Disney's future STAR WARS plans again uncertain

Disney are going into the new decade with a very big and unexpected headache regarding Star Wars. In 2012 Disney purchased Lucasfilm and all its properties (including Star Wars and Indiana Jones) and subsidiaries (including Industrial Light & Magic) from George Lucas for a cool $4 billion. They have since made some solid bank, going into profit on the deal. However, the recent performance of the Star Wars franchise has caused some frantic rethinking of how to handle the property moving forwards.

The first films released under the new regime were extremely successful: The Force Awakens (2015) grossed over $2 billion worldwide, whilst Rogue One (2016), a side-project which Disney were expecting not to top $1 billion, instead made a respectable $1.05 billion at the global box office.

The first signs of problems came with the release of The Last Jedi (2017). The film had a rapturous critical pre-release period, but the post-release response was much more mixed. The film topped out at $1.3 billion, still securing a healthy profit but the $700 million drop from The Force Awakens was a nasty surprise for Disney who'd been projecting a more modest drop and a final gross of $1.5-1.7 billion, more in line with the drop between their first two Avengers films.

Worse was to come with the second Star Wars spin-off movie, Solo (2018). A change of director and extensive reshoots on the film pushed its budget well above $300 million. Lucasfilm, who at one point were hoping to release two to three Star Wars films a year to match Marvel's performance, also refused to listen to theatre chain requests to hold the film back until a December release and insisted on a May release. The result was a box office bomb: Solo grossed $394 million worldwide when it needed well north of $800 million to just break even. The film will eventually make a profit from streaming and media sales, but it's going to take years.

Disney's response was swift. Several additional Star Wars spin-off movies were outright cancelled (such as one about Boba Fett) or moved to television (the long-gestating Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone). It was also decided to bench the franchise for three years, with the next Star Wars movie not expected until December 2022. Disney also tapped Game of Thrones showruiners David Benioff and Dan Weiss to write and direct that movie - expected to be the first in a series in a new (at least to cinema) part of the Star Wars universe (possibly related to Laeta Kalogridis' Knights of the Old Republic script) - following their success at HBO. Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was also attached to write and potentially direct a new trilogy, but after The Last Jedi's performance Johnson's new project appears to have been sidelined whilst Lucasfilm reconsidered (Johnson was also due to direct his own stand-alone movie, the successful and well-received Knives Out).

A (potentially ill-advised) $200 million payday from Netflix led Benioff and Weis (still smarting from the poor reception to the ending of Game of Thrones) to quit Star Wars in October, abruptly leaving Disney without a film for release in three years' time. This has left Disney's future plans in tatters and they are now reconsidering their options.

At the same time, The Rise of Skywalker has launched to a further disappointing set of financial results. Eight days into release, The Rise of Skywalker is batting far below The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. It is doing much better than Solo (thankfully) and tracking ever so slightly higher than Rogue One. Assuming the same kind of long tail holds up, The Rise of Skywalker should take home around $1-1.1 billion at the end of its run, a comfortable profit (the break-even point for the film is estimated at $825 million). A sharp drop-off in performance could reduce that significantly, and at much below $900 million Disney will be left with some very big, awkward questions to consider going forwards.

At the moment, the only Star Wars movie officially still in development is the first in Rian Johnson's trilogy, which appears to have originally been scheduled for 2023. Whether this will remain the case or be moved up to the 2022 slot is unclear. This would be tight if Johnson indeed (as he is apparently considering) does another smaller-scale film before returning to the Galaxy Far Far Away. Disney will have to start pulling triggers soon if it does want to get a Star Wars movie on screen for 2022, and will now be asking how much money they want to invest in it.

All of that said, Star Wars does seem to be doing well in the first stage of a hard pivot towards television. The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars show, has been a critical and commercial success on Disney+ and helped drive the new streaming service's boisterous launch in the United States (it arrives in Europe, including the UK, in the spring). A second season of The Mandalorian is already in production and two further Star Wars TV shows are in development, one focusing on the morally dubious Rebel intelligence agent Cassian Andor from Rogue One and the re-tooled Obi-Wan project, with Ewan McGregor already on board.

With Star Wars no longer annihilating the box office as it used to, the future for George Lucas's franchise may be on the small screen rather than the large.

Note: a modern tentpole AAA movie needs to make approximately 300% of its production budget to break even, once marketing, advertising and third-party costs are factored in.

60 Unforgivable Plot Holes in STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS...or not

That bastion of glorious journalism, the Huffington Post, has published two articles, one entitled "40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and the other "20 More Plot Holes in Star Wars: The Force Awakens". Some of the points raised are valid, and indeed rather annoying. Rather a lot are totally invalid, and are either explained in the film itself or in the six movies that precede it. So let's take a look at each point and see how fair each one is.

