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New 'Rogue One' trailer has some familiar 'Star Wars' touches
Disney and Lucasfilm just premiered a new trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and you don't even have to wade through NBC's Rio 2016 Olympics coverage to see it. As we'd heard, this prequel to Star Wars: A New Hope will focus on heroes trying to steal the plans for a still-under-construction Death Star, and the new trailer gives us a good idea of what we'll see. Beyond a look at stars like Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, you'll also get a peek at a new droid character, familiar AT-ATs, and, yup, Darth Vader. The latest addition to the Star Wars universe premieres December 16th.
'Star Wars' VR experiment comes to HTC Vive on July 18th
You don't have to wait much longer to live out you dreams of wielding a lightsaber in virtual reality. HTC and Lucasfilm have revealed that Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine, their VR gaming experiment, will be available on July 18th through Steam. And it's free as long as you have an HTC Vive, so it won't cost more to role-play a Padawan. The no-cost move isn't surprising (this isn't an in-depth game), but it's welcome if you've been hoping to find a new showcase for your headset.
Magic Leap teams with Lucasfilm for 'Star Wars' AR experiences
Magic Leap, the mysterious augmented reality company, is teaming up with Lucasfilm and its ILMxLAB to create immersive Star Wars experiences, the companies announced today at Wired's Business Conference. As part of the news, they also revealed our closest look yet at Magic Leap's technology in action with a demo video featuring everyone's favorite droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, projected in a typical office environment. It was shot on actual Magic Leap hardware, according to ILMxLAB's John Gaeta (best known for his work on the Matrix films), using a standard digital camera. One look, and you'll see why Magic Leap has amassed an astounding $1.39 billion in funding without shipping an actual product.
Netflix's Disney streaming exclusives start in September
Netflix is about to get a whole lot more magical. There's a whole cadre of additional Disney films coming to the streaming service this September as Netflix becomes the exclusive streaming service for movies from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar.
The makers of 'Titanfall' are working on a 'Star Wars' game
Respawn is ready to break out of the Titanfall mold... and in a way you probably didn't expect. The game studio has announced that it's working with EA and Lucasfilm on a third-person Star Wars action/adventure. It's saying precious little about the title, which doesn't even have a release date, but it will run on the Unreal Engine (according to job listings) and "pay respect" to the series' universe at every step. Suffice it to say that this won't just be Titanfall with lightsabers and AT-STs. It's not a guaranteed success, but Respawn's early track record suggests that it'll take Star Wars seriously.
Comcast deal lets you buy 'Star Wars' from your set-top box
It's not that hard to get Star Wars: The Force Awakens through digital sources, but Comcast doesn't want to be left out. It just struck a deal that brings Disney's movies to the Xfinity TV store, both online and from your TV proper -- if you want to watch the adventures of Rey and Finn from your set-top box, you can. Only The Force Awakens is available right away, but Comcast will fill out the catalog over the "coming weeks."
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From 'Halo' to Miles Davis: One woman's life behind the scenes
A long, winding drive through Lucas Valley leads to the wooden gates of Skywalker Ranch. Inside George Lucas' exclusive estate, well-manicured gardens blend in with the sweeping wilderness of California's Marin County. Past an empty baseball field and multiple rows of grapevines is a red-bricked "technical building" that houses Skywalker Sound, a state-of-the-art studio where Hollywood's most iconic soundtracks have been created. try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-891353").style.display="none";}catch(e){}
'Star Wars' is getting an official electronic music album
There are plenty of Star Wars-inspired songs and remixes (such as Meco's disco adaptations), but the legendary space fantasy series is finally getting something official... and you might want to give it a listen. The upcoming Star Wars Headspace will include electronic tunes that are either influenced by or reworks of the movies, most of them from artists you'll know if you're big on digital beats. The whole thing is produced by Rick Rubin, and there are tracks from Bonobo, Claude VonStroke, Flying Lotus, Kaskade and Röyksopp, among others.
'Star Wars' and the coming holographic cinema revolution
"AR is going to hit us like a big bang," says ILMxLab creative director John Gaeta when I ask him whether augmented reality, as that holographic technology is known, has been undervalued by the public and press. "We're just trying to point out right from the beginning that there will be a form of AR that will be as hi-fidelity as the cinema that you see at some point. I can't say what year that'll be. But at some point, we'll have intimate holo-experiences with performance and things like that."
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' broke several movie records
If you suspected that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would smash box office records when you saw the lengthy queues at your local theater, you made a pretty good guess. Disney expects the adventures of Finn, Poe and Rey to set an all-time domestic debut record with an estimated $238 million haul. The previous best, this summer's Jurassic World, "only" pulled in $208.8 million. On top of that, TFA also broke several other domestic records, including the biggest single-day gross ($120.5 million), biggest Thursday preview ($57 million), best December debut and multiple IMAX records. Worldwide, it's estimated to rake in $517 million over its first five days -- and that $4 billion Lucasfilm purchase suddenly seems like the bargain of the century.
Your phone is a lightsaber in Google's desktop browser game
Since real lightsabers don't exist (yet), Google and the studios behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens are offering the next-best thing: A program that turns your smartphone into a lightsaber, which then takes out bad guys on your computer screen. Lightsaber Escape is live now -- open it in your desktop browser and then punch in the unique URL on your phone (or vice versa), and you're good to go. Your phone becomes a lightsaber handle and, as you move it around, the actual glowing sword moves on the desktop.
New 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' trailer debuts during MNF
As promised, we have the latest trailer for the new Star Wars movie, which just aired during halftime of Monday Night Football. Giving us a two and a half minute look at the seventh entry in the series, it's embedded after the break, but if you're already sure you want to see it opening night, ticket pre-orders are open on sites like Fandango and MovieTickets.com. If you're not having any luck there, try hitting up your local cinema directly, or just enjoy the trailer and wait for the extra show times that will inevitably be added in the next two months before its premiere December 18th.
