Category Archives: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The Latest Star Wars Location Fans Can Actually Visit

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Via Moviepilot.com:

For those of you who have taken part in the cinematic space adventure that is The Force Awakens, you’ll know that the film offers a universe filled with even more stunning locations just begging to be explored. One of which we don’t get to see until minutes before the credits roll.

The mysterious planet of Ahch-To that kept Luke Skywalker hidden from the galaxy looked like the perfect place for any Jedi Master to find some peace in exile, and almost too good to be true. But as it turns out, not only does is this location very real, but you can actually visit it.

The island, Skellig Michael, is a UNESCO site which can be found right off the coast of Ireland. At some point between the 6th and 8th century the island was the location of a Christian monastery.

J.J. Abrams and his production team had a bit of trouble earning approval to shoot on the land initially. But after following strict licensing operations, stringent biosecurity protocols, and working with an ecologist to ensure the land was being taken care of, Lucasfilm was allowed enough time to film its final scenes.

In an interview with Abrams for The Irish Times, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens director discussed filming on Skellig Michael, saying:

“I can’t believe they let us shoot there, it was so beautiful. I felt the standard had to be authenticity, the standard had to be reality.”
As such a beautiful and historic land, only about a dozen licenses are given to boat operators to give tours. However, if you’re lucky enough to snag a spot on one of vessels, it promises some truly unforgettable sights and now a little piece of Star Wars history.

The New Chewbacca In ‘Star Wars’

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Via Businessinsider.com:

Warning: Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

In the midst of finding lesser-known actors to play the new leads of the “Star Wars” saga, like Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, the casting department of “The Force Awakens” also had to try to find a double for one of the franchise’s best-known roles: Chewbacca.

Actor Peter Mayhew, the 71-year-old, 7-foot-2 London-born actor who has been the man behind the Wookiee since “Episode IV: A New Hope” opened in 1977, reprises the character once more in “Awakens.” But given Mayhew’s age and abilities (he is often seen walking with a cane), the filmmakers needed someone younger to assist in the film’s physical scenes.

So the casting directors had their orders: span the globe to track down 7-footers with blue eyes (to match those of Mayhew).

Joonas Suotamo, 29, is a longtime basketball player from Finland. He played when he went to college at Penn State from 2005 to 2008 and more recently on his hometown club team in Espoo, located just outside Helsinki. But what many didn’t know was that Suotamo has an interest in acting. Having graduated from Penn State with a film degree, he had always wanted to act, but his size sapped him of his confidence.

“I loved doing theater in high school,” Suotamo told Business Insider. “But I just didn’t believe my chances to get any acting part were possible because of my size, so I studied more behind the camera.”

At 6-foot-11, he was perfectly suited to play power forward and center on the basketball court, but after graduating from Penn State with no incentive to turn pro, Suotamo returned to Finland, playing on the side while starting a video-production company and selling insurance to pay the bills.

“I actually sold the insurance over the phone, so my size wasn’t a factor when approaching people with my pitch,” he said with a laugh.

Click below to read the full article.

THANK YOU: STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS BECOMES THE #1 FILM OF ALL-TIME IN THE US

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Via Starwars.com:

A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO FANS AS STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS HITS A MAJOR MILESTONE.

Star Wars fans have kept a galaxy far, far away alive for close to 40 years. Without them, there is no Star Wars.

That’s why we are humbled and grateful to announce that, thanks to fans new and old, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now the highest grossing film of all-time at the domestic box office, surpassing Avatar’s $760.50 million record in just 20 days. The movie also holds the records for biggest opening day at the domestic box office ($119.1 million), biggest opening weekend at the domestic box office ($247.96 million), and biggest IMAX opening at the domestic box office ($30.1 million), among many others.

We are proud of these records, but know that they would not be possible without fans’ enthusiasm and continued support. We feel it here and it drives us every day, and it will continue to in the very bright future of Star Wars. There has indeed been an awakening — and it’s all thanks to you.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – REQUIRED READS!

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Via Starwars.com:

CHECK OUT THREE ESSENTIAL BOOKS ON THE NEW VILLAINS, NEW ALIENS, AND NEW EVERYTHING OF STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS!

