Via Floor8.com:
A prominent man in the Star Wars universe, Gary Kurtz, passed away on Sept. 23 following a year-long battle with cancer. He was 78.
Kurtz produced A New Hope (1977), and The Empire Strikes Back (1980), both major fan-favorites in the franchise. Besides his work in a galaxy far, far away, Kurtz also produced cult film The Dark Crystal (1982), and co-produced George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973).
The producer’s death was confirmed today in a Facebook post.
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#StarWars #Solo costumes and props at #rosecitycomicon today. Thanks to @rob_bilyeu for the images.
Via Forbes.com:
With a $392 million worldwide gross, Solo: A Star Wars Story might have been a hit, had it not cost $275 million to make, with a mid-stream change in directors responsible for more cost overruns than most Star Wars features. However, the switch from Chris Miller and Phil Lord to Ron Howard did lead to at least one fan-favorite moment onscreen: the return of Ray Park’s Maul (no longer a “Darth,” per the animated series continuity) in a surprise cameo that may or may not set up future films. “I found out last June/July when we were in Guatemala,” he tells me, a time which, unbeknownst to him, coincided with Howard stepping into the director’s chair. “I got the phone call from Lynne Hale from Lucasfilm. And it was really nice of her, because she said to me ‘Ray, we’re just calling to see if you would like to do it.’ And I went [inhales slowly] ‘Yeah. Do you want me on the plane now?’” He ended up filming in October, towards the end of production.
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Via ComicBook.com:
The current run of the Darth Vader comic has mostly featured the Sith Lord carrying out the brutal orders given to him by Emperor Palpatine, with the series leaning more into action than Vader’s emotional depths. In Darth Vader #20, Vader is given a present that clearly offers him a tragically emotional connection to his past and events that fans saw in the prequel films, with the character showing the slightest amount of sadness.
Click here or below for the full story at ComicBook.com (Spolier Warning Applies)
Via TheVerge.com:
Details on Disney’s forthcoming streaming platform are thin. We know it’ll have Star Wars and Marvel films and shows (although it appears that the original films won’t be exclusive to the service), it’s expected to launch in 2019, and it’ll be “substantially cheaper” than Netflix. A New York Times profile of the executive in charge of the platform sheds a bit more light, hinting that the company will put some incredible resources into its productions.
Former film marketing chief Ricky Strauss will lead the service as its president of content and marketing. He has long overseen Disney’s larger marketing efforts, promoting movies like Black Panther and The Force Awakens.
The profile also highlights the upcoming live-action Star Wars television show as an example. Written by Jon Favreau, who directed Iron Man and appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the Times says that the show is expected to cost around $100 million for 10 episodes. Favreau says that the “new streaming service affords a wonderful opportunity to tell stories that stretch out over multiple chapters.”
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Via StarWars.com:
Author Timothy Zahn is back with the highly-anticipated follow-up to last year’s bestselling Thrawn novel. This time, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader must join forces on a mission for the Empire. But it’s not the first time the two have crossed paths.
StarWars.com is proud to bring you the first look at and listen of the forthcoming novel, Thrawn: Alliances, with an audio clip once again narrated by Marc Thompson. Plus, we have a sneak peek at the Thrawn and Anakin art that will grace the cover of the convention exclusive edition of the book at San Diego Comic Con in a few weeks.
In this exclusive excerpt below, we find a young Anakin on a personal quest when he crosses paths with a mysterious commander from the Chiss Ascendancy…
Check out the exclusive excerpt at StarWars.com
Via ScreenRant.com:
The Star Wars franchise needs to start exploring movies with lower budgets. Disney is currently reassessing their entire Star Wars business model following Solo: A Star Wars Story’s disappointing box office return, placing a hold on some future standalone anthology movies and taking less creative risks with directors. That said, their best bet may well involve making mid-budget movies if they want to improve their odds of turning a profit.
Star Wars may have started as a lower budget saga (even the prequels had comparatively moderate budgets), but having grown to the second most successful movie franchises of all time, according to Box Office Mojo, with a domestic box office total of over $4 billion (the MCU has it beaten by roughly $2 billion), it’s no wonder that Disney would equip the franchise with considerable funds for the new era. However, despite the fact that sizable budgets worked for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Solo’s failure has made this approach moot. Frequent complications during production set a negative course for Solo, Disney, and, by extension, the future of the entire Star Wars franchise.
