With the announcement that principal photography is completed for the next Star Wars movie, Lucasfilm has also announced the official title for the film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18th, 2015.
Lucasfilm and Disney have relaunched the StarWars.com site that features new interactive experiences, exclusive news and cross-platform compatibility.
Touted as the digital destination and first source for all Star Wars film, TV, and video game news, the new site features:
As an example of the types of behind-the-scenes videos offered on the new site, check out the video below: “Star Wars Rebels Comes To Life” that introduces Chopper, the grumpy, lazy, yet ultimately heroic astromech droid of the Star Wars Rebels animated series – and Lucasfilm has brought him to life. Go behind the scenes to see how a fully functioning Chopper was designed, built and introduced to the world
Droid Design: Chopper from Star Wars Rebels Comes to Life on Star Wars Video
As Yoda would say, “The new site check out you must!”
Star Wars is ready to blow up the comics world like Alderaan! During Saturday’s Cup o’ Joe panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel’s CCO Joe Quesada helped introduce three new Star Wars titles to be published in 2015.
Each of the series will be headed up by different creative teams, but all will be set directly after the events of Star Wars Epsode IV: A New Hope. First to be published will be Star Wars, an ongoing series about Luke and the rebellion’s battles against the Empire. Next out will be Star Wars: Darth Vader, as the Sith lord tries to keep the Empire together after the destruction of the Death Star. Finally, we’ll see Star Wars: Princess Leia, a five-issue mini-series that will give us some background on everyone’s favorite princess turned rebel-leader. As if this wasn’t big enough news on its own, Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso also noted that these new books will be canonical and Lucasfilm will be involved to insure that these series are as integral to the Star Wars universe as the new trilogy.
Back in January, Marvel announced that they would begin publishing Star Wars-related comics beginning in 2015, confirming what fans had been speculating about since Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012. The announcement is also something of a homecoming for Star Wars, as Marvel published comic books based on the original trilogy back in the ‘70s.
We’ll have to wait until January to get our hands on Star Wars #1, but these books should make great holdover until we see the original trilogy cast reunited for Star Wars Episode VII in December 2015. Let us know in the comments section if you’re excited for these new books.
After months of silence, Lucasfilm finally announced the main cast of the forthcoming Star Wars revival, Episode VII in a press release below.
The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.
Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.
Director J.J. Abrams says, “We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”
Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.
The seventh episode in the Star Wars saga, as yet unnamed and referred to simply as Star Wars: Episode VII was revealed by The Walt Disney Studios to be released on December 18, 2015.
“We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture,” said Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.
The next highly-anticipated release in Lucasfilm’s long-running franchise is already in pre-production. It will be directed by J.J. Abrams and scripted by Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan. John Williams is returning to score the film.
Shooting is scheduled to begin spring 2014 at London’s Pinewood Studios.
I called it back in April during the Star Trek: Into Darkness Press Conference but now it’s official that John Williams will return to score the soundtracks for Star Wars Episode VII, VIII, and IX.
Williams, whose career spans over six decades, has won five Academy Awards and has scored some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of all time, including Jaws, the Indiana Jones series, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Lincoln, and countless others.
The composer joins a growing list of all-star creators including director J.J. Abrams, screenwriter Michael Arndt, and consultants Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg, who are shaping Star Wars: Episode VII, now set for a 2015 release.
Watch StarWars.com’s new interview with Williams below, where he discusses composing the music for Star Wars: Episode VII, working with Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams, and why he’s excited about returning to a galaxy far, far away.
Hello Humans! Wow have we hit the jackpot…It’s a match made in heaven: Disney and Star Wars…errr I mean LucasFilm (but mostly Star Wars). Bob Iger, who is responsible for the acquisitions of Pixar, The Muppets, Marvel, and now Lucasfilm, is going to go down as one of the greatest company leaders. Looking back at what WDI has done with Pixar in the parks and The Muppets to an extent, having Star Wars in WDI’s lineup almost becomes too much to imagine…but I’m going to try.
The Star Wars franchise right now is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, fans have a sour taste in their mouth because the prequels simply didn’t meet expectations. On the other hand is money, which is where Disney comes in. They rightly consider Star Wars to be an “evergreen” franchise, a clever play on words meaning that the franchise never looses its luster like an evergreen tree and also that it is always green in terms of money. The toy, video game, television, and movie (Episodes 7,8, and 9!) markets are all very successful for Star Wars; always have been, always will be. This was clearly one of the main selling points to the Disney board of executives. We already know that Disney believes in the franchise though. As we all know Star Wars Weekends, Star Tours (both versions), Tatooine Traders, and The Jedi Training Academy are all favorites of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While we’re in the Studios, I’d like to mention that the Lucasfilm acquisition does not include the rights to Indiana Jones. So although Disney has the theme park rights to Indy, they will likely not be adding as many new theme park experiences as they will with Star Wars because they won’t benefit from the perpetual success of the brand as a whole.
