shot at a record by moving to Wednesday in 1999. The reason the pre-Christmas weekend is so good for big movies is the legs you get after opening weekend, not the actual “kids are still in school and/or studying for exams” weekend that leads into the long holiday. And on that very same weekend King Kong was written off as a failure for “only” opening with $66 million over the Wed-Sun weekend because overeager box office pundits thought the three-hour ape/woman platonic romance adventure would threaten Titanic. Ten years later, the $210 million-budgeted Peter Jackson remake is still considered a failure despite earning $550 million worldwide. This stuff has consequences. Overenthusiastic predictions that The Force Awakens is going to demolish every single short term and long term box office record ever stops being fun chit-chat when it starts coming from would-be serious analysts and being treated as likely gospel. Barring an inexplicable fluke, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be a massive domestic and worldwide smash that will earn back many times its $200 million production budget. And that December weekend sets it up for long legs here and abroad, especially with a month-long hold on IMAX screens. The only way Walt Disney can really lose with Star Wars, aside from the first movie being terrible and poisoning the well, is for the notion of anything less than record-breaking performances being written off as a failure. Will a $125 million opening weekend, followed by a $110 million second weekend over Christmas and then another $90 million weekend over New Year’s be good enough? Will a worldwide total of “only” $1.3 billion be written off as a catastrophe with damage done to Disney’s stock as a result? Star Wars in this current box office environment is something of an unknown. We don’t know how the public at-large will react, nor do we know if overseas audiences are as gung-ho for the franchise as Americans allegedly are. Say what you will about Jurassic World, but that one didn’t require you to have seen at least three prior films from 30-35 years ago to get maximum enjoyment out of the film. Okay, sure, the film could live up to the hype in every way and break $1 billion in ten days while dethroning Titanic and Avatar by Christmas Day or some other silliness. Preemptively declaring Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the biggest thing ever right out of the gate makes good copy, is fun to write, and gets clicks. We should remember that becoming the biggest everything ever isn’t remotely the bare minimum bar for success. I would hope we all learned that lesson sixteen years ago when the Jedi first returned. Because this kind of speculation is, well, “It’s a trap!”
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Post by kinsm on Aug 28, 2015 17:46:29 GMT -5
In the long run, it won't really matter what it does in it's first 3 days as long as it has staying power; which it certainly will. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still in the top 10 as late as March. 3 Generations of fandom will go to watch it, it'll give Avatar a serious run.
10,000 screen opener stateside is unheard of.
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Post by Lark11 on Oct 18, 2015 11:16:56 GMT -5
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Post by redsfanman on Oct 19, 2015 14:46:24 GMT -5
The poster thingy is interesting.
-JJ Abrams' trademark lens flare in the center
-Some large Death Star-esq space station thingy in the top right. I didn't even notice it at first. Although it sorta looks like a hollowed out moon or planet, rather than it's own space station. Either way the small lights show that it is huge, rather than small. One might assume it's an Imperial (or New Order) superweapon, but it's on the blue/good side of the image, rather than the red/evil side with the bad guys. Interesting.
-There's a yet-to-be-seen-anywhere character next to R2 and above BB-88. Presumably it's the creature Lupita Nyong'o or Andy Serkis are playing.
-Domnhall Gleeson made one of the teaser trailers, but not this. Still no Max von Sydnow sightings anywhere.
-NO LUKE SKYWALKER. What does this mean? Something? Everything? Maybe he copied his father and got all his limbs chopped off and they don't want any spoilers. Maybe he's grown wickedly ugly. Maybe he's evil, neither his father nor the Emperor could turn him to the dark side, but maybe 30 years of getting old watching conservative media (whatever Star Wars' version of FoxNews is) did the trick...
I want to see this movie! The first, and likely only, full theatrical trailer is being released tonight (October 19th) during Monday night football.
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Post by redsfanman on Oct 19, 2015 15:09:21 GMT -5
Earlier in the thread I mentioned the new book Star Wars: Aftermath, or at least its initial announcement months ago.
