Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
Update: We now have a release date for the second Star Wars Anthology film and some official plot points too. PLUS it looks like Netflix is going to be taking the reins of potentially three different live-action Star Wars TV series too.
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens is now just five months away, and we could not be more excited about what director JJ Abrams is going to do with this most beloved of universes now that George Lucas has stepped aside.
It's so close we can almost smell the nerf-herders from here.
And while we have you. Our friends at Creative Bloq have produced an amazing Art of Film: Star Wars special which you can grab from the link. Here's a quick taster…
The first three Star Wars films – A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi have rightly become legendary movies – but Lucas' prequel trilogy: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith suffered from the hype and burden of expectation.
But that's the past, and the future of Star Wars is looking brighter after wonderful opening trailers and high hopes from the fans that the sale of the franchise to film giant Disney can rejuvenate the franchise for a new generation.
Behind-the-scenes teaser
A new behind-the-scenes clip that shows the making of Episode VII premiered at San Diego Comic-Con 2015. The almost-four-minute long reel is a treat for any Star Wars fan: there are elaborate sets and costumes, explosions, snippets with the actors and shots of Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford as Leia and Han.
Mark Hamill and Simon Pegg chat about the film, too, and there's ample footage of director JJ Abrams and crew crafting the December film. You can catch it here, and read on for more about the new Star Wars.
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTNJ51ghzdYThe second teaser trailer
A brand new trailer was shown during the opening panel at Anaheim, giving us our best look yet at the movie.
Streamed to 35 theaters across the 23 countries, including in London's historic Empire Leicester Square and five other IMAX locations, the opening event saw Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and other members of the cast reunited on stage.
But most importantly, we got this…
YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngElkyQ6RhsThe first teaserYouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLk59H86wwThe basics
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens is (duh) the seventh Star Wars film, but the first that has been made since the purchase of Star Wars by Disney. The movie will still come from Lucasfilm but under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy.
Australia will get the first Star Wars film in years before the US and UK, with The Force Awakens opening on the 17th December there. North America and the UK will see the movie hit theatres on the 18th December 2015.
The full list of dates for the global release is on IMDb here.
The Force Awakens will be directed by JJ Abrams, the man who helmed the Star Trek reboot as well as classic TV shows Lost and Alias.
Scripting duties started with Michael Arndt, but moved on to Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams when Arndt departed. The other good news is that the music will once more be scored by legendary composer John Williams.
The story takes place approximately 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, but will feature the stars of the 'middle' trilogy, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia Organa). Also on board are Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew – reprising the roles of R2D2, C3PO and Chewbacca respectively.
The new cast includes Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davies), Adam Driver (Girls), Daisy Ridley and John Boyega – along with Andy Serkis (virtually every blockbuster with a CGI character), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, About Time) and Swedish thesp Max von Sydow.
Andy Serkis, the motion-capture actor behind Gollum and King Kong, will play a character called Supreme Leader Snoke. He looks to be a baddie and will play the part in mo-cap garb. What's more, Game of Thrones favorite Gwendoline Christie is set to play a Stormtrooper called Captain Phasma.
Additionally, Adam Driver has been confirmed as Kylo Ren, the Sith baddie with an awkwardly complex lightsaber. We've also added in a little discussion of the Star Wars Anthology series – which starts with Rogue One.
Lucas will still serve as a creative consultant on the show, but that's okay with us as long as he steers clear of the Midi-chlorians.
The tech of Star Wars
Star Wars has traditionally been something of a trailblazer for technology within the movie industry and, somewhat inevitably, for the ways in which watch movies.
Lucas' huge faith in digital movie shooting and playback has been pretty divisive in recent years, but his teams have had a massive impact in the worlds of sound, effects and format.
With Abrams a huge and vocal proponent of film over digital, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be shot in a more traditional anamorphic 35mm (Kodak film stock 5129 apparently).
However, the film *will* be given the IMAX treatment, with a tweet from JJ Abrams' Bad Robot production company showing an IMAX camera being used. It remains to be seen for what portions and proportion of the film take advantage of this 70mm IMAX film – which is obviously capable of much higher resolution filming.
It's important to note that whatever is used to film the visual effects are not going to suffer. Abrams loves his blockbuster SFX and has ably demonstrated this on Star Trek, but he is also very keen to use models and full scale sets to bring that lived in feeling that permeates the original trilogy and owes such a debt to the classic sci-fi films.
The effects will be generated using Nvidia graphics cards – Quatro M6000 cards to be specific, so we'll be expecting some epic space battles.
Will we see 3D? Yes we darn well will. IMAX and Real 3D are both going to be used.
Finally, given that the Star Wars films have just arrived as digital downloads, you can expect to be able to buy the new film in digital, Blu-ray and, maybe, 4K Blu-ray as well.
And, although you (probably) won't see any drones in film, you might well see bits of the film filmed by drones. Apparently the flying camera rigs are causing a real issue for the Star Wars movie makers (at least according to Mark Hamill).
We love digging into the tech of Star Wars, so to get you in the mood here's 12 Star Wars facts you almost certainly should knowHere's an in depth discussion about Star Wars' move from film to digital and back to film – and what that means for our favourite films Finally – check out Total Film's Everything you need to know about Star Wars VIIPlot fact and rumors (rumours ahead)The facts about the plot (Kind of spoilery)
So, thankfully, this is the shortest bit of this entire story. As you would expect, rumors are thick on the ground for a film this eagerly anticipated, but the actual honest-to-goodness facts around what will happen can only be culled from the official sources.
