Funko is welcoming Captain Phasma to the Hikari line! A tough veteran
commander, she commands the First Order’s legion of stormtroopers!
Classic Captain Phasma is limited to 500pcs worldwide.
Add her to your collection this spring!
Classic Captain Phasma Hikari Sofubi Figure
Coming in May!
Via Starwars.com:
ANNOUNCING THE NAME OF THE NEXT FILM IN THE SKYWALKER SAGA.
We have the greatest fans in this or any other galaxy. In appreciation of the fans, we wanted them to be the first to know the title of the next chapter in the Skywalker saga: STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.
THE LAST JEDI is written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski.
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is scheduled for release December 15, 2017.
Via Screencrush.com:
What’s a Star Wars film without John Williams?
The legendary composer has scored all previous seven episodes of the Star Wars franchise (sorry, Rogue One), and now Williams is officially returning for Rian Johnson‘s Star Wars: Episode VIII. It’s not totally surprising since Steven Spielberg already revealed the news when he announced Williams would also score Indiana Jones 5, and because who else would compose music for the next Star Wars installment?
During a recent performance with the Boston Pops orchestra, the composer confirmed the news telling the audience he would begin his work on the new Star Wars in a few weeks, according to Masslive. And Star Wars fans can thank Daisy Ridley for his return. The composer said he accepted Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s invitation to return after The Force Awakens because he loved Ridley’s performance as Rey so much he didn’t want anyone else to score her scenes. After hearing his Oscar nominated “Rey’s Theme,” neither do we.
Williams’ score for The Force Awakens brought him his 50th Oscar nomination, and I’m sure that number will only continue to grow. So far, spinoff Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be the only Star Wars film not scored by Williams, and instead feature music from Alexandre Desplat (who’s still a great choice).
Episode VIII will feature the return of Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher along with the rest of The Force Awakens cast. Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro will also star in unknown roles. The film wrapped production last month and Williams has already seen a cut of the new movie and we’ve yet to see any official footage beyond Johnson’s behind-the-scenes sneak peeks. Fingers crossed with get a teaser scored by Williams soon.
Via Thegaurdian.com:
Star Wars Episode VIII will take the form of an old-fashioned war movie, according to its director Rian Johnson.
Speaking at the Star Wars Celebration conference in London, Johnson said that films such as Twelve O’Clock High and The Bridge on the River Kwai had been required watching for his crew ahead of shooting.
The classic tales of guts and gall both feature leaders who win over their men. In Twelve O’Clock High, General Frank Savage (Gregory Peck) has to revitalise an exhausted squadron of fighter pilots tasked with flying daytime raids over Germany. The Bridge on the River Kwai stars Alec Guinness as a prisoner of war who becomes personally invested in a bridge-building project for his Japanese captors.
Episode VIII, expected in cinemas in December 2017, will follow on directly from the events of The Force Awakens, which ended with Jedi-in-the-making Rey (Daisy Ridley) meeting Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on a deserted island. Johnson shared a production still of a shoot for his film taking place on Skellig Michael, in Ireland, where The Force Awakens concluded. He also announced that, seeing as he and Gareth Edwards – the director of spin-off Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – had been working on their films at the same time, they had made cameos in each other’s movies.
Johnson, who admitted he got choked up when he first stepped on to the set of the Millennium Falcon, said it was important to keep nostalgia in check.
“You come into it with feelings of deep nostalgia, but then you realise your responsibility, ultimately, is to get beyond that very quickly and ultimately tell a story that feels alive right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, producer Kathleen Kennedy, who joined Johnson at the event, explained why the director of Looper and Brick was at the top of her list when it came to choosing someone to take the franchise forward.
“I don’t say this about many people – I think Rian moves the camera as well as Steven Spielberg,” she said.
Via Gamespot.com:
Star Wars Episode VIII has been shooting since February, but the end is finally in sight. Star Mark Hamill has revealed that production on the film will wrap in just over two weeks.
The actor, who plays Luke Skywalker, tweeted that the film will complete principal photography on July 22, 2016. This follows his earlier comments that he would soon be finished on the movie and would then be “out of work.” Hamill had to subsequently clarify that he meant that the production was about to wrap, not that Skywalker was being killed off.
Fans will be able to get their first taste of what to expect from Episode VIII at the Star Wars Celebration for Europe, which takes place in London this month. Director Rian Johnson will be attending, alongside Chris Miller and Phil Lord, who are making the Han Solo movie, and Rogue One’s Gareth Edwards.
Unsurprisingly, very few details about the movie’s plot are known at this stage. However several of the cast have suggested that fans should expect something different from previous films in the franchise.
In April, Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron, likened it to working on an independent film. “Rian is definitely going to places and investigating things that haven’t really been done in the Star Wars universe,” he told the LA Times. “For me, it’s so fun getting to explore different things that I wouldn’t have expected in this universe.”