NOTE: This article isn’t intended to reveal major Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers, but if you’re still avoiding them, you should hold off reading this until you’ve seen the movie!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has kicked off a new era for Star Wars fans, where there are suddenly so many new worlds, characters, and technologies for us obsess over. In a quiet way, that’s always been one of the best things about the Star Wars universe. Non-fans and even some casual enthusiasts may think that it’s just about what happens onscreen, but really, that’s just the start of it!

In fact, I dare say that I’ve gotten as much enjoyment from various Star Wars books as I have from the movies. They took what I saw in the films, filled in the gaps, and made me appreciate every prop and character, no matter how “insignificant.” It’s one thing to watch the cantina scene in A New Hope and marvel at all of the wacky aliens, but it’s so much cooler to know the histories and motivations of every weirdo in that place.

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J.J. Abrams ‘can’t believe’ He Got To Shoot Star Wars On Ireland’s Skellig Michael

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Via Ew.com:

Along with dreaming up the deserts of planet Jakku, the lush forests of Takodana, and the frozen tundra of Starkiller Base, director J.J. Abrams and his creative team had to find somewhere truly unique for the final scene of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he did on Ireland’s Skellig Michael.

In a new video from Discover Ireland, the filmmakers talk about what drew them to the small, rocky island, which is home to the ruins of a small monastery and many sea birds.

“When I saw Star Wars for the first time, it was all practical and real,” Abrams says in the video. “You knew it when you saw the movie. So I thought that the standard had to be authenticity, the standard had to be reality.”

Of Skellig Michael, the larger of two Skellig Islands, he says, “I can’t believe they let us shoot there. It was so beautiful.”

Moviegoers can expect to see more of Skellig Michael in the future, as Rian Johnson’s 2017 sequel, currently known as Star Wars Episode VIII, shot sequences there in September.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Editors Explain the Timing of a Key Kylo Ren Scene

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Via Hollywoodreporter.com:

Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey describe why the reference to Darth Vader originally was set to happen earlier in the film.
When American Cinema Editors unveiled the nominees for its annual Eddies Awards on Monday, two of J.J. Abrams’ longtime collaborators, editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, received a nod for their work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The pair’s storytelling prowess helped Abrams and the team hit a home run — the film has grossed $1.54 billion worldwide and continues to climb.

The duo recently talked with The Hollywood Reporter about the editing, as well as what might have been the world’s most secure cutting room. (With that box office figure, we’ll assume you have seen the movie, but we’ll still mention, spoilers ahead.)

For starters, we discussed the scene during which Kylo Ren talks to what’s left of the Vader mask.

“That originally came much earlier in the film,” explains Markey. “It was scripted to happen after Poe and Finn escape from the Star Destroyer, and Kylo Ren would be berate himself for having seen that Finn was a traitor on the battlefield and not have done anything about it. But we realized the moment was wasted there. It wasn’t a big enough event and and it came too early in the film.”

“We moved it to later in the film and made it about his fear about his father’s coming to the planet and his feelings of being pulled toward the light. It had a greater resonance there and greater importance for Kylo Ren’s character.”

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‘Star Wars: Force Awakens’ Tops ‘Avatar’ to Become No. 1 Film of All Time in North America

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Via Hollywoodreporter.com:

J.J. Abrams’ blockbuster achieves the historic milestone Wednesday after only 20 days in release; globally, ‘Force Awakens’ is a long way from matching the $2.78 billion earned by ‘Avatar.’

It’s official: J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the No. 1 grossing film of all time in North America, not accounting for inflation.

On Wednesday, the Disney and Lucasfilm mega-blockbuster is overtaking the $760.5 million earned by James Cameron’s Avatar. Force Awakens — which grossed $8 million on Tuesday for a domestic total of $758.2 million — achieved the milestone in only 20 days in release, a remarkable feat.

Released in December 2009, Avatar grossed nearly $750 million in its original, seven-month run, plus another $10 million-plus when it was rereleased in theaters.

Thanks to Force Awakens, domestic revenue for 2015 was able to hit a record $11 billion at the last minute.

Globally, Force Awakens has a long way to go before eclipsing the $2.78 billion earned worldwide by Avatar, even as it does staggering business. Through Tuesday, its worldwide tally is $1.56 billion, and that doesn’t include China, where Force Awakens lands on Jan. 9.

Overseas on Tuesday, Force Awakens earned $13 million for a foreign tally of $799.1 million.

