Showing posts with label Lucasfilm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucasfilm. Show all posts

Saturday, April 8, 2023

Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023: A new Ahsoka trailer and a Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny teaser.


by Thinus Ferreira

Several new Star Wars teasers and trailers - and as a bonus, a new teaser from the upcoming Indiana Jones film with Harrison Ford - made their debut at Friday's Star Wars Celebration Europe in London thanks to Lucasfilm, including for new live-action series Ahsoka.


Star Wars: The Acolyte
The live-action series Star Wars: The Acolyte, currently filming in London, is set to debut sometime in 2024 on Disney+, and is set 100 years before Star Wars Episode 1

The story takes place during the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe, during the height of the Republic era which was also known as the Golden Age of the ancient Jedi order.

With teaser material only shown to attendees, the series stars Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae, as well as Jodie Turner-Smith, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dean-Charles Chapman, Charlie Barnett and Margarita Levieva.

Star Wars: The Acolyte has been created by Leslye Headland, who told Star Wars Celebration conventiongoers that this is the furthest back in time Star Wars is yet to do a live-action series. 

"I really wanted to delve into the Star Wars universe and tell the story of this entire world that I love so much from the perspective of the villains, Headland said.

"The first thing that became apparent was that we're going to have to set this between the High Republic and the beginning of the prequels - not only because it's such an exciting part of the timeline, but also because this is when the bad guys are outnumbered. They are the underdogs."


Andor, season 2
Attendees also got a sneak peek of the second and final season of Andor with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) which will also make its debut on Disney+ in 2024. 

The second season which will have 12 episodes will cover a period of four years, leading up to the period right before the Star Wars: Rogue One film.


Skeleton Crew
Star Wars Celebration also showed the first trailer for the upcoming series Skeleton Crew just to attendees at the get-together, introducing and following a group of rebellious kids traversing the Star Wars galaxy, with Jude Law playing a Jedi.


Aksoka
Rosario Dawson who plays the exiled Jedi Aksoha Tano appeared at Star Wars Celebration Europe and said that the series will make its debut on Disney+ in August this year. 

The first teaser for Ahsoka was shown to attendees and this trailer was made available for a global audience. Mary Elizabeth Winstead also appeared on stage, who is portraying the Hera Syndulla character. 

Also part of the cast is Ivanna Sakhno, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger and Hayden Christensen who will return as Anakin Skywalker. Creator Dave Filoni is the writer and co-executive producer.

According to the show's official description, Ahsoka is "set after the fall of the Empire, and follows the former Jedi knight as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy".


Star Wars film: Daisy Ridley back as Rey
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that Daisey Ridley will be back in a new Star Wars film as her Jedi character Rey for an as-yet-untitled film.

The film from a script by Steven Knight will follow the events after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as Rey establishes a new Jedi order, with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy as director.

"I've spent the better part of my life by meeting real heroes who are overcoming oppressive regimes and battling impossible odds,” Obaid-Chinoy said. 

"I think that’s the heart of Star Wars and that's why I'm attracted to the promise of a new Jedi order and I'm attracted to the idea of immersing myself in a Jedi Academy with a powerful Jedi Master."


Two further Star Wars films
Kathleen Kenndy also revealed that two further Star Wars films will be made, which will be directed by Dave Filoni and James Mangold.

Dave Filoni's Star Wars film of which no title was given, will be set during the New Public era and will "close out" the various converging stories being told in Disney+ series like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett.

James Mangold's Star Wars film, of which no title was given, "will go back to the dawn of the Jedi" order", set 25 000 years before any of the Star Wars stories already told.


Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Since it's also from Lucasfilm, Disney has debut the first trailer of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, coming to cinemas in June.

Harrison Ford reprises his role as the archaeology explorer-adventurer, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Antonio Banderas and John Rhys-Davies part of the cast. 

While conference attendees got to see six minutes of the upcoming film, global viewers at least get the latest trailer.

