Pre-order Star Wars: The Force Awakens via Amazon UK or Amazon US
The latest edition of The Week in Star Wars sees Episode VIII go into production, more rumours about Ewan McGregor, The Force Awakens being sued and more…
First of all – happy Valentine’s Day! And if you’re here reading this, you’re probably having a great one. And if you can’t find love, you’re looking in Alderaan places…
We’re kicking this off this week by putting Star Wars: The Force Awakens behind us as we look towards the as-yet-to-be-titled Star Wars: Episode VIII. We’ve heard from John Boyega (Finn) and Daisy Ridley (Rey) praising the script, and now Disney’s Bob Iger has confirmed that filming has begun, despite the movie being pushed back seven months. Rian Johnson has already been in Ireland doing pre-production, but now the rest of the cast are joining in the fun. “There is no better way to propel this franchise into the future than producing quality products,” Iger said on the conference call. “Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII, the next chapter of the legendary saga, has just commenced and it will be in theaters December 2017. And production of Star Wars: Episode IX, a 2019 release, has also begun.” I wonder how the conversations Colin Trevorrow has had with Disney about shooting in space went…
…Sticking with Star Wars: Episode VIII and Ewan McGregor’s name has once again joined the rumour pile. Filming has only just gotten underway, but speculation of Obi-Wan Kenobi being in the movie are back with a vengeance. You may recall that he was rumoured to be a Force Ghost in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and that he was “in talks” to do a trilogy of movies based on the character, and only one of those rumours was half-right (he did provide some voice over work during Rey’s vision). Well, this time it’s not BMD or Latino-Review or Heroic Hollywood, but the ever-more reliable Collider and Schmoes Knows writer Kristian Harloff tweeting: “Grain of salt: hearing that Ewan Mcgregor in talks to play Obi Force ghost in Episode 8.” It’s always encouraging when the person starting the rumour begins it with “grain of salt”, it really adds validity. You either you have, or you haven’t heard. Make up your mind. Stick this one in the back of your mind for now, as we could come back to it when we do our follow up to 7 Star Wars Rumours That Turned Out to be False video…
…Lastly on Star Wars: Episode VIII, and the moving of it’s release date to December has pushed Steven Spielberg’s long gestating adaptation of Ready Player One back to March 2018. The film was originally set to be released on December 15th 2017, the same day as Episode VIII, and Warner Bros. have decided – wisely – it would be better to not tangle with the galaxy far, far away – just as they had decided against going to war with Captain America: Civil War when they moved Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Warner Bros. must be really cursing Disney’s name right now because their move of Ready Player One has pushed The Flash up by one week. For more information on that, check out The Week in Spandex…
…One movie that isn’t moving dates is Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is sticking with its May 2018 release date. You would think with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode VIII all moving to December, Han would join them. Evidently not. “[Rogue One] is the first of a set of planned stand-alone stories,” said Iger on a Disney earnings call. “We’re already in pre-production on out next one, for release in May 2018.” Expect this one to move at some point…
…As we teased last week, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the third movie in history to pass $2 billion. You may not beat Avatar, but if the film stays in theatres for another couple of months, it may overtake Titanic…
…In one of the more serious stories of the week, the production company behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Foodles Production (UK) Limited – are being prosecuted by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive, having found sufficient evidence during an investigation into the incident involving Harrison Ford getting injured on set to charge the company with alleged health and safety breaches. The case will be heard at High Wycombe Magistrates Court on May 12th…
…In lighter news, we got our first look at images of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens Takodana Encounter action figure playset, which features Rey, Finn, Maz Kanata and BB-8, and a couple of NERF guns based around Chewie’s blaster and The First Order Stormtrooper’s blasters…
…And here’s how Star Wars: The Force Awakens should have ended…
…The Star Wars YouTube channel released its latest Rebels Recon video, which explores this past Wednesday’s episode of Star Wars Rebels, entitled ‘The Call’ [check it out here], while we also have promo images and a clip from this week’s ‘Homecoming’, which sees the crew of the ghost meeting with Cham Syndulla — Hera’s father and Clone Wars legend [check them out here]…
…Disney XD has announced that a new animated Star Wars comedy series will be joining Star Wars Rebels this Spring/Summer with the premiere of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, which will introduce all-new heroes and villains in exciting adventures with many familiar Star Wars characters…
…Speaking of Star Wars LEGO, and on Monday, Disney XD launches a new series of animated shorts entitled LEGO Star Wars: The Resistance Rises, featuring popular heroes and villains from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Taking place before the First Order’s attack on Jakku, the series will tell never-before-told stories featuring Kylo Ren, Han Solo, Finn, Rey, BB-8, Maz Kanata and more. Here’s a clip from the first episode, entitled ‘Poe to the Rescue’…
…And finally, here are your coming book preview for the week, starting with Marvel’s Star Wars #16, which is out on February 17th: “REBEL JAIL” STARTS NOW! The Rebels travel to a prison base having taken an important captive in VADER DOWN. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones with their eyes on the prisoners. The adventures of Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance continue!”
That’s all for this week – may The Force be with you. And don’t forget to pre-order Star Wars: The Force Awakens via Amazon UK or Amazon US
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the co-host of The Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @ThisisLukeOwen.
Originally published February 14, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