Many box office observers suggest the Star Wars reboot will ultimately gross $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion worldwide, passing up Cameron’s Titanic ($2.19 billion) to become the No. 2 film of all time, not accounting for inflation. Already, it’s the No. 4 title.

Only two film have earned $700 million or more in North America; Avatar and Force Awakens.

The Force Awakens Screenplay Confirms New Detail About Luke Skywalker

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Via Polygon.com:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been in theaters for a couple of weeks now, and conversation about certain things that happen in the movie have popped up in conversation on various forums.

Still, the grace period for spoiler warnings is still on, so consider this your official spoiler warning for anything that follows.

In The Force Awakens, audiences don’t get a glimpse of Luke Skywalker until the last few moments of the film, when Rey discovers the planet he’s been hiding on and tracks him down. Now, after the film’s alleged script was leaked online, a Lucasfilm employee has confirmed the name of the planet Luke stationed himself on.

Pablo Hidalgo, the creative executive of Lucas Story Group, confirmed on Twitter that the name of the planet mentioned at the end of the script, Ahch-To, is accurate. There isn’t much information about Ahch-To online, but according to Heroic Hollywood, the planet was the location of the first Jedi temple and comes from the junior novelization.

What this means for the future of Luke’s character is uncertain, and there wasn’t any revelations within the script itself, but at least there’s a name for where Luke and Rey left off.

The Force Awakens is playing in theaters now and has far surpassed Jurassic World and Titanic as one the biggest grossing movies at the domestic box office.

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Andy Serkis Says Supreme Leader Snoke Is Not Darth Plagueis

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Via Geektryant.com:

Thanks to EW, we have three official images from Star Wars: The Force Awakens showing off Supreme Leader Snoke and Maz. The magazine also conducted an interview with Andy Serkis in which he discussed his character.

He explained that when he did the motion-capture work for the character he didn’t exactly know what the character would look like.

“When we first started working on it, he had some rough notions of how Snoke was gonna look, but it really hadn’t been fully-formed and it almost came out of discussion and performance.”
EW went on to point out that there is a lot of speculation that Snoke might end up being Darth Plagueis, who was mentioned in the prequel films, but Serkis confirms that he…

“turns out to be… just Snoke.”
Serkis says that he was aware of the events in the previous films and says that his character is a new addition to the saga. Serkis goes on to explain his character:

“Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful. Obviously he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage. As I said, there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda, I suppose.”
More will be revealed regarding this character as the story arc for the new trilogy continues to play out. I’m very curious to know Snoke’s story. I’m sure whatever it is, it will surprise us all, unless the information leaks out early!

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ 20+ New Stills in Ultra Hi-Res

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Via Stitchkingdom.com:

Although we typically tend to stop sharing stills once a film is released, it probably goes unsaid that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is not your typical fare. As it is poised to trample Avatar at the box office any minute now to become the top grossing film of all time, Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm have once again graced us with hi-res images from the film, some of which recently appeared in Entertainment Weekly, but now appear here in high resolution and watermark free. 

Click below to see the images.

2016-01-05 20_11_39-'Star Wars_ The Force Awakens' 20+ New Stills in Ultra Hi-Res Featuring Snoke, P

‘Star Wars,’ Among Art Directors Guild Award Nominees

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Via Hollywoodreporter.com:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mad Max: Fury Road, Bridge of Spies and The Martian are among the nominees for the Art Directors Guild’s 20th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, which will be presented Jan. 31 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

The guild recognizes work in feature film in three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary.

Nominees in the category for period films include Bridge of Spies (whose production designer, Adam Stockhausen, won an Oscar last year for The Grand Budapest Hotel), Crimson Peak, Danish Girl, The Revenant and Trumbo.

The fantasy film nominees are Cinderella, Jurassic World, Fury Road, The Force Awakens and Tomorrowland. And in the contemporary film category, the ADG nominated Ex Machina, Joy, Martian, Sicario and Spectre.

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‘Star Wars,’ – ACE Eddie Awards Nominee

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Via Variety.com:

The American Cinema Editors nominated “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” for best film editing of a dramatic feature Monday. It is the first industry awards group to recognize J.J. Abrams’ record-breaking sequel.