This time Indy is on the trail of an ancient device, chased by both himself and a villain portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen who remarks: "Hitler made mistakes and with this I will correct them all".

Harrison Ford who is 80, plays Indiana Jones at the age of 70, finding himself in a situation where he is being coaxed out of retirement for one last adventure. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as the executive producers.

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Title of Disney's live-action Star Wars TV series from Lucasfilm revealed as The Mandalorian, will take place after the fall of the Empire.


The director of Disney's upcoming Star Wars live-action TV series has revealed that the title will be The Mandalorian.

Director Jon Favreau who is also writing and the executive producer of the show, said on Instagram that "After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic".




Mandalorians live on the planet Mandalore in the Outer Rim territories, a warrior-like society famed and feared throughout the known galaxy.

Filming recently started on The Mandalorian which is basically set after the film Return of the Jedi.

The Star Wars drama series that so far has no broadcasting date, will be produced for Disney's to-be-launched streaming service in America, but will likely be available through foreign distribution from The Walt Disney Company for international broadcasters.

It means that Lucasfilm's Star Wars series might become available to broadcaster's like M-Net for possible pick-up in countries where Disney's streaming service won't have a presence, in the way that Netflix picked up Star Trek: Discovery from CBS All Access for outside the United States.

M-Net for instance acquired the rights to series from both Netflix and Amazon before those video streaming services made their debut in South Africa and Africa.

The Star Wars TV drama series will reportedly be more expensive than Game of Thrones, itself one of the most expensive TV productions ever.

According to Making Star Wars, a new rumor indicates The Mandalorian's first season will be eight episodes long, and also showing some long-lensed paparazzi set photos indicating a desert planet.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Lucasfilm adds Jon Favreau as writer and executive producer of Disney's first live-action Star Wars drama series.


Lucasfilm announced that it has added Jon Favreau as writer and executive producer of Disney's first live-action Star Wars drama series.

The as yet untitled Star Wars drama series that also has no broadcasting date, will be produced for Disney's to-be-launched streaming service in America, but will likely be available through foreign distribution from The Walt Disney Company for international broadcasters.

It means that the Star Wars series might become available to broadcaster's like M-Net for possible pick-up in countries where Disney's streaming service won't have a presence, in the way that Netflix picked up Star Trek: Discovery from CBS All Access for outside the United States, and how M-Net acquired the rights to both Netflix and Amazon series before those streamers made their debut in South Africa and Africa.

Walt Disney first revealed plans for a live-action Star Wars series in November 2017 and its streaming services is expected to launch in 2019 in the United States.

"I couldn’t be more excited about Jon coming on board to produce and write for the new direct-to-consumer platform," says Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president, in a statement.

"Jon brings the perfect mix of producing and writing talent, combined with a fluency in the Star Wars universe. This series will allow Jon the chance to work with a diverse group of writers and directors and give Lucasfilm the opportunity to build a robust talent base."

Jon Favreau says "If you told me at 11 years old that I would be getting to tell stories in the Star Wars universe, I wouldn't have believed you. I can't wait to embark upon this exciting adventure".

The actor-director played roles in both the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series on the Cartoon Network and Disney XD in which he voiced the character of Pre Vizsla, and will appear in the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story film.

He is also an executive producer of the Iron Man and Avengers films for Marvel Studios.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

REVIEW: Star Wars The Force Awakens brilliantly reshapes George Lucas' modern myth in the story that continues to try and bridge the gap between fathers and their children.


(This review written by a critic that's been a longtime Star Wars fan and contains no spoilers.)


What is it with every generation of fathers? 

Luke Skywalker has disappeared, but moviegoers can gladly put in an appearance at the cinema for two hours and 16 minutes to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens – a visceral, moving tour de Force that’s definitively the best in the entire saga after The Empire Strikes Back and A New Hope.

As for Luke, don't worry - he shows up. Eventually.

