Star Wars

[Digger of Bricks]

Variety - Disney Announces New ‘Star Wars’ Films, Moves ‘Avatar’ Sequels

Quote

James Cameron’s long-awaited and oft-delayed follow-up to “Avatar” has been pushed back another year. “Avatar 2” will hit theaters on Dec. 17, 2021 instead of Dec. 18, 2020 as originally planned. Its move means that “Avatar 3” will open on Dec. 22, 2023 as opposed to Dec. 17, 2021 while “Avatar 4” will bow on Dec. 19, 2025 instead of Dec. 20, 2024 and “Avatar 5” will launch Dec. 17, 2027.

The news comes as part of a larger shift in release dates unveiled by Walt Disney Studios. The company is moving around the debuts of various movies it inherited after buying the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets in a $71.3 billion mega-merger.

As part of the great release date shake-up, Disney announced there will be a trio of untitled “Star Wars” entries. These will hit theaters after “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” brings the Skywalker spinoff saga to a close this December. The first of the new three films will hit the big screen on Dec. 16, 2022. There will be two other follow-ups that will premiere in the Christmas corridor on Dec. 20, 2024 and Dec. 18, 2026. The news means that Disney is poised to dominate the busy holiday movie-going season for the foreseeable future, as it alternates between “Avatar” and “Star Wars” films. Moviegoers will be treated to new Na’vi and Jedi adventures each year between 2021 and 2027.

 

[Digger of Bricks]

 

[Oky]

Oh my.... With this and the Obi-Wan announcement, I may just have to get a Disney+ subscription now. From the music and the quality effects to the gritty tone, I'm loving everything about this! Much more excited for this than The Rise of Disappointments.

[Retro]

7 hours ago, Oky said:

 the gritty tone

I think this is a telling comment. I know there is a sizeable Star Wars contingent that wants a gritty tone to any new productions. I suppose Star Wars is such a huge entity now that they have a very diverse audience to cater for. 

I don't mind a bit of 'gritty'. I loved Blake's 7 and the Battlestar Galactica reboot (until the ending).

But 'gritty' is not what I personally want from Star Wars, at least not all the time. For me, Star Wars is just as much about a cute teddy bear called Wicket being scared of a hat, and a Gungan called Jar Jar getting his tongue caught in energy binders, and a Stormtrooper hitting his head off a door accidentally as it is about Anakin getting three of his limbs cut off.

I didn't greatly love Rogue One. It was gritty-heading-into dull, I thought...

Mandalorian trailer does look handsome though. Could be good.

[Littleworlds]

1 hour ago, Retro said:

I think this is a telling comment. I know there is a sizeable Star Wars contingent that wants a gritty tone to any new productions. I suppose Star Wars is such a huge entity now that they have a very diverse audience to cater for. 

I don't mind a bit of 'gritty'. I loved Blake's 7 and the Battlestar Galactica reboot (until the ending).

But 'gritty' is not what I personally want from Star Wars, at least not all the time. For me, Star Wars is just as much about a cute teddy bear called Wicket being scared of a hat, and a Gungan called Jar Jar getting his tongue caught in energy binders, and a Stormtrooper hitting his head off a door accidentally as it is about Anakin getting three of his limbs cut off.

I didn't greatly love Rogue One. It was gritty-heading-into dull, I thought...

Mandalorian trailer does look handsome though. Could be good.

I think this is a very sensible approach. Life is never always funny or always gruesome, so contrasting these extremes doesn't only makes a more believable world, but also makes each of these sides more impactful. The mix is what makes things interesting really.

[Oky]

1 hour ago, Retro said:

I think this is a telling comment. I know there is a sizeable Star Wars contingent that wants a gritty tone to any new productions. I suppose Star Wars is such a huge entity now that they have a very diverse audience to cater for.

I'm not saying everything should be gritty, only certain things. And a series about a bounty hunter in the outer rim, a Mandalorian no less, is just one of those things.

In regards to the main films, I absolutely agree that they do need to be more lighthearted to cater to a wide audience (I will defend Ewoks and Jar Jar 'til I die), but when it comes to things like TV shows and one-off movies like Rogue One, I think they should be allowed to experiment with different tones and go a bit darker. It gives us a new perspective on the galaxy and differentiates it from the main saga. That way those of us who want a more gritty SW show can watch it, and if that's not your cup of blue milk, then you can just stick to shows like Resistance and the main movies.

[Digger of Bricks]

 

[Oky]

Well, that trailer is exactly what I would expect from Abrams: 50% nostalgia, 40% unoriginal content, and 10% teases that go nowhere. Yeah, JJ, I'm sure Rey is just gonna turn to the dark side at the end. It's not like they did the exact same thing with Luke in his third movie in a much more subtle way. Oh wait.

