It’s a Holiday Edition of The Week in Star Wars, and we’ve got more record breaking box office news from The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams talking about Episode VIII and Kylo Ren, the rest of the cast talking about the movie and what could have been the plot of The Force Awakens before it was re-written…
Season’s greetings from The Week in Star Wars. Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukka, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays. But – more importantly – Happy Life Day…
…Kicking things off this week – unsurprisingly – with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its record-breaking run at the box office. We reported last week that the film made $517 million worldwide, but the actual number came in at $545 – which made it the biggest opening of all-time beating previous holder Jurassic World. The film also smashed more records (pushing it past $600 million), and broke UK box office records (pushing it past $700 million). And as it’s the season to be jolly, the film broke Christmas Day records too, meaning it will pass $1 billion worldwide by the close of play – and experts now think the film could do $3 billion when all is said and done…
…The folks over at Jurassic World weren’t bitter though, as Frank Marshall posted this congratulations…
…Star Wars: The Force Awakens is currently released in cinemas, but they released a new IMAX poster for the movie this week…
…We’re delving into spoiler territory here – so be careful. First up J.J. Abrams talked about R2-D2’s role in the movie and how it ties into the original trilogy, which was then followed by him giving some insights into Rey’s backstory which will be developed in Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII. We also learned that one of the new characters in the movie was originally set to be killed before plans changed, and Abrams also talked about Kylo Ren’s big scene in the movie. Meanwhile, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega talked about how their characters interact with each other and shared their thoughts on favourite characters and moments from previous films, which you can read here…
…Prior to Lawrence Kasdan and J.J. Abrams re-working The Force Awakens, Michael Ardnt (Toy Story 3) was working on the script, and the writer has been talking about his version of the film. Luke Skywalker was set to have a bigger role, and it was about the search for the wreckage of The Death Star from Return of the Jedi, in case you were wondering…
…Speaking of alternative versions of The Force Awakens, and following some concept art from last week, we got some new concept art this week and even a tease that Anakin Skywalker’s Force Ghost was set to make an appearance…
…And speaking of cameos, remember when they said Daniel Craig was in the movie and he said he wasn’t? Well it turns out he was. Not only that, but we learned last week that Ewan McGregor has recorded some dialogue for the film, and it turns out that so did Frank Oz as Yoda and some dialogue from Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi was used in the film…
…If you’re wondering how much Harrison Ford earned for reprising his role as Han Solo, then you can have a look at the cast salary break downs here…
…We’ve had another review of the movie too, which you can read here…
…The Broadcast Film Critics Association has announced that it has belatedly added Star Wars: The Force Awakens to the list of nominees for Best Picture at the 2016 Critics’ Choice Awards. Star Wars: The Force Awakens will contest the Best Picture Award against The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, Sicario and Spotlight…
…In some op-ed pieces, Neil Calloway had some fun this week by looking at which Star Wars characters are British politicians, Anghus Houvouras also penned a Star Wars: The Force Awakens themed edition of The Week in Disappointment and the Flickering Myth Podcast asked if Han Solo was the worst part of The Force Awakens…
…Looking ahead to Star Wars: Episode VIII, and we know that the film will be directed by Rian Johnson (Looper). However, according to Greg Grunberg, J.J. Abrams wishes he was directing. A couple of weeks ago, J.J. Abrams said that he had no regrets about handing over the reins on the next installment, but Grungerg feels different. “He read it and said something he never, ever says, he said: ‘It’s so good, I wish I were making it,’” he said. “He may have said something one time on Lost, with Damon [Lindelof, the co-creator], but I never hear him express regret like that.”
…You can read our review of Star Wars Battlefront here…
…Hot Toys unveiled two new collectible figures this week from Star Wars: The Force Awakens this week. First up is Finn in his Poe Dameron jacket, and a two-piece set showing Finn tackling the First Order Riot Control Stormtrooper. He joins other 1/6th collectables from the film including Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma, Stormtrooper, Gunner Stormtrooper,Stormtrooper Squad Leader, Snowtrooper, Snowtrooper Officer,Flametrooper,Stormtrooper (Jakku), TIE Pilot and Rey…
…And finally, here’s your comic book preview for the week. Here’s Star Wars: Chewbacca #5, which is out on December 30th: Chewbacca & Zarro face their final challenge…the coming of the Empire! But No Wookiee, No Cry-they’re up for it! This is one walking carpet who’s not going to be stepped on!
That’s all for this week – may The Force be with you…
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and a contributor on The Flickering Myth Movie Show. You can follow him on Twitter @ThisisLukeOwen.