The plot synopsis: "The second Death Star has been destroyed. Rumors are flying that the Emperor and his enforcer, Darth Vader, are dead. A new government is forming to replace the Empire. But the galaxy is a big place, and the fallout of this cataclysm will affect different worlds in different ways. Does everyone accept the fall of Imperial rule? Has everyone even heard the life-altering news? What rushes in to fill the vacuum the Empire has left? And who will try to stop them?" ....It also suggested "Aftermath will be the first book in a trilogy that begins to bridge the Star Wars timeline between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens," said StarWars.com, adding that readers "will be introduced to a sweeping new cast of characters, along with a fan favorite from the films."
So, yeah, I read the book a few weeks ago, once I could get it from the library. Eh. It wasn't what I expected, at all. The "fan favorite from the films" turned out to be boring old Wedge, whose storyline wasn't too interesting. It offered little to answer questions of what happened after Endor. It offered little reason to read the other books of the intended trilogy. More annoying that the plot, however, was the writing style. He writes sentences. Like this. Short, to the point. Sentences not long enough to say anything. Random interjections of sentences. It was cold outside. Something happened. Why did something happen? What happened? Wait several sentences. Maybe you'll find out. Similarly much of the book consisted of short story snapshots of different planets and their irrelevant response to changes in the galaxy.
After watching the entertaining first season of Star Wars Rebels I've slowly been binge watching the older Star Wars: The Clone Wars. 'Slowly binge watching'? Yes. 6 seasons and 121 episodes, albeit at ~22 minutes each, takes some time, especially since it's not exactly my top priority. I'm now onto Season 5. It's a really entertaining show, though.
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Post by kinsm on Oct 19, 2015 18:01:58 GMT -5
May the Force Be With You — Star Wars Plane Takes First Flight Brittany Jones Cooper (Yahoo Travel) Boarding a plane is typically a pretty boring process. However, when Chewbacca walks down the aisle and places a suitcase in the overhead compartment, things get exponentially more exciting. After months of anticipation, All Nippon Airways’ first Star Wars Jet Liner has taken flight. On Sunday, the R2-D2 Ana Jet made its debut international journey from Haneda, Japan to Vancouver, Canada. But before its premiere trip, the 787-9 Dreamliner first hit the skies on Oct. 17 for a fan appreciation flight. Hundreds of Star Wars fans showed up dressed as characters from the original trilogy, and boarded the plane for a quick flight over Haneda. In addition to Chewbacca, dozens of Storm Troopers boarded the plane, accompanied by a few C-3PO’s, and a couple of eager padawans. Photos show the R2-D2 theme applies to more than just the outside of the plane. The seatbacks have a R2-D2 covering, and the napkins and cups also don the robot’s famous print. From mid-October to late-November, the R2-D2 plane’s principal route will be Narita, Japan to San Jose, Calif. Starting in mid-December, the Star Wars inspired plane will fly from Haneda to Seattle, Sydney, Jakarta, Beijing, Munich, and Paris. There are also a few domestic flights scheduled for October. ANA’s website credits choosing RD-D2 as its face because the droid “never fails to complete his mission and surprise us with his clever solutions.”
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Post by kinsm on Oct 20, 2015 3:50:22 GMT -5
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Post by kramer1 on Oct 20, 2015 6:25:11 GMT -5
The lead characters are too young imo. It's gonna be "too Disney." I'm afraid they may have screwed this up.....again.
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Post by redsfanman on Oct 20, 2015 8:40:07 GMT -5
The lead characters are too young imo. It's gonna be "too Disney." I'm afraid they may have screwed this up.....again. Mark Hamill was ~26 when the original Star Wars, Episode IV, came out in 1977. Carrie Fisher was ~31, and Harrison Ford was ~35. Daisy Ridley is 23, John Boyega is 23, Adam Driver is 31, Oscar Isaac is 36. It's not like they're kids, in any sense of the word. When mocking Disney I would think of little children, maybe teenagers... Hannah Montana/Miley Cirus for example. These Star Wars actors are all adults. Most Star Wars fans don't resent young people, sorta like how most baseball fans don't resent young players/prospects.
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