Many Star Wars fanboys have called for Disney to base an entire park around the franchise. As theme park aficionados, we know that basing an entire park around a single franchise, even Star Wars, is ludicrous because the success of the park hangs on the popularity of a single property. Nonetheless, tantalizing fan artwork has surfaced, such as the Magic Kingdom-style rendering pictured. Do I wish this would become a reality? Absolutely. Do I think this will become a reality? Absolutely not. The best we can hope for is a Star Wars land at DHS in my opinion.
If such a land were to come to fruition under the WDI roof, at least we know it wouldn’t be placed out west first. Their Star Tours is located in Tomorrowland; if they want a Star Wars land, they will need to either devote an entire section of Disneyland to one franchise (not happening) or move the attraction between parks (unheard of). Resting on that, let’s consider the realistic best-case scenario in Florida. Will there be another Star Wars E-Ticket? Doubt it. I would wager on some type of interactive experience since that seems to be a growing trend at WDI. As fans of the parks we should rejoice if we get an interactive Star Wars experience. The prospect of a Yoda AA is exciting to say the least. What if during the show he used the force and things flew around the room? Turtle Talk, Laugh Floor, and recently Enchanted Tales have been universally well liked. Also included in this best-case scenario is the conversion of The Backlot Express into the famed Mos Eisley Cantina from Episode IV. What better way to immerse guests in the universe of the films? I have always wondered why WDI doesn’t theme more restaurants around specific franchises. With the general praise of Be Our Guest, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be ready to try their luck again. Another interesting component could be meet-and-greets with the characters from the films. Who doesn’t want a hug from Chewbacca or an Ewok? I think an opportunity for kids to be outfitted like their favorite Star Wars character, along the lines of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, would also be a solid addition. Finally, an improved merchandise location is in order if Star Wars land is built. The carbon-freezing experience from the last Star Wars Weekend would make a fantastic addition.
All sounds pretty reasonable, right? Let’s look at a more adventurous possibility…
Star Wars takes over Tomorrowland. Please, don’t shoot! I know I just said that it wouldn’t be okay in Disneyland, but that’s because they don’t have enough space to be devoting a whole land to a single franchise. In Florida, however, we have plenty. Let’s look at current Tomorrowland. Stitch’s Great Escape: “What a piece of junk!” Laugh Floor is a quality attraction but it isn’t so beloved that Star Wars couldn’t easily take its place. Space Mountain is about as iconic as any ride on the planet, but the façade wouldn’t necessarily clash with a Star Wars land. As for the content of the ride, you really wouldn’t have to change anything except for some queue elements to make it a Star Wars attraction; that is an awful queue anyway. Then there’s The Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. Never has any attraction had such a low ratio of quality to square footage. I don’t think there is a person on this Earth who would object to a Star Wars themed attraction on that plot of land. Two main problems now arise (besides the fact of it never happening of course). #1: The current Star Wars elements at DHS are too well beloved to be simply discarded. They would have to be moved to the Magic Kingdom by some miraculous act. #2: The Carousel of Progress isn’t going anywhere. Nonetheless, I think this option is plausible at best. “I find your lack of faith disturbing…”
Could Star Wars go in Future World? I say no way. No science-fiction franchise should be the basis of an attraction in Epcot. We may have strayed from the original Epcot creed, but not enough to include a film series, albeit a great one, that isn’t rooted in reality. The aesthetics might coincide and the possibility of replacing Mission: Space with Star Wars is pretty appealing, but the message just wouldn’t be right.
Even thinking without limits of practicality, I can’t imagine even one decent way of incorporating Star Wars characters into DAK. So that’s that.
I would say that in general, as self-proclaimed scrutinizers of WDW, we should expect Star Wars additions to DHS in the near future. I don’t think it’s really too much to hope for. A cohesive land would be significantly more exciting than just new experiences because the locations of Star Wars are so rich. A Star Wars land as a unit would lend itself to being filled with all kinds of hidden Star Wars references too. There are almost too many possibilities for us as fans to speculate about. One thing is for sure: Disney acquiring Lucasfilm can only be good for Walt Disney World.
Nathan Bradley is a high school student from the Philadelphia suburbs. He enjoys physics, mechanics, storytelling, and WDW (biannual trips and an avid disney geek). He plans on becoming an Imagineer when he’s older.