A desert skiff scene, a forest, Lando piloting the Falcon, A, X, and Y-Wings, Star Destroyers, and now this. Yup, this movie is gonna be just as much of a ROTJ rip-off as I thought it would. The only thing missing now is a Porg army defeating the First Order.

Over half the trailer is just a highlight reel of the previous movies to make you all nostalgic and make this feel like an epic conclusion to a saga which Disney has hardly contributed anything good to and which we all know is going to continue in a couple of years anyway, so not only is that conclusion unearned, but also just a lie.

The only thing I'm curious about is how they're gonna explain where the Resistance got those A- and Y-Wings and why the hell they didn't just use those in TLJ instead of the useless bombers in that film.

It would be hilarious how bad this trailer is if it wasn't so tragic what has become of this saga. At least the TV shows are still good.

[Retro]

7 hours ago, Oky said:

It would be hilarious how bad this trailer is if it wasn't so tragic what has become of this saga. At least the TV shows are still good.

You have expressed yourself eloquently. I shall put in my two cents worth in order to bring balance to the force.

Disney were faced with a difficult choice when they came to make the new films. The prequels were derided in most quarters (I have no problem with them apart from dear Hayden). If they had tried something really creative and it had bombed that could have sunk Star Wars forever. Get too far away from Jedi and Stormtroopers and it might not feel like Star Wars at all anymore. Go into the past and it's another prequel. Go far into the future and you're fundamentally changing the timeline forever. Do something away from the main saga, like a heist movie, and it can end up feeling inconsequential.

So they decided to 'sort of' remake the original trilogy with some new wrinkles. Kylo struggling to be bad instead of good! Kylo having a tantrum and wrecking his room instead of killing the officer! The hero is a girl not a boy. Etc. TFA and TLJ are not perfect. And they don't make a lot of sense. But my family and friends and I still enjoyed them. Good space-opera adventure films. And the critics liked them. If you hated them that's absolutely fine too. Maybe you'll prefer the next trilogy. 

[Digger of Bricks]

 

[Darnok]

Well, that doesn't get me any more excited for Episode 9 - and I wasn't excited to begin with. To be fair I already lost any faith I had left for Disneys approach to Star Wars before...

[makoy]

Hey guys, why is no one talking about how great The Mandalorian is? No spoilers though.

[Classic_Spaceman]

31 minutes ago, makoy said:

Hey guys, why is no one talking about how great The Mandalorian is? No spoilers though.

Unfortunately, probably because there is nothing to criticise. ?
Since TLJ, the most vocal segments of the Star Wars fandom have seemed to define themselves as antagonistic towards anything and everything put out by "Disney Wars", so they now would likely have difficulty admitting that they actually enjoy some aspect of modern Star Wars (since hating everything new has become part of their identity as Star Wars "fans"). As an example, the Star Wars thread with the most comments recently has been one speculating upon what will happen if/when TRoS fails! 
Another, more optimistic, possibility, is that not many members have been able to watch (I have not, beyond clips that I can find on YouTube), since either they have not subscribed to Disney+ yet, or Disney+ has not been released in their countries. 

[Clone OPatra]

4 hours ago, makoy said:

Hey guys, why is no one talking about how great The Mandalorian is? No spoilers though.

Yes! Yours wasn't a Yes or No question, but Yes.

I absolutely loved the first episode in all its aspects. Blown away by the production value on it, great writing and performances, fantastic score, and I really appreciated the short run time which made it feel like a concise and rewarding watch (as opposed to some Netflix shows I've watched which feel so drawn out and padded to meet 50+ minutes per episode).

However, I feel mixed on Episode 2. All of the above aspects were still there, but I wasn't too happy with an almost "filler" episode plot-wise. It reminded me of the most negative aspects of Clone Wars, which I think have been conveniently forgotten by everyone who looks back on Clone Wars as amazing in its entirety. With only eight episodes to The Mandalorian Season 1 and if they're all going to be around 30-35 minute mark, I expected theme each to propel the story forward.

Still, it doesn't turn me off the show by any means, and after Clone Wars and Rebels, I am firmly in the "In Filoni We Trust" camp.

Though the FBTB guys can be a bit too cynical for my taste, I've enjoyed and mostly agreed with Ace's episode recaps thus far. He raises some interesting points. They're worth checking out.

