Your first edition of The Week in Star Wars has all the latest box office news for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a new set photo and character details for Solo: A Star Wars Story, a new rumour about Rian Johnson’s new trilogy and more…
Let’s kick of 2018 with all the latest from the Star Wars: The Last Jedi box office. The movie bested Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to cross $1 billion at the global box office and is currently the biggest domestic 2017 release, and third biggest movie worldwide behind The Fate of the Furious and Beauty and the Beast. It’s also broken into the top 20 biggest earners of all-time, and has helped Star Wars surpass Harry Potter in terms of box office gross…
…A new IMAX poster was also released, which you can check out here…
…Now, one of the big talking points of Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the reveal of Rey’s parents (which we of course won’t spoil here). Suffice to say, there was a small portion of the fanbase who didn’t like what director Rian Johnson had written and revolted against it. Well cry no more, as Johnson told the Huffington Post that her parentage could still be in question. “Anything’s still open, and I’m not writing the next film,” he said. “[J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio] are doing it.” He spoke a lot about the reveal, which you can read here…
…Looking ahead to Solo: A Star Wars Story, and while we still don’t have a trailer director Ron Howard released a new behind-the-scenes photo, while Donald Glover spoke about the reshoots, and leaked details of LEGO’s upcoming tie-in sets confirmed several character names including those of Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s characters. Meanwhile, you may also want to check out Samuel Brace’s feature ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story can still be great, but how can this come to be?‘…
…In some interesting news, Christian Bale revealed to Happy Sad Confused that the previous rumours from The Hollywood Reporter about him having discussions with Disney to star in the spin-off movie were in fact true. The former Batman said, “I not only love the films going back to my childhood but also have a very long relationship with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall because they did Empire of the Sun many years back. There was discussion, [and] I hope there will be future discussions…”
…Here’s one to keep an eye on. A report from Daily Record claims that Rian Johnson’s new trilogy of movies is further along in the development process than we originally thought. According to the newspaper, Lucasfilm has earmarked the Rest and Be Thankful, a historic pass between Loch Long and Loch Awe, as a location for the first of the new movies, and is looking to shoot scenes there and at other locations around Scotland beginning in June of this year. However as our editor Gary Collinson pointed out, this could be the newspaper getting Johnson’s trilogy confused with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX which is starting production in June…
…A few comic book previews for you to round things out. First up is Star Wars: Darth Vader #10: Vader’s showdown with Jocasta Nu comes to a startling conclusion! What secret information has the Jedi librarian risked her life to protect? And can she stop Vader from getting it?; Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny – Princess Leia and Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny – Rey: Star Wars Adventures has joined the festivities with an exciting weekly series of comic books that explores all corners of the Star Wars universe, showing how choices both big and small ultimately shape the destinies of beloved characters, such as Princess Leia, Rey, Padme, Ahsoka, and Hera along with your soon-to-be favorites from The Last Jedi, Rose and Paige!
That’s all for this week – may the Force be with you and a happy new year.
Luke Owen is the former Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth, a presenter for WrestleTalk, and the author of Lights, Camera, GAME OVER!: How Video Game Movies Get Made. You can follow him on Twitter @ThisisLukeOwen.
Originally published January 7, 2018. Updated November 30, 2022.