Prior to the film’s world premiere in mid-December, Disney opted out of screening it for groups with early voting deadlines, like the Screen Actors Guild. ACE balloting ran from Dec. 4 through Dec. 29, wrapping up just as the Lucasfilm blockbuster crossed the $600 million mark at the domestic box office in record time.

Raking in another $88 million over the weekend, “The Force Awakens” is on course to eclipse “Avatar’s” all-time mark by the end of Tuesday.

Also nominated in the dramatic category was “The Martian,” contradictory to the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s controversial comedy classification earlier this season.

The two films were joined by “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Revenant” and “Sicario.”

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Starz Secures Rights to ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

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Via Hollywoodreporter.com:

It’s the last film included in the premium cable network’s deal with Disney.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is coming to a new galaxy: Starz.

The premium cable network has acquired the TV rights to the box office record-breaker, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the last movie to be included in Starz’s deal with Disney. Starz’s Disney pact included rights to every movie the studio released through the end of 2015. Starz did not renew its Disney deal, with the company instead securing a deal with streaming service Netflix, which kicks off with films released in 2016.

This week will see Star Wars: The Force Awakens top Avatar to become the highest-grossing feature film in U.S. history.

Financial terms of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens pact were not immediately available. The news was first reported by the New York Post. Starz declined comment on the pact.

Disney controls rights to the film after the Starz window closes and will determine its future then.

“Star Wars” Box Office Beats “Titanic,” “Jurassic World”

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Via Cbs.com:

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” marched confidently into the new year, raking in an additional $88.3 million over the New Year’s weekend and topping the box office for a third week, according to studio estimates Sunday.

In addition to setting a new high mark in New Year’s box office history, the record-busting film blew past the domestic grosses of both “Jurassic World” ($652.3 million) and “Titanic” ($658.7 million) to become the second-highest earner of all time with $740.3 million in just 19 days of release.

The top domestic film is “Avatar” with a $760.5 million lifetime domestic gross, but “Star Wars” is barreling in to surpass it soon. For context, it took “Avatar” 72 days to reach $700 million. “Star Wars” did that in 16 days.

Internationally, “Star Wars” earned $96.3 million this weekend, boosting its global total to $184.6 million. The film opens in China on Jan. 9.

While “Star Wars” might not give up its throne any time soon, films like “Daddy’s Home” and “Sisters” have proven to be incredibly strong performers.

“Daddy’s Home,” the comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, came in second with an estimated $29 million, bringing its total to $93.7 million in just two weeks. The film fell only 25 percent from its first weekend in theaters. Even more formidable is the mere 11 percent drop from the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedy “Sisters,” which brought in $12.6 million in its third weekend for a fourth-place spot. The film has earned $61.7 million so far.

“When you look at the holding power of ‘Daddy’s Home’ and ‘Sisters,’ it shows you that those films are for many people the antidote to ‘Star Wars,'” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for box office tracker Rentrak. “The diversity of the slate that the studios created by not retreating from ‘Star Wars’ is helping.”

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‘Star Wars’ and the Oscars

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Via Variety.com:

Best original score, best sound editing, best sound mixing, best visual effects and maybe best film editing or best production design. If you’re asking me, that’s the Oscar ceiling on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Make an overt case for much beyond that and you’re at risk of being a bit sweaty (or arbitrarily filling column inches).

Of course, that’s not at all meant to be a knock on the film, which unspooled at a lavish three-theater ultra premiere in Hollywood Monday night. The movie does its job. It’s exactly what you probably expect it to be. And as befits this series, it excels in certain craft departments — not least of them being sound design, a huge part of the filmmaking legacy of this series, in my book. The splash was big and the smiles were bigger. It satisfied and relieved many, but Academy Awards recognition? A certain perspective is in order.

The first “Star Wars” landed 10 Oscar nominations and six wins (all in crafts fields). It also picked up two special achievement awards. It was a landmark. A thunder strike. That kind of haul was warranted. But even in 1977, things were kept in check; the film lost the best picture Oscar to Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall.”

It was diminishing Oscar returns after that: score, sound and art direction recognition for “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” (plus special achievement honors for visual effects, in years when the competitive field didn’t exist); sound and visual effects noms for “The Phantom Menace”; a visual effects nom for “Attack of the Clones”; and finally, makeup recognition for “Revenge of the Sith,” a first for the series at the time.

None of the prequels won an Oscar.

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