This week we look at some of the latest news on the Star Wars movies and peek over the wall at Star Wars Mountain growing in Disneyland.
The Star Wars Show
The official Star Wars website, StarWars.com has launched a weekly news show going online Wednesdays at noon. The first episode features an interview with Duncan Jones (Director and son of David Bowie), updates on Star Wars Celebration 2016, Darth Vader visits a children’s hospital and a funny story about the character Kitster from The Phantom Menace.
Soon To Be An Action Figure Near You
Last week Lucasfilm announced that 26 year-old actor Alden Ehrenreich had been cast to play a young Han Solo in a stand-alone feature film about the character’s nefarious origins.
He is best known (so far) for his role as Hobie Doyle in the Coen Brothers’ movie “Hail, Caesar!”
Ehrenreich won the role after an enormous casting process that involved 2,500 actors. It’s rumored that the young Han Solo may make a cameo in this year’s Rogue One along with Darth Vader before his own story makes it to the screen in 2018.
Speaking of Cameos
While there is a persistent rumor that Tom Hardy (who played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Max in Mad Max: Fury Road and John Fitzgerald in The Revenant may be playing Boba Fett in a stand-alone movie after Star Wars: Episode IX in 2020. The story broke this week that he filmed a cameo for Episode VIII. Much like Daniel Craig’s cameo in The Force Awakens, Hardy plays a Stormtrooper who runs across Finn.
SPOILER ALERT – Here are the details:
• Tom Hardy plays a First Order stormtrooper.
• Said stormtrooper glimpses Finn on a secret mission but doesn’t realize it.
• The “incognito” Finn is surprised when the stormtrooper walks up behind him and slaps him on the ass.
• Finn turns around and believes he’s dead. He’s surely going to be captured.
• The stormtrooper is elated to see his old friend from back during their First Order academy days.
• The stormtrooper congratulates Finn on his promotion to Resistance infiltrator and spy.
• Finn is free to go about his business to his amazement.
Star Wars Episode VIII will be in theaters December 15, 2017.
Star Tours Changes
Since the Season Of the Force began last November, the Star Tours flight simulators first sequence was locked into going to Jakku, a new scene from “The Force Awakens”. Last week, Star Tours quietly reverted back to randomizing its first sequence.
The ride has 13 segments that are randomly chosen during each trip. In all, there are 54 possible combinations, making each experience unique.
The segments are:
• Spaceport Escape: Featuring either Darth Vader or the Millennium Falcon
• Planet 1: Either Hoth (battle on the snow planet), Kashyyyk (the Wookie forest planet), Tatooine (for the podrace on the desert planet) or Jakku (from The Force Awakens).
• Hologram Message: Either Yoda, Princess Leia, Admiral Ackbar, or BB-8.
• Planet 2: Either Coruscant (space battle above the city), Naboo (which goes underwater) or Geonosis (which also goes into the Death Star).
When updates were introduced with the Season Of The Force, promoting “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in theaters, Jakku and BB-8 were introduced. At the same time, there were subtle changes to two existing segments.
• In the Naboo sequence, the Starspeeder would crash into a hanger and pointed nose of a Naboo Starfighter would crash through the windshield. It changed to bending the nose and a repair droid throwing paint on the windshield instead.
• In the Courscant sequence, the Starspeeder would crash land on a platform and be lowered into a cargo bay. It changed to being lowered to a hangar next to the Millennium Falcon with Chewie alone in the cockpit.
What do you think of these changes?
New Star Wars Video Games Coming
Battlefront 2, a sequel to the popular Star Wars video game released last November, was announced this week for a 2017 release featuring content from the new movies. No details were provided, but given that timeline, we could see the game populated with worlds from both Rogue One and Episode VIII.
Battlefront 1 sold 14 million copies and was the 4th best selling game of 2015. During a conference call with shareholders, game maker EA said it plans to release a new Star Wars game every year starting in 2017.
Star Wars Land Construction Update
The landscape of Star Wars Land is changing almost daily. As the last of the backstage buildings is removed one truckload at a time, large amounts of earth are being moved and piled high.
That’s what’s new in the Star Wars Universe this week. May the Force be with you!
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