Co-stars Daisy Ridley and John Boyega have also spoken about the film’s darker tone. “It’s a different take–darker, bigger,” Boyega told Variety. “Someone will say: ‘How do you get bigger than Force Awakens?’ But it’s crazy.”
Star Wars Episode VIII arrives in theaters on December 15, 2017. It also stars Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Domhnall Gleeson, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis.
Via Ign.com:
Filming on Star Wars: Episode VIII is nearly complete and to celebrate, director Rian Johnson has revealed a new photo of Luke Skywalker’s cloak.
Johnson shared the image in a post on Tumblr (via EW), along with a caption that reads: “In the home stretch.” In it we see what appears to be Skywalker’s cloak from The Force Awakens in a cave-like setting.
Star Wars: Episode VIII opens in theaters on December 15, 2017 and will feature a larger role for Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron. In addition to Isaac, Mark Hamill will reprise his iconic role as Luke Skywalker, John Boyega will be back as Finn and Daisy Ridely will return to star as Rey.
Oscar Isaac shuts his eyes tight, guitar in hand, and the world goes away. Which is convenient, because the world keeps presenting him with unwelcome facts, here in his 37th year: Turns out that if you’re a dreamily handsome actor who delivers fierce, incandescent, once-in-a-generation performances worthy of Pacino and De Niro, and then takes big roles in Star Wars and X-Men movies, you will become famous, and people will start calling you a movie star. Who knew? “I’m an actor, not a star,” he’ll say, bristling politely, if probed too hard on the subject of his rise. “I don’t really know what you mean when you say ‘star,’ ‘movie star,’ that stuff.”
Isaac never planned for any of this – never planned for much of anything, really – and he’s trying to keep it all out of his head. He’s obsessed with craft, indifferent to celebrity, private by instinct. The money is nice, not that he’s spending much of it, but the only part of success he truly covets is having his pick of roles. He’s bemused by the fervent female fan base he’s acquired, with bloggers calling him “the Internet’s boyfriend.” “The Internet never struck me as being into monogamous relationships,” he says with a small laugh. “It’s very promiscuous, the Internet.” (The Internet almost dumped him last year when an old picture emerged of him wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the cover of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. “I liked the design,” he says. “I didn’t think wearing the shirt was saying I agreed with all her politics. I’m not a libertarian!”)
Isaac still lives in the same one-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he bought before his career’s recent uptick. He doesn’t own a car (“You know how much a garage is? It’s like paying rent!”). He did at least renovate his Brooklyn place, and purchased homes for his mom and sister. He’ll consider a larger apartment if he has kids, or, as he puts it, “if I duplicate or replicate.”
Click below to read the full article.
Image via Rollingstone.com
Via Gamespot.com:
Star Wars Episode VIII has been in production for two months now, and while we know very little about its storyline, several cast members have spoken about the approach that writer/director Rian Johnson is taking to the sequel. The latest actor to tease a few details is John Boyega.
Boyega was interview by Variety at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was asked about what fans could expect. “It’s a different take–darker, bigger,” he said. “Someone will say: ‘How do you get bigger than Force Awakens?’ But it’s crazy.”
Boyega’s comments mirror those made by fellow actor Oscar Isaac last month. Isaac, who plays ace pilot Poe Dameron, told the LA Times that Johnson’s approach to the series would set it apart from previous instalments. “Rian is definitely going to places and investigating things that haven’t really been done in the Star Wars universe,” he revealed. “For me, it’s so fun getting to explore different things that I wouldn’t have expected in this universe.
“In some ways it feels like we’re making an independent film. Certain things we get to play with–this kind of intimacy that we get to find–it’s special. It’s been really fun.”
Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey, has also spoken previously about the darker tone of Episode VIII. In addition, last month she revealed her lightsaber skills in a new video, filmed during preproduction.
Episode VIII opens in December 2018. You won’t have to wait that long to see a new Star Wars movie, however, as Rogue One comes out later this year. The first trailer for that movie was recently released and can be seen here.
Via io9.com:
Star Wars: Bloodline contains several huge revelations about the state of the galaxy far, far away just a handful of years before the events of The Force Awakens—a period still barely touched in Disney’s new canon. Some of those elements were provided by Episode VIII director Rian Johnson for the novel, and now we know which ones.
Just a warning going in: there will be major spoilers for the events of Bloodline below. Turn back if you’ve not read it yet!
We knew going in that Rian Johnson would provide some story elements for Claudia Gray’s latest Leia-centric novel, but over the weekend Lucasfilm Story Group executive Pablo Hidalgo confirmed just what Johnson added—and it gives us a hint to some of the story elements we’ll likely see picked up in Episode VIII:
Click below to read the full article.
Via Latimes.com:
From the moment it was announced Rian Johnson would be directing “Star Wars: Episode VIII,” fans have been excitedly wondering what kind of special sauce the director of genre-bending films like “Looper” and “Brick” (not to mention a few of the best episodes of “Breaking Bad”) will bring to the universe George Lucas created.