HP's dorky 'Star Wars' laptop is impressive in its attention to detail
Depending on how you feel about Star Wars, either you've had enough of the gimmicky merchandising tie-ins, or you intend to buy all the things until the new movie comes out on December 18th. For our part, we don't know whether to be amused or excited by this special edition Star Wars laptop from HP. On the one hand, a notebook covered in images of Stormtroopers and the X-wing Star Fighter Guidance System, with Aurebesh lettering replacing English, is even dorkier than your typical gaming rig (and that's saying a lot). On the other, the Star Wars notebook is so committed in its dorkiness that it's hard not to be impressed by HP and Disney's attention to detail.
ILM's tools could let you direct your own 'Star Wars'
Whether you're familiar with the studio's name or not, you've definitely been touched (and likely gobsmacked) by the computer-generated imagery in one of the blockbuster films to get the Industrial Light and Magic treatment. From Jurassic Park (and its sequels) to the upcoming Disney-backed Star Wars films, the Lucasfilm-run powerhouse is one of the more visible and transformative visual effects forces in entertainment. Now, with a suite of virtual production tools, it's poised to change the way we experience not just film, but also storytelling with an iPad and a virtual reality headset.
'Star Wars: Episode IX' gets the director from 'Jurassic World'
Star Wars: Episode VII isn't even in theaters yet, but that isn't stopping Disney and Lucasfilm from providing details about a movie two sequels ahead. They've announced that Colin Trevorrow, the director of Jurassic World, will helm Episode IX. Despite what it looks like, this isn't just an attempt to cash in on the runaway financial (though not critical) success of Trevorrow's dinosaur disaster flick. Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy says that she was "interested" in a team-up ever since she saw the meme-based movie Safety Not Guaranteed in 2012. Whatever you think of the decision, you'll have to wait a while to see how well Trevorrow follows in the footsteps of Episode VII's JJ Abrams and VIII's Rian Johnson -- the ninth title won't reach movie houses until 2019.
Disney wins duel with fancy dress shop over starwars.co.uk
After owning the domain name starwars.co.uk for the past ten years, a fancy dress retailer in the UK is being forced to relinquish it to Disney. Costumier Jokers' Masquerade has used the domain to point visitors towards its range of licensed Star Wars outfits, but was asked by Disney to hand it over last year. It refused, so Disney, which acquired Lucasfilm and the rights to Star Wars in 2012, asked UK domain registrar Nominet to step in. Now, following a three-month review, Nominet has ruled that starwars.co.uk, starwars.uk and five other related domains be surrendered.
You can (legally) download the 'Star Wars' movies starting Friday
While the world waits for the next entries in the Star Wars saga (Episode VII on December 18th, followed by the Rogue One spinoff next year and Episode VIII in 2017), Disney, Fox and Lucasfilm have finally worked it out so you can buy the movies as digital copies. Sure a Blu-ray set came out a few years ago, but if physical media isn't your thing then Friday is the big day (yes, they're still the "special" editions). The movies will be available globally through retailers like Vudu, Xbox, PlayStation, Google Play, iTunes, Amazon and others. If you need a reason to do the digital double-dip, take a peek at the promised new extras, like "Discoveries from Inside" featurettes for each movie, and "Conversations" between key contributors. Vudu is taking pre-orders on the full set for $90 (US) and Google Play shows the individual movies for $20 each -- in case you're wondering, the Blu-ray set is listed on Amazon for the same price.
GOG.com adds six Star Wars games, including KOTOR 2
GOG.com added a second helping of Lucasfilm games to its classic PC gaming catalog today, giving players the opportunity to download six Star Wars games on its platform, DRM-free. Three of the games are available digitally for the first time according to GOG.com: Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter ($10), Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance ($10) and Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga (Seen above, $6). The other three Star Wars games now available on GOG.com will be 20 percent off for the next three days: Star Wars Battlefront 2 ($8), Star Wars: Dark Forces ($4.79) and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords ($8). Six other LucasArts games were introduced in late October, including The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Those two games, in addition to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, are also 20 percent off until Friday, January 30 at 8:59 a.m. ET (5:59 a.m. PT). [Image: Lucasfilm]
Star Wars: Episode VII will be called 'The Force Awakens'
Lucasfilm has revealed that Star Wars: Episode VII will be released with the subtitle The Force Awakens when it premieres next December. The long-awaited name was revealed on Twitter alongside the news that principal photography has all been wrapped up. The film is still more than a year away, but the title artwork maintains the classic Star Wars aesthetic and suggests director J.J Abrams is trying to capture the original trilogy's spirit and tone. The name itself has, almost inevitably, been polarising for fans of the force and sparked the hilarious hashtag #BetterStarWarsTitles on Twitter. Go check it out.
George Lucas didn't remake 'Empire Strikes Back,' you did
Given recent events, it can be difficult to remember that the internet is capable of pretty awesome stuff sometimes. Case in point: this super-cool shot-for-shot fan remake of The Empire Strikes Back that uses some 480 different filmmaking techniques. Spotted by Digg, it runs the gamut from hand-drawn animation, intentionally cheesy live-action and even a makeshift Echo Base populated with stop-motion LEGO minifigures -- and that's just within the first few minutes. Over 1,500 hopefuls submitted their 15-second scenes, and, like with Star Wars Uncut before it, the folks at Lucasfilm stitched the best of them together to create Empire Strikes Back Uncut. It's pretty impressive on more than a few levels and we've embedded it just below. The video clocks in at just over two hours, so we heartily recommend pouring a frosty glass of blue milk and firing up your Chromecast to watch it.
