Author Archives: Matt
Jon Favreau Unveils ‘Star Wars’ Series ‘The Mandalorian,’ Marvel Plans and a New Venture
The future of filmmaking is unfolding in a drab office park near a Whole Foods in Playa Vista. It’s where Jon Favreau assembled this summer’s $1.5 billion-grossing The Lion King using a gaming engine and a warehouse of cutting-edge artists and technicians, and it’s where the actor-writer-director-producer is sketching out season two of The Mandalorian, a Star Wars TV series set to debut Nov. 12 on the new Disney+ streaming service (and to be teased with a trailer at the D23 conference Aug. 23). Favreau, 52, invited Hollywood Reporter editorial director Matthew Belloni to a conference room lined with pictures of Tatooine’s finest to talk about his crazy summer (in addition to Lion King, he co-starred in the $1 billion-grossing Spider-Man: Far From Home and dropped The Chef Show on Netflix) and to unveil his new endeavor, Golem Creations, named for the man-made creature from folklore that represents an artistic creation brought to life by magic. It’s a logical next step for a multihyphenate who, since writing and starring in Swingers in 1996, has carved out a unique (and lucrative) niche combining his passions for storytelling and technology, launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the tech-heavy Iron Man and developing immersive video walls to use with live actors on Mandalorian.
A married father of three teens (wife Joya is a physician), Favreau lives on L.A.’s Westside and says he’s still interested in acting, but he’s plenty busy making an Apple docuseries featuring photo-realistic dinosaurs, the VR experience Gnomes + Goblins as well as a stop-motion animation special for Netflix called Alien Xmas. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.
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Legendary Master Yoda giving me a HEART ATTACK!
Star Wars: Nebula Class Star Destroyer | Ship Breakdown
Disney’s new streaming bundle priced to compete with Netflix!
Via arstechnica.com:
The Walt Disney Company’s latest quarterly earnings call included an announcement to investors that appears to take dead aim at Netflix: an all-Disney, three-service streaming bundle for $12.99/month, coming November 12.
The bundle will see three wholly owned Disney services—Disney+, ESPN+, and “ad-supported” Hulu—available as a combined online-streaming bundle once Disney+ launches in November. Separately, the services’ asking prices add up to $17.97 ($6.99, $5.99, and $4.99, respectively), thus marking a 27% discount for the whole shebang.
That $12.99 price matches Netflix’s “standard” service tier (which includes 1080p resolution and support for up to two simultaneous streams). Only one of Disney’s bundled services, Disney+, includes support for higher-resolution video, but that comes as a free upgrade for supported streaming devices. Netflix’s 4K offering requires upgrading to a $15.99/mo. plan. Should Netflix subscribers want to save money, they can downgrade to an $8.99 “basic” plan, which tops out at 480p resolution and only one device at a time.
George Lucas is America’s wealthiest celebrity!
Via businessinsider.com:
Filmmaker George Lucas almost didn’t become rich or famous — at least by Hollywood standards. He dreamed of being a race car driver, but that all came to a halt after a car crash, according to a 1979 profile of Lucas in The Atlantic. Inspired by a cinematographer he had built a racing car for, Lucas enrolled in film school.
He went on to helm one of the biggest franchises of all time — “ Star Wars” — and co-create another box-office franchise, “Indiana Jones.” The director, screenwriter, and producer has been nominated for an Academy Award four times. He’s also accumulated an estimated net worth of $6.4 billion, according to Forbes.
Lucas is currently married to his second wife, Mellody Hobson, with whom he has one biological child. He also adopted three children during his first marriage and as a single parent.
Lucas has a reputation for being quiet on the media front, so not much is known about how he spends his fortune. However, he has cultivated a California real-estate portfolio, including Skywalker Ranch, and donates a lot of his money to charity. A representative for Lucas declined to comment on Lucas’ personal finances when reached by Business Insider.
Here’s how Lucas, now semi-retired, accumulates and spends his billions…
Click below for the full story at businessinsider.com
Rare Vintage Items at Brian’s Toys!
Crowds HAVE Arrived at Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge
Toys ‘R’ Us is coming back to the United States
Via CNN.com:
Toys “R” Us’ long-awaited comeback is finally official.
Its owner, Tru Kids Brands, announced Thursday that Toys “R” Us is being reborn in the United States with two new stores. The return comes more than a year after the chain collapsed, resulting in the closure of all 700 of its American stores.
The new stores will be smaller than their predecessors. Tru Kids described them as a “highly engaging retail experience designed for kids, families and to better fit within today’s retail environment.”
The new Toys “R” Us stores will be open before the holiday shopping season later this year at The Galleria in Houston and in Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey. They will sell toys, but fewer of them.
The Ultimate Star Wars Theme Park! ( It’s Not Galaxy’s Edge )
Disney Releases More Details on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Passholder Previews
Via MyNews13.com:
Disney World has released more details about the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge previews it will hold for some annual passholders.
- More details released about Galaxy’s Edge passholder previews
- Previews will take place on select days in August
- Platinum, Platinum Plus, Premier passholders eligible to register
- RELATED: Disney World to Hold Passholder Previews for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
The previews will take place on select days in August, according to Disney.
Only Platinum, Platinum Plus, and Premier annual passholders are eligible to register for one of the preview time slots. Registered passholders can bring a guest with them; however, that guest must also have a valid Platinum, Platinum Plus, or Premier pass, according to Disney.
When passholders register for the preview, their guest must also be on their “Family & Friends” list on My Disney Experience and must have opted to share “All My Plans” with them.
Email invitations for the passholder previews will sent later this summer, Disney said.
Click here for the full story at MyNews13.com
Mark Hamill Setting People Straight!
No matter how often this is debunked-it still comes back. The entire scene was dubbed. I said “There she…”- as in “There she (is)” when I saw her. George would never have allowed me to say “Carrie” even if I wanted to as a joke, which I didn’t. It makes no sense. #FalseStory 😩 https://t.co/3mAwkhSJ5F
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) July 6, 2019
The Rise Of Skywalker May Feel Like a Different Genre, According to Daisy Ridley
Via io9.Gizmodo.com:
As the ending to not just the sequel trilogy, but a trilogy of trilogies, we all expect Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to be unique. However, in a new interview, star Daisy Ridley went a step further to describe just how different it would be.
“Genre-wise, it’s different from the other two, which will become clear when the film comes out,” Ridley said in an interview with USA Today. “It’s quite emotional. There’s a different drive than the previous two films, but there’s a lot of fun. I really missed John [Boyega] during the last one, but we’re back together and now Oscar [Isaac] is part of it. To me, it felt like kids going on an adventure.”
So does that mean the film is more dramatic? More carefree and adventurous? Does Ridley actually mean “genre” in it its usual sense, or is she more talking about “tone”? We have exactly zero answers to those questions at this point.
Click here for the full story at io9.Gizmodo.com
