Category Archives: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Everything BB-8 Posters

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To celebrate the release of ‘The Force Awakens’ as well as reaching 5,000+ members worldwide, EVERYTHING BB-8 (the internet’s first BB-8 fan group) is having a special run of posters produced, featuring the new club logo against a backdrop of several BB-8 collectibles!

Posters will be 18″ x 24″ in size and professionally printed on 100# stock

Posters should arrive by the end of January and then shipping of orders will begin. As these are priced right around cost, we do not expect much profit from this poster run. However, any proceeds will be given to the MAKE-A-WISH Foundation.

The poster run will be limited to a total of 200 prints. So if you’re a fan of the galaxy’s favorite new little Astromech, grab yours now at this link!

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Star Wars The Force Awakens Version Kylo Ren ARTFX+ Statue

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A Kotobukiya Japanese import! Star Wars ARTFX+ Statues bring you all of the quality and detailing that you expect from an ARTFX release in a great smaller scale perfect for collecting!

The mysterious shrouded Kylo Ren accompanies the First Order in their quest to control the galaxy. As he aids their campaign new information surfaces about the whereabouts of a Jedi Master that will lead him on a direct course to face his past. Display Kylo Ren with his hood up or down in 8 unique poses with the included action parts.

ARTFX+ Statues are fun-to-assemble pre-painted snap-fit kits that can be put together easily in seconds without glue or modeling skill. Kylo Ren is perfectly scaled (1/10) to the figures in the ARTFX+ line and comes with magnets in his feet for extra stability on the included metal display base. Display this Dark Force-wielder alongside other Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens figure kits from Kotobukiya!

SRP: $69.99 and available July 2016.

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Just Broke ANOTHER Huge Box Office Record

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Via moviepilot.com:

Some records, it seems, are just made to be broken.

When Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens crashed through Avatar’s seemingly impenetrable domestic box office record last week, fans of the already widely beloved space opera could be forgiven for thinking that the final major box office milestone had been reached. After all, with Avatar’s global haul of $2.7 billion seemingly a long shot, even for The Force Awakens (currently a billion dollars short of the record), the taking of the domestic record seemed likely to be the final major milestone left for the taking.

As it turns out, though…

‘The Force Awakens’ Isn’t Done Breaking Records Yet

The latest to fall, though, isn’t so much an overhauling of an established cinematic iconic, but rather the setting of a whole new limit for commercial success. Over the weekend (while topping the US box office yet again) The Force Awakens broke the $800 million barrier, the first film ever to do so.

Earning $41.6 million over the course of the weekend (it’s fourth at the top of the box office tree), The Force Awakens not only managed to keep the surging — and also very successful, with a $38 million debut — The Revenant at bay, but set itself on course for a whole lot more records to come.

With $812 million already grossed in the domestic market, there’s a solid chance of the movie breaking the $900 million mark, and even an outside shot — should interest in the movie stay strong into February — of it making an astounding $1 billion domestically.

Click below to read the full article.

Why ‘The Force Awakens’ Is the ‘Star Wars’ Movie We Needed

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Via Rollingstone.com:

Until recently, the most powerful scene from a Star Wars movie hadn’t actually been in a Star Wars movie. On the contrary, it came approximately 20 minutes into Reign of Fire, a 2002 fantasy adventure about Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey fighting massive dragons in the ruins of post-apocalyptic London. The few surviving humans have huddled together in underground caves for shelter, where they raise future generations and entertain the children by re-enacting the lightsaber duel from the end of The Empire Strikes Back. The names Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have either been forgotten or deemed unimportant; Bale’s character — playing the fearsome Sith lord — refers to himself only as “the black knight.” It doesn’t matter to the astonished kids in the crowd, who still gasp at every crackling swing of a wooden lightsaber, and completely lose their minds at the revelation that Vader is Luke’s father. It doesn’t matter that they don’t have special effects, or Christmas specials, or trading card apps. It doesn’t matter that Han shot first.

It’s a brilliant scene because it knows something about George Lucas’ space opera that Lucas himself has long since forgotten: Whether in a cave with sticks or against a massive green screen in Pinewood Studios, the story of Star Wars has always been much less important than the act of telling it. The Force Awakens has more flaws than it does product tie-ins, but it’s so special and deserving of its record-breaking success because it’s the first of the franchise’s films to understand what Reign of Fire so casually made clear: People don’t love Star Wars because it’s great — Star Wars is great because people love it.

Click below to read the full article.

The Force Awakens Breaks Chinese Record With $53 Million On Debut Day

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Via Moseisleyspaceport.org:

Despite analysts worrying about an unpredictable market, Star Wars The Force Awakens debut in China yesterday was a success taking in $53 Million.

China is the last major market to show the new Star Wars movie. Its opening ranks as the best Saturday or Sunday debut ever in China.

This should please many fans around the world who saw China as the movie’s big chance to take the all-time worldwide grossing movie crown from Avatar.

Internationally, “The Force Awakens” picked up another $104.3 million this weekend, bringing its worldwide haul to a massive $1.73 billion. It is now the third highest-grossing movie in history, shooting past “Jurassic World’s” $1.67 billion global gross, with only Titanic and Avatar standing in the way of global domination.