[Oky]

2 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Unfortunately, probably because there is nothing to criticise. ?
Since TLJ, the most vocal segments of the Star Wars fandom have seemed to define themselves as antagonistic towards anything and everything put out by "Disney Wars", so they now would likely have difficulty admitting that they actually enjoy some aspect of modern Star Wars (since hating everything new has become part of their identity as Star Wars "fans"). As an example, the Star Wars thread with the most comments recently has been one speculating upon what will happen if/when TRoS fails! 
Another, more optimistic, possibility, is that not many members have been able to watch (I have not, beyond clips that I can find on YouTube), since either they have not subscribed to Disney+ yet, or Disney+ has not been released in their countries. 

I can't speak for other jaded fans, but I for one have no problem recognizing when Disney has done something right with the franchise, and The Mandalorian is certainly such a case. However, it is this type of cruddy passive aggressive behavior from TLJ fanboys that is making it so damn hard to have a civilized conversation these days.

But yes, the fact that it is exclusive to a new streaming service that not everyone has yet is probably one of the reasons it is not talked about as much. It is also difficult to talk about it without spoilers, and there have only been 2 episodes so far which is only about an hour of content, so we can't really judge the series fairly yet. However, what has been seen so far is pretty good. I'm very impressed by the quality of the cinematography and effects which are as good as, if not even better than, in the movies. I'm digging the Western/Samurai movie feel of it. The main character is just the right amount of cool, mysterious, and relatable. I like how they make him look like a capable fighter, but also vulnerable and human (unlike a certain MaRey Sue). His ship also looks cool and iconic which makes me wonder why TLG didn't choose that as the first set to be based on the series. I also have no problem with the shortness of the episodes like some people seem to have. I rather have short quality content like this than have it be stretched out and/or lower quality.

There is not much else to say without spoilers, so the following will be in spoiler tags:

Spoiler

IG-11 was a very cool and funny character. I hope he gets rebuilt and returns at some point. The biggest surprise of course was the appearance of a baby yoda which is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. I have mixed feelings about it as it feels like they are kinda breaking the unspoken rule of not ruining the mystery of Yoda's race, but I'm too curious to see where they're going to go from here to worry about that. Besides, I can't stay mad at that face. The second episode did feel a bit like a filler, but I still enjoyed it. It was neat to see a Sandcrawler in an action scene and to see inside its cockpit, as well as seeing some disintegrations since we were denied them back in ESB.

I have also been enjoying Resistance even though its aimed at a much younger audience and takes place during the same time as TFA and TLJ because unlike those movies it knows how to write engaging and original stories and characters without ruining fan favorite characters.

One other thing that I don't see anyone talking about here is Jedi: Fallen Order. Many people seem to be skeptical of the game (and coming from EA, that's understandable), but I for one am looking forward to it. It looks like a Uncharted-type game set in a galaxy far, far away which I am totally down for. Hopefully it's good or at least decent. Any thoughts?

[Dosenbrot]

After finishing Fallen Order and watching the two Mandalorian episodes, I'm really bummed about how little LEGO coverage both entries got. Especially given how well recieved the game and the series are, hopefully next year has something in store for them. 

[samurai-turtle]

I kinda wonder something about "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi". Would it been better if it was titled. 

The Force Awakens The Last Jedi: Part 1 

The Force Awakens The Last Jedi: Part 2 

The way the movies are  paced basically minutes apart, would this been better? Kinda like the last Harry Potter movie was split up. 

[Japanbuilder]

On 11/18/2019 at 2:53 PM, samurai-turtle said:

I kinda wonder something about "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi". Would it been better if it was titled. 

The Force Awakens The Last Jedi: Part 1 

The Force Awakens The Last Jedi: Part 2 

The way the movies are  paced basically minutes apart, would this been better? Kinda like the last Harry Potter movie was split up. 

As titles that would have been interesting but given how they played out it would have just made people angrier (if that is even possible). TFA had only, what? 30seconds of content of the "last Jedi." Set up no events between EPVI and EPVII that made caring about the story fun and then we get to EPVIII which jettisoned most of EPVII anyway, and Rey "beat" Kylo twice now so the Emperor has to come back to literally be the dead horse that gets beat, I guess? Yeah.

Now I still like TFA for what it is and don't mind the Last Jedi again for what it is, but taken together as a whole this trilogy is on par with the prequels for me in terms of nonsense and non-structure. On the plus side it has weeded out the good from the bad and more content has been getting added in the meantime. I am sure something will appeal so everyone in some regard so it is not a lost cause for Disney but certainly they have to work harder in the search for more money behind Star Wars.