NOTE: SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS THROUGHOUT

Seven GAME OF THRONES actors in THE FORCE AWAKENS

There's been a few articles around on the Internet commenting on the three or four Game of Thrones actors in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Which is amusing because there were actually seven (so far):

VERY MINOR SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6 AND THE FORCE AWAKENS FOLLOW

Max Von Sydow will be playing the Three-Eyed Raven in Season 6 of Game of Thrones, replacing Struan Rodger who appeared briefly in the role in the Season 4 finale. In The Force Awakens he plays Lor San Tekka, the "Vicar of the Force" who appears in the opening minutes of the film.

Gwendoline Christie plays Captain Phasma, who has a small but constant role throughout the film as the commander of Kylo Ren's stormtroopers. On Thrones, of course, she has played the major role of Brienne of Tarth since the second season.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster played Jojen Reed on Game of Thrones in Seasons 3 and 4. In The Force Awakens he plays Thanisson, an Imperial comtech on the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Finalizer. He reports Poe and Finn stealing a TIE Fighter and promptly gets fried when Finn opens fire on the control tower.

Mark Stanley played Grenn, a ranger of the Night's Watch, in Game of Thrones but was killed off fighting a giant during the Battle of the Wall in Season 4. In The Force Awakens he only appears in flashback as one of the Knights of Ren. He is credited as "Clan Leader", so he may be a more senior member of the knights.

Miltos Yerolemou played Syrio Forel, First Sword of Braavos, in the first season of Game of Thrones. In The Force Awakens he can be spotted in Maz Kanata's bar.
 

Emun Elliott played the ill-fated singer Marillion in the first season of Game of Thrones, accompanying Tyrion and Catelyn to the Eyrie before having his tongue graphically removed on Joffrey's orders. In The Force Awakens he plays a Resistance offer in their base, and is present at the briefings on the capabilities of the Starkiller.

Jessica Henwick is Nymeria Sand on Game of Thrones, introduced in the fifth season. In The Force Awakens she plays a character variously named as Jess Testor or Jessika Pava, an X-wing fighter pilot in Poe Dameron's squadron. She takes part in the final assault on Starkiller Base.


The reason for all the crossovers? Well, The Force Awakens and Game of Thrones principally cast their roles from the United Kingdom, which has a big pool of actors but with so many roles to cast between series and film it's unsurprising there would be a crossover or two by chance. More to the point, the two share a production member in common, Nina Gold, commonly rated as the finest casting director in the business. It'll be interesting to see who crops up in the sequels and spin-offs.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS questions and answers

The Force Awakens is a very good movie, but in its quest to avoid over-explaining everything (a key mistake of the prequel trilogy) it sometimes leans too far in not providing answers or clarity to key questions about the story. So this is an attempt to address some of those issues, drawing on interviews and some of the supporting materials.

Obviously, this post contains DETAILED SPOILERS FOR THE FILM AFTER THE (HYPERSPACE) JUMP:

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

How do you go about resurrecting the most iconic movie series of all time, especially after its reputation has been tarnished by prequel films of, at best, mixed quality? It's a question that was confronted by a video game company called BioWare in 2003 when they made a game called Knight of the Old Republic. Their solution was to go back to basics, gathering a crew made up of new characters but riffing off familiar archetypes, visiting a couple of familiar locations and then fighting a strangely familiar final battle on a massive space station, but with a different context and their own unique, killer twist.

Whether J.J. Abrams ever played Knights of the Old Republic is unknown, but he certainly takes the same approach when it comes to resurrecting Star Wars. The Force Awakens is a film that cribs liberally from the original trilogy (especially A New Hope) whilst also establishing its own new, core cast of heroes and villains. This is a movie that sees the generational torch being passed from Luke, Leia and Han to a new trio of heroes made up of Finn, Rey and Poe Dameron, along with plucky helper droid BB-8, and does so with aplomb.

From the opening crawl - which doesn't mention tax disputes or politics - the creators of this movie are on high alert not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Character motivations are established firmly and communicated to the audience effectively. The villains and heroes are clearly delineated, action sequences are heavy on CGI but filmed with long, graceful shots which allow you to follow what's going on, and the music is evocative throughout. There are weaknesses, niggles and problems, some of them more pressing than others, but in the most general terms The Force Awakens is easily the best Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi, both being a highly enjoyable stand-alone space opera film but also one that lays essential groundwork to be built on in the following movies.