Speaking with The Times last year, Lawrence Kasdan – the co-writer of “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Return of the Jedi,” “The Force Awakens” and one of the key keepers of the “Star Wars” flame – suggested that Johnson would be taking the franchise into heretofore uncharted creative territory.
“Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he’s going to make some weird thing,” Kasdan said. “If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in ‘Star Wars.’ “
Now, in an interview with The Times to promote the upcoming superhero epic “X-Men: Apocalyse,” opening May 27, actor Oscar Isaac – who played ace Resistance starfighter pilot Poe Dameron in “The Force Awakens” and will reprise the role in the series’ next installment – is confirming that Johnson will indeed shake things up in “Episode VIII.”
“I would agree with [Kasdan],” said Isaac. “Rian is definitely going to places and investigating things that haven’t really been done in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. For me, it’s so fun getting to explore different things that I wouldn’t have expected in this universe.
“In some ways it feels like we’re making an independent film,” added the actor, who has starred in critically acclaimed indies such as “Ex Machina,” “A Most Violent Year” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.” “Certain things we get to play with – this kind of intimacy that we get to find – it’s special. It’s been really fun.”
With production on “Episode VIII” currently underway in England, virtually nothing – not even so much as a title – has been revealed at this point about the film. About the only thing Johnson himself has said, in an answer to a fan on Twitter, is that BB-8 will be back in the film. (“Man, you’d have to admire my cojones if he wasn’t,” he joked.)
For now, if “Star Wars” fans want a better idea of what Kasdan and Isaac mean by a weirder, more intimate and indie-flavored “Star Wars,” patience they must have.
Via Bbc.co.uk:
Star Wars Episode VIII has already started filming.
But one of the stars of the film still hasn’t seen a script.
Andy Serkis plays Supreme Leader Snoke, a mysterious and disfigured character, in Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
He revealed that even though he is due to join production soon he hasn’t been given a copy of the film’s script.
The actor was speaking at the Empire Awards on Sunday.
When questioned about the secrecy around the film his wife Lorraine Ashbourne said “I don’t get to know anything, he doesn’t tell me a thing.”
Andy replied “Well that’s because I don’t know anything…. I’m due to be filming and I haven’t even seen the script yet.”
Disney has gone to great lengths to prevent spoilers being leaked; they reportedly used drones to stop unauthorised photographers getting near filming in Croatia.
Star Wars VII picked up 5 prizes at the awards, including best sci-fi/fantasy and best director for JJ Abrams.
Lead characters John Boyega and Daisy Ridley won best male and female newcomer respectively.
Daisy was also vague when asked about episode VIII, revealing only that filming was “very good”.
Accepting her award Daisy said, “What an incredible time to be a woman in film. I’m very honoured to be part of this amazing category amongst these brilliant women I stand next to.”
Star Wars Episode VII has been praised for its strong female lead character.
Anthony Daniels (C-3P0) was also at the awards. He said “I think people were worried that when Disney took over the whole thing that it would be Mickey Moused and it was so far from that. It’s become a huge feather in their cap”.
Episode VIII is being directed by Rian Johnson and is currently due for release in December 2017.
Principal photography began at Pinewood Studios in London in February.
Via io9.com:
J.J. Abrams’ approach to the marketing of The Force Awakens was simply the latest evolution of his “mystery box” style of teasing—as minimal and overtly mysterious as possible, with scant information eked out in dribs and drabs. If it annoyed you, I have good news: Episode VIII will be a bit more open.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight about the movie, Daisy Ridley revealed that director Rian Johnson wants to be “cheeky” with what comes out about the film:
It’s still very lovely and warm and friendly, just like seven was. I think Rian actually wants to be a bit cheekier with the little tidbits of information that come out…
…You can see, even with the way Mark and Carrie posted pictures with their chairs, it’s a little bit freer.
This is perhaps no surprise, considering that already we know the film is shooting under the production name of “Space Bear” thanks to tweets from Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill from the set. Or because we’ve already seen footage from the movie, amazingly, as part of a teaser video that announced production, released with no particular fanfare.
Compare that to The Force Awakens’ laser-focused marketing campaign and the absurd lengths the cast and crew went to to avoid putting whatever they could out there (the first we officially saw of The Force Awakens came hidden out of context in the background of charity videos, or cryptic tweets about the Apple watch). Everything was a mystery, wrapped inside another mystery, and then packed inside a padlock-sealed mystery box and liberally sprinkled with a bit more mystery for good measure.
Following the same plan for Episode VIII would’ve been a little weird, as we already know so much: the characters, the enemies, the stakes. what this new era of Star Wars feels like. We’re not excited about the 15th picture of bearded Luke Skywalker standing around on Skellig Island (or at least we shouldn’t be).
And that’s exactly why it’s nice to hear that we’ll be seeing a lot more of Episode VIII along the way than we did with The Force Awakens. We’re going to need a lot more than Abrams’ tiny teasers to keep us at a fever pitch of excitement between now and December 2017. It’s good to know that Rian Johnson has us covered.