Disney has invested heavily in “Star Wars,” plunking down more than $4 billion in 2012 for rights to Lucasfilm, the company behind the franchise. It has plans to not only create a new trilogy of films, but also to launch a series of standalone spinoffs. Given that China is the second-biggest source of ticket sales in the world and is expected to bypass the U.S. as the world’s top film market, success in the country is critical.

Anticipation for “The Force Awakens” was always fevered. More than a decade separated director J.J. Abrams’ update on the saga of Jedi knights and shadowy adherents of the Dark Side and the George Lucas prequels that proceeded them. However, China had no strong ties to the “Star Wars” franchise — a gap in their pop culture knowledge that Disney had to fill.

To that end, the studio’s campaign emphasized the film’s outer space setting and action-heavy plot. It also fanned some Middle Kingdom excitement by partnering with local pop star and social media icon Lu Han as a brand ambassador. Lu crafted an “Inner Force” music video earlier this month that served as an introduction to the space opera mythology.

“It shows that no one is better at building a brand than Disney,” said Greg Foster, CEO of Imax Entertainment.

J.J. Abrams on ‘Force Awakens’ DVD, Monopoly Game and $1 Billion Gross

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Via variety.com:

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has hit $1 billion at the global box office — and director J.J. Abrams is immensely thankful, if a bit apologetic.

“I’m grateful to anyone who has gone to see it,” he told reporters at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, where he was promoting his new Hulu series, “11.22.63.”

“When I hear that people have gone seven or eight times, I just want to apologize to I’m guessing their parents… But honestly I’m just grateful. I can’t believe that it’s done. It was three years of very tense work for a lot of people… I’m just so happy that everyone gets to see all the work that this amazing crew and cast did. Whatever the numbers are, I’m just grateful [it has] been well received.”

The director also addressed the controversy over the character Rey being missing from the Star Wars Monopoly game, and made it clear he wasn’t happy about it. “I read that she wasn’t in the Monopoly game and I was quickly making phone calls about this,” he said. “Because if it were true — and it is true — and now Hasbro has said, ‘We’re going to put Rey in.’ It doesn’t quite make sense to me why she wouldn’t be there. She’s somewhat important in the story.”

As for the highly anticipated DVD version of the movie, he said, “There will be deleted scenes but not an extended version.”

10 Times ‘The Force Awakens’ Nods to the ‘Star Wars’ Prequels

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Via Howstuffworks.com:

All the waiting is over. “The Force Awakens” has been released, and now many viewers are looking for answers about how it connects to the other films in the “Star Wars” saga. Many of the most important touchstones to the original three films — “A New Hope” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” — seem obvious to most viewers. What’s much more subtle is the incorporation of elements from the prequels into the new film. Here are 10 of the best nods “The Force Awakens” makes to the prequel trilogy.
JUST IN CASE: For those averse to spoilers, this might be best read after viewing “The Force Awakens.”
1. The Clone Army

Perhaps the easiest prequel reference to spot refers to “Attack of the Clones.” Early in the film, Kylo Ren chides General Hux for the traitorous activities of his trooper, FN-2187, and asks if a clone army wouldn’t be better suited for their work. The clone army was commissioned in secret by the Sith and employed by the Jedi and the Republic until Darth Sidious called upon Order 66. Kylo Ren’s allusion to wishing for a clone army is particularly poignant when one considers that Ren worships his grandfather, Darth Vader, who fought alongside the clones and used them to eliminate the Jedi.

Lucasfilm Confirms Star Wars: The Force Awakens Stormtrooper TR-8R’s Identity

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Via Comicbook.com:

Everyone’s favorite First Order stormtrooper, lovingly dubbed TR-8R by meme-making fans, has an official designation now.

As suspected, TR-8R is in fact FN-2199, Lucasfilm confirmed on StarWars.com. The soldier was part of Finn’s training squad, as detailed in Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka, a book released the same day as Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The book contains three novellas, one each giving a little backstory to Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron.

Due to his designation, he’s called “Nines” by his pals, and has red hair, as revealed in this Phil Noto art (the guy on the bench on the left). The character is part of an elite riot control squad, hence the electrified Z6 baton. Nines and Finn were paired with Zero and Slip during training. Slip was the stormtrooper killed at the start of the movie who streaked his own blood down Finn’s helmet, very much a turning point for the hero.

The backstory explains why the call of “Traitor!” sounded quite so personal. It’ll make fans look at Finn’s face when he ignites that lightsaber and responds to Nines quite a bit more carefully in future viewings, too.

Lucasfilm teased that despite the shot from Chewbacca’s almost impossibly powerful bowcaster blaster, there could be a rematch between Nines and Finn. “Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of Nines. Or TR-8R. Who wouldn’t want to see Round 2…and all the memes it could inspire?” they say.

Even better, what if the next match is between Finn and Zero, the final two members of the squad?