[Brickadeer]

On 4/15/2019 at 1:59 AM, Tariq j said:

The Rise of Skywalker trailer actually looks really good. I’m not too keen on the name although I’ll probably get use to it. The one thing that baffles me about the trailer is how a chunk of what is presumably the second Death Star is still intact on an unknown planet. Especially given how it exploded at the end of RotJ. 

The Clone Wars trailer was great. Just made me realise how much I miss the show . I’m kind of on the fence about bringing Maul back yet again. I love the character and everything that Filoni has done with him but I felt his arc was completed in Rebels. Regardless I’m still pumped for whatever Filoni has planned. 

Why should it be an unknown planet rather than, well, Endor?

[Classic_Spaceman]

On 4/14/2019 at 7:59 PM, Tariq j said:

I’m kind of on the fence about bringing Maul back yet again. I love the character and everything that Filoni has done with him but I felt his arc was completed in Rebels. 

Maul is not coming back - The Siege of Mandalore arc takes place between TCW "The Lawless" and the comic "Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir". Also, Maul probably will not even appear in the arc (he was captured at the end of "The Lawless"), so it will likely just deal with the fallout of his takeover on Mandalore. 

 

15 hours ago, Brickadeer said:

Why should it be an unknown planet rather than, well, Endor?

The DS-2 wreckage does not appear to be on the forest moon of Endor, but the location shown is somewhere in the Endor System. Admiral Ackbar's emphasis that the DS-2's shield generator was located on the forest moon of Endor seems to indicate that Endor's other moons have different environmental conditions. 
 

[Brickadeer]

 

On 12/1/2019 at 3:11 AM, Classic_Spaceman said:

Maul is not coming back - The Siege of Mandalore arc takes place between TCW "The Lawless" and the comic "Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir". Also, Maul probably will not even appear in the arc (he was captured at the end of "The Lawless"), so it will likely just deal with the fallout of his takeover on Mandalore. 

  

The DS-2 wreckage does not appear to be on the forest moon of Endor, but the location shown is somewhere in the Endor System. Admiral Ackbar's emphasis that the DS-2's shield generator was located on the forest moon of Endor seems to indicate that Endor's other moons have different environmental conditions. 
 

Regarding Maul:

 

Maul appears in a trailer, wielding Opress' dual lightsabre against Ahsoka. Actually, Ray Park did Darth Maul's motion capture for Season 7.

You're right about Endor being a forest moon. However, given how close the DS was to Endor, and given that practically no other planet or moon was close to the DS, and given that at the end of RotJ, parts of the DS seemed to fall down on Endor, it would be odd if the remains would not be located on Endor.

edit:

It's official that it's not Endor but the ocean moon Kef Bir.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Brickadeer
new intel

[Classic_Spaceman]

9 hours ago, Brickadeer said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Maul appears in a trailer, wielding Opress' dual lightsabre against Ahsoka. Actually, Ray Park did Darth Maul's motion capture for Season 7.

 

I just looked up and watched the trailer - How did I miss that?! 
 

9 hours ago, Brickadeer said:

You're right about Endor being a forest moon. However, given how close the DS was to Endor, and given that practically no other planet or moon was close to the DS, and given that at the end of RotJ, parts of the DS seemed to fall down on Endor, it would be odd if the remains would not be located on Endor.

edit:

It's official that it's not Endor but the ocean moon Kef Bir.

Endor is a gas giant with a total of nine moons (one of which is the forest moon, also called “Endor”), so it is plausible that some debris from the DS-2’s explosion was pulled into the orbit of another moon (in this case, Kef Bir). 
 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Classic_Spaceman

[Vindicare]

Saw this today & I thought it was great. Since most of you here are crabby uptight fans, I won’t bother giving my take though. 

[jimmynick]

On 12/1/2019 at 1:07 PM, Classic_Spaceman said:

Endor is a gas giant with a total of nine moons (one of which is the forest moon, also called “Endor”), so it is plausible that some debris from the DS-2’s explosion was pulled into the orbit of another moon (in this case, Kef Bir). 

Very true.

On 12/23/2019 at 4:50 PM, Vindicare said:

Saw this today & I thought it was great. Since most of you here are crabby uptight fans, I won’t bother giving my take though. 

I agree. Star Wars movies are not high cinema; they are fun space opera adventures. And the new movie does the job.

[N-4K0]

I saw The Rise of Skywalker on the 19th and will see it again on the 29th.

I thought it was fairly good. Better than I expected and tied up the loose ends decently, except maybe a few things.

Spoiler

I also thought it brought a decent, acceptable end to Leia's character, a decent redeeming of Ben and to his character and a decent conclusion to this trilogy.
Not great and awesome, but I think JJ Abrams did fairly good with what he had to work with.