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Via ScreenRant.com:
The latest Star Wars rumors indicate the Obi-Wan spinoff movie had already lost attached director Stephen Daldry well before Solo: A Star Wars Story underwhelmed at the box office. For several years, an anthology film revolving around the Jedi Master was rumored, with Ewan McGregor expressing multiple times he would be game to return. Though the project was never officially announced by Lucasfilm, it seemed to gain traction last year when Daldry was reportedly became Obi-Wan’s director.
More recently, however, Obi-Wan is less likely to happen. Lucasfilm is placing future movies in the Star Wars Story line on hold until further notice, which presumably also includes James Mangold’s alleged Boba Fett spinoff. While the timing of the announcement made it seem like this was a response to Solo bombing, it appears as if the studio was having second doubts about Obi-Wan prior to Solo premiering.
Click here for the full story at ScreenRant.com
Via VanityFair.com:
Alas, Star Wars fans, it would appear that we might never learn Boba Fett’s entire backstory after all—at least, not in the form of a Star Wars Story film. According to a new report, Lucasfilm has suspended plans for future spin-offs under the banner that brought us Rogue One and Solo, opting instead to focus on Star Wars: Episode IX and whatever trilogy might follow it. Collider writes that a rumored Obi-Wan film has also been nixed; a representative for Lucasfilm did not immediately respond to V.F.’s request for comment.
Truthfully, it’s probably wise for Lucasfilm to rethink this strategy. Mythologizing every last detail of the original trilogy has proven to have diminishing returns; one of the most common criticisms leveled against Solo was the film’s dependence on callbacks and shoehorned references to previous Star Wars movies. Solo’s soft box office—by the numbers, it was the first Star Wars film to officially flop—proved that the Star Wars Story label is not necessarily enough to guarantee the kind of success Lucasfilm is used to. So, Boba Fett and Obi-Wan might have to wait for their big-screen close-ups. In Boba Fett’s case, that’s a relief; the character is interesting particularly because of the things we don’t know about him. The same might also be true of Obi-Wan, whose story has been told in several Star Wars films already—The Phantom Menace through A New Hope, plus Force Ghost appearances in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Click here for the full story at VanityFair.com
Via ScreenRant.com:
The latest addition to the Star Wars galaxy of films may have underwhelmed at the box office, but it did shine a light on a couple new spots of the canon, and established a deeper thread to the Empire with the introduction of Crimson Dawn. It also reunited the two biggest troublemakers the Rebels in the Galaxy.
In a coming-of-age origin story that jumps off a cliff into the emotional baggage of Han Solo, the standout story thread was the genesis of his friendship with Lando Calrissian.
The two are introduced when Solo and one of his first crews has to put together a heist. Business tints their friendship from the moment Han spots that Lando’s a card cheat. With the solid performances from Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, who play Han and Lando respectively, the pair’s friendship is never in doubt. In this case, it feels fated rather than forced, so when they’re taking their place in the Millennium Falcon, alongside Chewie, all the pieces are just falling into place.
Whether they’re the galaxy’s best Odd Couple or just a more conniving Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, a reunion between these two actors is the best reason for a Solo sequel. If the studio has any chance of throwing good money after bad and running a referendum experiment on their spin-offs, a follow up movie could chase the two to Tatooine, and trace the ways the Empire divides the fan-favorite friendship.
Click here to see them all at ScreenRant.com
Via theverge.com:
At E3 today, DICE revealed several big updates to Star Wars Battlefront II. Players will be able to play during the Clone Wars era, and the game will introduce several new playable characters, including Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. There’s no release date yet for the DLC.
While Battlefront II has allowed you to play as a clone trooper, it’s largely focused on the latest series of films: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rogue One. This is the first time that Battlefront II players will be able to play as characters from the the prequel era, or to visit the planet Geonosis, where the Clone Wars began in Attack of the Clones. Design director Dennis Brannvall says that it’ll also include “the largest level we’ve ever built for Battlefront.”
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