‘Star Wars’ Fandom Is In Love With The female X-wing Pilot From ‘The Force Awakens’

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Via Dailydot.com:

Star Wars fandom has a long tradition of turning minor characters into beloved superstars. Boba Fett and Wedge Antilles both became cult favorites despite their small roles in the original trilogy, and The Force Awakens has rejuvenated that tradition with X-wing pilot Jessika Pava.

Jessika “Testor” Pava, played by actress Jessica Henwick (Nymeria Sand in Game of Thrones), is a member of the Resistance’s Blue Squadron, one of the two X-wing units commanded by Poe Dameron. She only has a few lines in the movie, but that was enough to win the hearts and minds of Star Wars fans.

Like many minor Star Wars characters, Pava’s role has already been expanded in tie-in books and comics. Before The Force Awakens’s release, she had appeared in the illustrated young-adult tie-in novel The Weapon of the Jedi as a young pilot who asks C-3PO to tell her a story about Luke Skywalker that no one else has heard.

Click below to read the full article.

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Star Wars The Force Awakens Opens Tomorrow In China

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Via Hollywoodreporter.com:

The Disney tentpole has faced an uphill marketing battle in China, the world’s second-largest movie market, where the saga is surprisingly unknown.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is already the highest-grossing film of all time in North America. But in order to take Avatar’s crown as the biggest movie ever worldwide, the J.J. Abrams juggernaut will need a huge performance in China when it opens Saturday.

“All bets are on China,” says Vivek Couto, executive director of research and analysis firm Media Partners Asia. “China is what will propel them past the $2 billion mark and beyond.”

Force Awakens’ global tally had reached $1.58 billion as of Thursday. So there’s still a ways to go before it’s able to surpass the $2.78 billion that Avatar earned after it was released in December 2009.

China is expected to surpass North America as the world’s largest movie market sometime next year, and Hollywood studios increasingly count on the territory to deliver big returns for their most expensive pictures. Universal, for example, just had a banner year in China, with Furious 7 grossing a record-breaking $390.9 million and Jurassic World taking in $228.7 million there.

But due to unique cultural and historical factors, Disney can’t simply assume that Force Awakens will be embraced by Chinese moviegoers with the same audiencewide fanboy enthusiasm it garnered elsewhere.

Click below to read the full article.

The REAL Reason Luke Skywalker Was Missing In Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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Via Moviepilot.com:

It’s been several weeks since Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens was released, and we’re still reeling from the film’s revelations. Star Wars 7 posed as many questions as it answered, leaving plenty of mysteries to be solved next year by Star Wars: Episode VIII. While The Force Awakens did give us some clues as to why Luke Skywalker is missing, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding Luke’s journey.

In a new interview with EW, co-writers Michael Arndt and J. J. Abrams have shed some light on this issue. But the real reason for Luke Skywalker’s absence might not be what you’d expect…

It’s been several weeks since Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens was released, and we’re still reeling from the film’s revelations. Star Wars 7 posed as many questions as it answered, leaving plenty of mysteries to be solved next year by Star Wars: Episode VIII. While The Force Awakens did give us some clues as to why Luke Skywalker is missing, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding Luke’s journey.

In a new interview with EW, co-writers Michael Arndt and J. J. Abrams have shed some light on this issue. But the real reason for Luke Skywalker’s absence might not be what you’d expect…

A New Journey

The Force Awakens was produced pretty quickly for such an immense blockbuster: pre-production began in late 2012, with script writers Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt, and J. J. Abrams brainstorming most of the ideas that would be incorporated in the film. Unfortunately, because of the time constraint, Little Miss Sunshine writer Michael Arndt dropped out in 2013. J. J. Abrams explained Arndt’s impact on the story to io9…

“I know I want this young woman to be at the center of this thing. I know I want this Stormtrooper to abandon his post. There are just fundamental tenets of what we had come up with [with Arndt] that were gonna stick.”

Luke Skywalker’s involvement in the story, or lack thereof, was decided early on. At first, Luke was going to be a big part of The Force Awakens’s story, teaming up with Rey and helping her to defeat Kylo Ren. But as Michael Arndt explains, this would have been a huge mistake for the story.

“It just felt like every time Luke entered the movie, he just took it over. Suddenly you didn’t care about your main character anymore because….”

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THE 10 MOST QUOTABLE LINES FROM STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Via Starwars.com:

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM MAZ KANATA AND MORE!

For many fans, quoting Star Wars is a daily occurrence. Lines from the films get slipped into conversations and those around might not even know it, but they’re subtle winks and nods to other Star Wars fans. With the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there’s a whole new film full of phrases and sayings for fans to work into every day speech. The following list is the 10-most used in my circles, but I expect they might vary amongst Star Wars fans. [Editor’s note: Spoiler warning!]

“Chewie, we’re home…” – Han Solo’s first line from the trailer and his first line from the film is one of the best. I’ve used it walking in the door to my house on more than one occasion and my guess is that I’m not alone.

“Tell that to Kanjiklub.” – Bala-Tik’s utterance to Han Solo aboard the Erevana instantly became one of the best lines in the entire Star Wars saga and has been used more times than I can count. It’s a great phrase to use after just about anything has been said, replacing the tired phrase “that’s what she said.” Above all, it’s just fun to say.

Click below to read the full article.