The acting is strong across the board. The toughest job falls to Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as our new main characters, Rey and Finn, and both deliver credible, compelling performances (Ridley, in particular, not just steps up to the mark but smashes through it in several key moments). Oscar Isaac is also excellent as Poe Dameron, giving us a new, roguish pilot character but also one who is a patriot and professional soldier. Harrison Ford also excels as the older, more haunted and more conflicted Han Solo, driving the film on with his still-formidable charisma. On the villain side, Adam Driver takes a very different tack to Kylo Ren than some of the Dark Side antagonists we've seen in the past, one who is as nervous and occasionally uncomfortable in his training in evil as Luke was in training to be a Jedi. This gives Ren immense humanity and makes him an altogether more interesting (and dangerously unpredictable) villain. Andy Serkis gives a mocap performance as Supreme Leader Snoke which is downright weird and surreal, injecting a near-David Lynch's Dune level of bizarrity into what is a mostly straightforward action film. We'll presumably learn more about Snoke in future movies, but the hints we have here are of a rather different kind of evil than the Emperor or the Sith.

On the more disappointing side of things, Domhnall Gleeson is a rather one-note villain as the First Order's military commander, General Hux (I get the impression he was channelling Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin and falling rather short) and Gwendoline Christie's Captain Phasma is extremely under-utilised.

On the production side, the film has a lot of excellent design work, some phenomenal musical cues from John Williams and some satisfying lightsabre duels. If the original trilogy's lacked scale and the prequel trilogy's relied too much on CG fakery, The Force Awakens's duels are earthier, more grounded and feel like they hurt a lot more. The space and aerial battles are also excellent: one long shot of an X-wing gunning down a series of TIE Fighters outclasses every dogfight in the prequel trilogy in the space of a few seconds.

As mentioned earlier, there are issues. Star Wars has always had a flexible attitude towards scientific realism (i.e. pretty much ignoring it) but there are couple of moments where The Force Awakens seemingly abandons the most basic laws of physics and plausibility. These actually stand out because of the restraint and greater nods at realism elsewhere. There's also a couple of moments when the movie goes too far in its quest to avoid exposition. The film does a great job (as the original trilogy did and the prequels notably did not) of allowing audiences to fill in the blanks in the backstory themselves, but in one scene its refusal to explain what's happening led to some extreme confusion amongst the audience and made them think something far more apocalyptic had happened than actually had. There was also not a lot of explanation of the relationships between the Empire, the First Order, the Rebel Alliance, the New Republic and the Resistance. Some of this should be filled in upcoming films, but there was a bit too much left unexplained at this point.

Overall, however, The Force Awakens (****) does exactly what is asked of it. It delivers an entertaining (but not disposable) two hours of entertainment, fun, humour and occasional, deep character exploration. There's a couple of moments of real pathos and tragedy in this movie which I wasn't expecting, moments of humanity and a desire to wrong-foot and surprise the audience but always in a manner that is consistent with what has gone before. It's also, by far, J.J. Abrams's best movie. The film is on general release right now.

New STAR WARS trailer excites usually cool cynical people

The third and final main trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has been released. You may view it below.

The trailer has wracked up more than 14 million views on YouTube barely half a day after going online. It was accompanied by the release of tickets for the film in the United States. These have smashed all previous records by a factor of eight times, crashing cinema computer systems across the USA and unleashing hitherto never-experienced levels of mild inconvenience. The pre-interest in the film, which seems to dwarf even that of the prequel trilogy, means that there is an excellent chance that The Force Awakens could challenge Avatar for the title of most successful movie of all time.

The trailer - itself still holding back on telling us much about what the film is actually about - is the latest and apparently last step in a marketing campaign that has been relatively and unusually restrained by Hollywood standards. The film's storyline is still under wraps, only a few character names and their actors have been revealed, and the role that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) will play remains a mystery, especially given his total absence from the movie's official poster. For a film out in just eight weeks and accompanied by a vast amount of merchandise, this is a remarkable achievement.

The trailers have also done a good job of targeting the nostalgia nerve centres of old-skool Star Wars fans, daring them to hope that the new movies will be excellent. They've certainly done a good job of making everyone forget that J.J. Abrams's last movie was the lamentable Into Darkness, which should otherwise inject some caution into proceedings (until you remember that that was also partly down to the less-than-talented scriptwriters, whilst Lawrence Kasdan is working on the new Star Wars movies and thus that makes it okay again).

The Force Awakens is merely the first in a sustained assault on the wallets - but hopefully not patience - of the movie-going public. No less than three Star Wars movies will be released in just eighteen months, with Star Wars: Rogue One following in December 2016 and then Star Wars Episode VIII in May 2017. A Han Solo origin film will then follow in 2018 and Episode IX in 2019. Further Star Wars films are likely after that point, although no release date has yet been set for Star Wars: The Fate of Jar-Jar.

