Two More Characters from The Force Awakens Revealed!

Vanity Fair was granted access to the set of The Force Awakens last year, and they've finally gotten the green light to publish the incredible behind-the-scenes photo shoot they did while they were there. In addition to revealing new worlds to discover, the photoshoot also revealed who, exactly, Adam Driver and Lupita Nyong'o would be playing. Spoilers ahead!

Episode 147: Celebrate Star Wars!

This week, Kevin Custer joins Mike and Jarys to break down Star Wars Celebration! We'll discuss the new Jurassic World trailer, and then go straight into what we saw at the convention, including Rogue One, a breakdown of the brand new Force Awakens trailer, whether Palpatine is pure evil or has more depth than that, and end with a spirited debate on whether Jar Jar Binks is responsible for the destruction of the Second Death Star!

Episode 147!

Star Wars Celebration: A "Casual Fan's" Perspective

The Force is strong in this one!

 This last weekend, I attended Star Wars Celebration 7 at the Anaheim Convention Center.  Like some conventions, this one moves around from city to city every year, and it even reminds me of another Hasbro Toys –centric convention, [Transformers] Botcon.  Since this IS a movie year, and I don’t have a chance to go to this convention every year, I jumped at the chance to go to Star Wars Celebration, despite its VERY HEAFTY $150 price tag for 4 days… that’s almost San Diego Comic Con pricey, and that’s NOT even the highest rate a paying convention-goer can choose.   

Star Wars Celebration Day 4: Rogue One Awakens

The final day of Star Wars Celebration was short, but booooy was it sweet. We learned more than we ever thought we would about the first Star Wars Anthology film, Rogue One, we saw the props from The Force Awakens, and we learned about next year's Celebration for the first time. Spoilers abound from this point on.

Star Wars Celebration Day Zero - From Despair to Joy

Day Zero - 11pm.

 I've just gotten out of a far-too-expensive cab ride, and checked into my hotel. I received a text message while one the flight - one of my friends was incredible enough to head down to the line at 9pm, two hours ago, to get us a spot in the room for the Celebration Opening Ceremonies. So I grab my camera, ask the front desk for directions, and start walking.

Almost immediately outside my hotel, I run into two guys dressed as Jedi. And I know this is going to be good.

Second trailer for The Force Awakens is INCREDIBLE

Today is a great day. Everything is wonderful, the sun on shining, birds are singing, and I didn't get any sleep last night because I was laying on concrete for thirteen hours, waiting for the chance to see the Star Wars Celebration Opening Ceremonies. A full report on that in a few minutes, but for now, a present for you all.

This is the second, incredible trailer for the Force Awakens. It had me bawling from happiness by the end of the first thirty seconds. Do NOT miss it - hit the jump to see why.

At Least Twenty New, Canon, Star Wars Books Coming

One of the really tough things about getting new readers into the Star Wars Expanded Universe, back before it was destroyed by the new Lucasfilm initiatives, was that it contained too much material. Removing it was said to be an effort to streamline the universe. Well, now it looks like we might head back in that direction anyway. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Lucasfilm will release twenty new books in an effort to bridge the gap between the original Star Wars trilogy and the new film, The Force Awakens. And thanks to the new Story Group initiative, all of these books are officially canon.

Not all of these are novels - the report seems to include new comics from Marvel, new sticker books from Doring Kindersly, and a "Ships of the Galaxy" book from Studio Fun. (If it's anything like the gorgeous Ships of the Line books that Trekkies have been getting, that's exciting.)

On the novel front, we're getting a book called Star Wars: Aftermath, likely to take place just after the original trilogy, with no author announced yet. (Timothy Zahn, Timothy Zahn, oh please, Timothy Zahn.) Also from the EW report:

Cecil Castellucci (author of Tin Star) will write Moving Target, an adventure following Princess Leia; Jason Fry, who earlier wrote Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, will be the author of The Weapon of a Jedi, about Luke Skywalker; Claudia Gray, author of the Evernight series of fantasy books, will write a book titled Lost Stars; and Greg Rucka, a comic book scribe and writer of the Atticus Kodiak novels, will pen Smuggler’s Run, a Han Solo tale.