We know for a fact that Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C3PO and Princess Leia will all feature in the film, and that it will be set approximately 30 years on from the events of Return of the Jedi, where the second Death Star was destroyed and the Emperor tossed into space by his protegee Darth Vader, also known as Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father and the protagonist of the prequels.
We know that John Boyega will play Finn – confirmed as a Stormtrooper who clearly has a rethink about his life choices – and that Daisy Ridley will play Rey, confirmed as a loner scavenger on the desert planet of planet Jakku. There will be a character called Kylo Ren who will sport a lightsaber with a cool but slightly impractical cross guard and Poe Dameron (played by Isaac) as a rebel and, Isaac says "the best frickin' pilot in the galaxy."
As part of some cheery "May The 4th Be With You" festivities, Vanity Fair released a boatload of gorgeous shots by Annie Leibovitz from the set of the upcoming film, revealing some interesting set pieces and creature designs. But the biggest gem in the spoils was the photo of Adam Driver, who has now been confirmed as Kylo Ren, the central villain in this year's Star Wars flick.
Perhaps most thrillingly we also get to see the Millennium Falcon (a-mazing), X-Wings, Tie fighters and enough footage to suggest that the new trilogy will take its cues from episodes IV, V and VI rather than the later I, II and III.
The rumors about the plot (Spoilers ahoy!)
The principal rumor revolves around the discovery of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber (and possibly his severed hand) sparking a journey to find the legendary Jedi Knight. The iconic weapon is discovered by a farmer and Poe Dameron dispatched to collect it, but in doing so bringing the bad guys with him.
Stormtrooper Finn will realise that he may not be on the side of good, and begin to resists against (potential Sith) Kylo Ren, is locked up alongside Dameron and the two plot an escape.
Potentially the major arc will be around Luke, who is so powerful that he has gone into hiding where he can have a measure of control. Will he be good or will he follow in his father's footsteps?
There's also a cast list floating around that talks about flashbacks – so we can certainly expect to see a young Luke, we'd guess this could be showing how uncontrollable his force powers are. We also know that the venerable Max von Sydow will play a figure called The Vicar and that Rose's pub will feature.
Just a short wait until the Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens release date of Dec 18
And then…
Star Wars Episode VIII, Star Wars: Rogue One Star Wars Episode VIII
Let's deal with the most obvious matter right away, after Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens there will be a Star Wars VIII. Duh.
Details are, as you would expect, thin on the ground but we do know the director is Rian Johnson, the man behind Looper, and that the expected Star Wars Episode 8 release date is May 26th 2017. Now, be aware that with any major project in the future these dates can, and almost certainly will, slip. You have been warned…
Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One
If your favourite bit of Star Wars wasn't Luke or Anakin's journey, but actually the world itself, from bounty hunters to the lives of Rebel pilots, then Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm will be a massive boon for you.
That's because, in order to recoup the whopping price paid for this most wonderful universe, Disney is hugely keen to build out a quite of films that exist within it – and it's decided to call these non-core movies 'Star Wars Anthologies'.
The Anthology series will start with Rogue One, but will likely see a regular flow of new titles that dig deep into the rich world of the Star Wars Universe.
The film will be directed by Welsh director Gareth Edwards, who has proven his big budget chops with the marvelous-looking Godzilla remake.
The movie will star Felicity Jones – probably best known for Theory of Everything – as the lead and the plot revolves Rebel pilots and will happen in the period between Episode III and Episode IV, but given the main plot point, it's going to be closer in time to A New Hope than Revenge of the Sith.
The film surrounds the efforts of rebel troops trying to steal the Empire's plans for the original Death Star, y'know the plans that allowed Luke to bullseye an exhaust port no bigger than a womp rat…
Ben Mendelsohn is rumored to be playing the main bad guy and Riz Ahmed is also being linked.
There was a brief teaser shown at the Star Wars Celebration, with Edwards also taking to the stage to explain that "I couldn't sit in a cinema and know that someone else made this film."
It's also likely to be the first Star Wars film not to feature the Jedi. "The absence of the Jedi is omnipresent," Edwards said on stage. "It's about the fact that God's not coming to save us… we have to do this ourselves."
That said, according to Birth. Movies. Death. Darth Vader will be appearing in the film, though possibly only as hologramatic representation. There have been no rumours yet as to who might voice him.
The Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One release date has been set for December 16, 2016.
Star Wars Anthology II
We now have official news about the second of the Anthology movies, set for release in between the new trilogy films.
Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, of the Lego Movie fame, will be taking the helm on a project scripted by Lawrence 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," says the Star Wars blog.
We had expected this to feature a Boba Fett origin story, but that could still tie in with a young Han story too.
The second anthology film isn't due until 2018, but we've now got an official release date shifting the movies back to the same summer schedule as with Episode VIII.
Anthology II will premiere on May 25, 2018.
Star Wars TV series
If all the movie action wasn't enough we're set to get some proper live-action TV shows, helmed by Netflix.
Netflix and Disney have a good working relationship with all its Marvel offerings, which makes the streaming giant a great home for the Star Wars shows.
It is rumoured that there will potentially be three different TV shows, though no details have emerged as to what, when or who will feature in them.
The plan though is to film the TV series in between the various movie schedules to allow them to use the existing sets – so it shouldn't be too far removed from the current era, but will have that big-budget cinematic feel.
So. Much. Star Wars.
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Original source: Updated: Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers, news and rumors.
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