The new Star Wars films: can Disney restore the franchise to its former heights? – The Verge

John Williams confirms he’s working on the score for Star Wars: Episode VIII

2016-08-16T00:53:05-04:00

Legendary composer John Williams has confirmed that he will be working on the music for Star Wars: Episode VIII, a move sure to calm the fears of fans who would have a tricky time imagining Star Wars without his iconic scores. Speaking on stage during a Boston performance of his various compositions, Williams told the crowd that he had seen an early cut of the movie, and would begin work on its score in the coming weeks.

He's seen an early cut of the movie

Williams reportedly said his motivation for accepting the Episode VIII gig was Daisy Ridley's portrayal of Rey, stating that he took the job because didn't want to let another composer hav …

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Inside Industrial Light & Magic’s secret Star Wars VR lab

2015-08-13T09:02:02-04:00

I'm on Industrial Light & Magic's motion capture stage, standing inside what they call "the cave." It's not much to look at: two big screens angled at 90 degrees, awash in a smeary blur of images. But put on a pair of modified 3D glasses, and bam - it's the Holodeck, and I'm on Tatooine standing face to face with one of the most famous robots in movie history. I walk around C-3PO, crouching one moment then jumping the next. The mo-cap performer across the room raises his hand, and the CG Threepio waves. It's exhilarating and immersive, and it's all happening in real time.

The cave is a place for filmmakers to test out worlds that don't exis …

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The new era of Star Wars gaming is here, and you can’t escape

2015-06-23T09:00:02-04:00

I was standing in a replica of the Hoth Rebel base from The Empire Strikes Back, part of a massive line to check out the multiplayer demo of EA's upcoming title Star Wars: Battlefront. Dry ice pumped in from somewhere, and as we waited, an R2-D2 unit in the corner made the occasional deedly-bleep-boop. I asked the man in front of me how long he'd been waiting to try the game. "Three hours," he said.

Make no mistake: Star Wars was huge at E3 this year. Along with Battlefront, three other titles were either shown off or announced during the show. Disney Infinity 3.0 adds characters and locations from the franchise to the game's cast of Pixar, …

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We finally know who Andy Serkis is playing in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

2015-05-28T14:37:25-04:00

We've got less than seven months before J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters, and details about the film continue to slowly reveal themselves. In an interview with photographer Annie Leibovitz - who shot the recent Vanity Fair spread on the new film - StarWars.com has announced the name of Andy Serkis' character: Supreme Leader Snoke.

Unfortunately that's the only thing that's revealed at the moment, but the interview is paired with a Leibovitz picture of the actor in his full motion-capture gear, and judging from the snarl on his face Snoke is most certainly going to be a bad guy. Serkis is one of only a handful of chara …

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Star Wars: Battlefront will connect Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens

2015-04-17T11:55:32-04:00

Here at Star Wars Celebration, EA is showing off its upcoming game Star Wars: Battlefront, and we really like what we've seen thus far. But while the game largely exists in the world of the original trilogy, a free piece of downloadable content announced today will connect J.J. Abrams' film with the originals in a very direct way - and gives us some new clues about the world of The Force Awakens.

The Empire and the Rebels met for a pivotal battle after Endor

One of the reveals during yesterday's panel was that the sandy planet seen in the teasers isn't Luke's home of Tatooine, but rather a world called Jakku. It's where Daisy Ridley's charac …

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Star Wars: Battlefront looks just like the movies, and it’s coming November 17th

2015-04-17T11:52:56-04:00

I remember the first time I played Star Wars: Dark Forces back in 1995. It's an oldie, but it was a goodie: a first-person shooter that put you inside a little corner of the Star Wars universe, where you could battle it out with blasters and thermal detonators to your heart's content. It was primitive, sure, but it gave me a little glimpse of what it would be like to play a game that actually took me inside some of my favorite movies. "Someday," I thought.

Here at Star Wars Celebration, EA DICE has taken the wraps off the long-awaited reboot of Star Wars: Battlefront, and I think that someday may be awfully close.

At its heart, Battlefront …

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Watch the new trailer for Star Wars Episode VII

2015-04-16T14:06:05-04:00

We're still eight months away from the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but a new trailer just premiered at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, and it gives us our first look at a few of the original cast members: Han Solo, Chewbaca, and what appears to be a hooded Luke Skywalker.

Narrated by Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the trailer starts by panning past the wreck of a Star Destroyer on a planet called Jakku - not Tatooine, as J.J. Abrams clarified during today's event.

"The force is strong in my family"

"The force is strong in my family," we hear him say as we see the charred remains of Darth Vader. "My father has it. I have it. My …

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Star Wars: Episode VIII is coming May 26th, 2017

2015-03-12T13:18:05-04:00

Following J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens, the second film in the new Star Wars trilogy (the yet-to-be-subtitled Episode VIII) will hit theaters on May 26th, 2017. That's 40 years and one day after the very first film, A New Hope, premiered in 1977. Disney CEO Bob Iger also confirmed that Star Wars: Episode VIII will be written and directed by Looper filmmaker Rian Johnson (that's technically been known since last June, but this is the first time Disney's confirmed it).

Announcing official details surrounding Rogue One, the first stand-alone #StarWars film, as well as Episode VIII! http://t.co/gzAlAgbAt5
- Star Wars (@starwars) March 12, 2015

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Madame Tussauds is recreating Star Wars in wax

2015-02-03T22:26:29-05:00

Your chance to take selfies with Yoda, Han Solo, and Chewbacca is almost here - dead-eyed wax versions of the Star Wars heroes, at least. London's venerable waxwork museum, Madame Tussauds, is opening a special multi-million dollar Star Wars show this May in the British capital, in collaboration with Disney and Lucasfilm. The exhibition will recreate 11 sets from the two Star Wars movie trilogies, including Yoda's swampy home on the planet of Dagobah, the Millennium Falcon's cockpit, and the Mos Eisley cantina where either Greedo or Han shot first, depending on who you believe.

The exhibition comes only six months ahead of the release of th …

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Star Wars character names revealed via retro Topps trading cards

2014-12-11T16:20:01-05:00

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Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens | EW.com

J.J. Abrams has benevolently cracked open his mystery box and put some names to the faces we saw in the first teaser for The Force Awakens. And in a nod to the long-running tradition of Star Wars and marketing tie-ins, he and Lucasfilm have opted to roll them out via a set of trading cards over at Entertainment Weekly. The images are at the link, and the confirmed names are below:

The "ball droid": BB-8
Oscar Isaac's X-Wing Pilot: Poe Dameron
The guy with the lightsaber: Kylo Ren
Daisy Ridley: Rey
John Boyega: Finn

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