New poster for THE FORCE AWAKENS

Lucasfilm have released the final official poster for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

The poster still lacks the "Episode VII" subtitle, which many were expecting to appear on the final version, but it's definitely dramatically appropriate and in keeping with the tone of the trilogy.

The poster also gives us another look at some of the new hardware in the trilogy, such as the new generation of X-wings and TIE fighters, the slightly modified Millennium Falcon and, in the top-right, what appears to be a new Death Star-esque space station or weapon.

More will be revealed in a new trailer, due to hit tomorrow, and of course the final film which is just eight and a half weeks away.

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII starts filming this week

Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII is due to start on Monday. Director Rian Johnson and a crew will film for most of this week on the small island of Skellig Michael, off the south-western coast of Ireland.

The same island was used for filming of Episode VII: The Force Awakens, suggesting that the same location is being revisited.

It looks like this will be some early shooting down for scheduling reasons, with the bulk of filming not expected to start in earnest until after Christmas. Still, Episode VIII is now officially in production, alongside Rogue One which started filming a few weeks ago. The Force Awakens is in the final stages of post-production ahead of its December premiere.

JURASSIC WORLD director to shoot STAR WARS EPISODE IX

Lucasfilm have confirmed that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow will be directing Star Wars: Episode IX, following on from Episode VII: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams, and Episode VIII, directed by Rian Johnson.

Trevorrow was likely tapped due to the tremendous success of Jurassic World, which is now the third-highest-grossing movie of all time (outdone only by Avatar and Titanic). He was also critically acclaimed for his debut feature film, Safety Not Guaranteed. Trevorrow is producing the fifth Jurassic Park movie but revealed a few weeks ago that he would not be directing. This frees him up to shoot Episode IX.

Not much else is known about Episode IX, save that it will conclude the storylines begun in this December's The Force Awakens and will be based on a story treatment produced by Rian Johnson.

This leaves the Star Wars schedule for the next few years looking like this:

18 December 2015: Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
16 December 2016: Star Wars: Rogue One
26 May 2017: Star Wars: Episode VIII
25 May 2018: Star Wars: untitled Han Solo movie
2019: Star Wars: Episode IX
TBC: Star Wars: untitled Boba Fett movie

Lucasfilm have also unveiled the poster for The Force Awakens.

Second trailer for STAR WARS EPISODE VII

Disney and Lucasfilm have unleashed the second teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Some more information has also been revealed about the film's backstory. The film will take place 30-odd years after Return of the Jedi. The galaxy is divided between surviving remnants of the Empire, including the First Order (who appear to be the bad guys in the first movie) and the descendants of the Rebel Alliance, who are now calling themselves "The Resistance". The film follows the adventures of Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger who survives by (apparently) salvaging derelicts on the desert planet of Jakku. She crosses paths with Finn (John Boyega), a First Order stormtrooper who appears to be on the run for reasons unknown, and a hotshot X-wing pilot named Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Eventually their paths cross with the legendary smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), his co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and his sister Leia (Carrie Fisher). Arrayed against them are the First Order forces, apparently led by a Dark Side Force-user named Kylo Ren (rumoured to be played by Adam Driver).

The Force Awakens is released on 18 December this year.

Teaser trailer for STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Disney and Lucasfilm have unveiled the teaser trailer for The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the Star Wars saga, due in cinemas in December 2015.

It would appear we're back on Tatooine - the busiest backwater nowhere in the galaxy, it appears - and there's also some stuff going on with the Millennium Falcon, TIE Fighters and X-Wings, which is sure to please everyone. There's a cute new robot for the little kids, but he looks more tolerable than Jar-Jar at this stage. There's also a villain with a lightsabre which has little lightsabre hilts, which is kind of adorable. It's hard to match the Darth Maul dual-lightsabre revelation from The Phantom Menace trailer, but it might be there's not much more to do with them. It's also unclear who the narrator is: it sounds a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch.

In other news, pre-production is close to starting up on the first Star Wars stand-alone film. Directed by Gareth Edwards, this film is due for release in December 2016 with production set to get underway next year (before Episode VII is even released). According to one source, this first movie will be a heist film and will see a bunch of bounty hunters being employed by the Rebel Alliance to undertake a daring raid on the Empire. The rumour is that amongst the information they seize are the plans to the first Death Star, and this will dovetail the film into the start of Episode IV. The rumours are also that Max von Sydow's character from Episode VII will appear as a young man in this film.

Disney/Lucasfilm's masterplan is for five Star Wars movies to be released annually from 2015 to 2019, consisting of Episodes VII-IX (to be directed by Abrams, Rian Johnson and as-yet undisclosed director) and at least two spin-off films, one focusing on bounty hunters and the other possibly on Yoda's backstory.