Anyone in love with George Lucas' sprawling galaxy far, far away and even newcomers or those less familiar with the Force will find a visual delight and their emotions tested in the dark side of the cinema in the next, very well executed chapter of the franchise taken over by director JJ Abrams.

To those who fell in love when Luke Skywalker first started at the horizon where twin suns were setting to a rousing score, feel that The Empire Strikes Back is the best in the series and for those who abhor the sequel-prequel trilogy – The Force Awakens is definitely the movie and further continuation of Star Wars you've been looking for.

As Episode VII, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is an emotional unveiling of a next chapter in a story that solidly remains at heart a tale about trying to close the gap, and bridging the distance – literally and figuratively – between fathers and their children.

As if it hadn’t become transparent over the past three decades, Star Wars latest iteration as a modern myth makes it abundantly clear that it’s become the most classic cinematic Bildungroman of all: Star Wars The Force Awakens again restarts the youth’s search for meaning, purpose, and parentage – and this time it’s also the inverse: the parent’s search for child.

The Force Awakens is a visually authentic, nostalgically sound and forward-Force-facing addition to the Star Wars universe – an Oedipus opus that’s the new first act of a new saga, referencing back but laying the solid groundwork for new characters, character development, plot points and yes, a spectacular new war amidst the stars.


History repeats itself but this time in an opposite way. Absent fathers and father figures still fail their children (sons and daughters), but children also fail (and save!) their parents in the film that feels expansive and harkens back to the timeless and massive size and scope of the original Star Wars trilogy.

With a lot of death, destruction, deterioration and some big shockers – there’s at least one climactic, tragic scene between a father and son that rivals and deftly mirror’s the now iconic ‘Luke, I am your father” – the movie is definitely not meant to be seen by anyone under 12.

While previously Star Wars spurred endless debate like "Did Han shoot first?", The Force Awakens will have moviegoers long be talking and definitely debating things like seeing Han Solo again and the new Death Star.

Some dramatic plot points are foreshadowed and can be guessed and figured out fairly quickly within half an hour by real Star Wars fans due to framing and exposition limiting some of the surprise but it doesn’t in any way take away or diminish from the sheer enjoyment and emotional gut punches that’s delivered when ancestry is revealed and when a major death changes the ongoing expanding Star Wars universe forever.

Right up to the end – and literally in the final scene – The Force Awakens continues to be the unfolding of a new journey and to be the passing of the baton to a new Star Wars generation.


A beautiful inverse
While the new film is a new start – an expansion of the established mythos – it incorporates the cleverest of of Jedi minds tricks: a fully and very calculated, inverted story.

Beneath the surface basically every single thing is not just symbolic but also the beautiful inverse of what Star Wars fans saw previously – from camera angles, characters, scenes and a lot of dialogue.

To appreciate the magnitude of some of the moments and events happening you really do need to see A New Hope, Empire and Return of the Jedi first to fully revel in what JJ Abrams and Disney taking over Lucasfilm have very successfully been able to accomplish.

Yet even for casual moviegoers not steeped in Jedi tradition or Wookiee lore this “space movie” will be an enjoyable holiday film fantasy romp through the stars.

While The Force Awakens is filled with dense narrative techniques and very clever mirroring of the work that came before it that can keep film critics and academics busy disecting it for weeks, it’s not flawless but won’t matter if enjoyed on a purely superficial level – as million of people around the world surely will.

The acting Force is definitely with the new stars. You easily lose yourself in the standout and emotive portrayal of Daisy Ridley as Rey. John Boyega as Finn and then the antropomorphic droid, BB-8, are wonderful and dear old Chewie – still actually young for a Wookie – will have you laughing out loud together with moviegoers.

The somewhat disappointing Adam Driver as the new dark nemesis Kylo Ren is however no Darth Vader (one character somewhat ironically remarks that “Your biggest fear is that you will never be Darth Vader”) and will possibly develop as the trilogy rolls out.

Star Wars will still be and is the definitive movie series dads take their sons to. Now they – and mothers – can take their daughters too.