The most exciting news out of that is Greg Rucka writing a Han Solo novel - I can't wait to read that when it comes out. More news as it comes, but let us know what you think of the new, in-canon, Expanded Universe in the comics.

The Stars of the Raid 2 Join The Force Awakens!

Well, looks like J.J. Abrams and Co. have more secrets to reveal about The Force Awakens. Today, the big news was that three of the stars of Indonesia's The Raid 2 have joined the cast of the next Star Wars film - or rather, have been working on it for some time. Deadline reports that Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian (above), and Cecep Arif Rahman will have roles in the film.

Those of you who haven't seen The Force Awakens may not realize why this is exciting news, but this means that three of the top, innovative stunt fighters in the world will have a part in the film. I doubt Lucasfilm brought them in to do ballroom dancing, and we can't wait to see what they can do with lightsabers. Hit the jump for an example of what you might expect from these three this December.

Here's a good example of why you should be excited:

The Force Awakens Character Names Revealed!

It seems that Lucasfilm has decided to help with the long, long wait until Episode VII hits theaters in a year by giving us little drips of information, one piece at a time. First, we get the epic trailer. Now, thanks to Entertainment Weekly, we know the names of the characters from that trailer! And they are all very Star Wars-y. Hit the jump to see the gallery!

It's here! The Episode VII trailer is here!

The time we've all been waiting for has arrived. Check out the first trailer for Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens right here:



I haven't watched it yet myself - we're seeing it in IMAX later today - but let us know what you think in the comments! Does it looks like JJ has the right feel? Is it the Star Wars movie we're all waiting for?

Star Wars Trailer to Debut in Select Theaters this Weekend!

As has long been churning in the rumor mill, we now know that the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer WILL debut over Thanksgiving weekend in select theaters. And when we say select, boy do we mean select. The full list of theaters that will be showing the trailer (before every movie) is here:

UPDATE: The list has grown SIGNIFICANTLY thanks to an update at StarWars.com. Here is the new, full list. This is a MUCH better cross section of the country. Original reactions still below.


AZ PHOENIX HARKINS TEMPE MARKETPLACE
CA LOS ANGELES AMC CENTURY CITY
CA LOS ANGELES Indep EL CAPITAN
CA IRVINE REGAL SPECTRUM IRVINE 21
CA SAN FRANCISCO AMC METREON 16
CA SAN JOSE CINEMARK OAKRIDGE 20
CA SAN DIEGO REGAL MIRA MESA 18
CAN TORONTO CINEPLEX YOUNGE & DUNDAS
CAN VANCOUVER CINEPLEX RIVERPORT
CO DENVER AMC WESTMINSTER 24
DC WASH D.C AMC TYSONS CORNER 16
FL MIAMI CARMIKE PARISIAN 20
GA ATLANTA REGAL ATLANTIC STATION
IL CHICAGO REGAL CITY NORTH
MA BOSTON AMC BOSTON COMMONS 19
MI DETROIT CINEMARK SHOWCASE 20
MN MINNEAPOLIS AMC SOUTHDALE
MO KANSAS CITY AMC STUDIO 30
NY NEW YORK AMC LINCOLN SQUARE 12
NY NEW YORK REGAL UNION SQUARE
OH CLEVELAND CINEMARK CINEMARK 24
PA PHILADELPHIA REGAL WARRINGTON 22
TN NASHVILLE CARMIKE THOROUGHBRED 20
TN KNOXVILLE REGAL PINNACLE
TX DALLAS CINEMARK WEST PLANO 20
TX HOUSTON REGAL MARQ*E STADIUM 23
TX AUSTIN ALAMO ALAMO S LAMAR
UT SALT LAKE CITY CINEMARK CINEMARK 24 WEST JORDAN
WA SEATTLE REGAL THORNTON PLACE 14
WI MILWAUKEE MARCUS BROOKFIELD 16


That's...not a lot of places. If you're in one of those areas, go see it and tell us how it is! If you're not, be like us and desperately hope they'll be releasing an official version online.

JJ Abrams chimed in with a note to make us all feel better over Twitter:

Thanks, JJ - I just wish more of us would get the chance to see it.


Thanks to our friends at Aggressive Comix for the heads up.