Author Archives: Mike

Dear Canada, you can now place your order for Jabba’s Sail Barge through HasLab! StarWars.com exclusively revealed that the Sail Barge will now be available for Canadian residents as well. Go and back the Barge! StarWars.com just posted an article that contains the exciting reveal in addition to a fantastic interview with Steve Evans and Joe Ninivaggi. The interview provides an in-depth look at HasLab, the creative process, and the Sail Barge itself. Click through to read the full article!

We’re back! The Star Wars Rebels series finale is just around the corner and JTA’s Rebels Reviews are finally here to discuss the latest batch of episodes. Click the banner below to read our full review of the explosive midseason premiere, “Jedi Night.”

The end of Star Wars Rebels is almost here. After four seasons, the series will wrap up with a 90-minute finale on MONDAY, MARCH 5 (8:30 p.m. EST). Disney XD has released a trailer for the series finale. Click through to check out the exciting trailer and look for Rebels Reviews of “Jedi Night”, “DUME”, “Wolves at the Door”, and “A World Between Worlds” as the finale approaches.

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ABC News has released a new documentary, The Force of Sound, that explores the process of creating sound for the Star Wars galaxy. The short documentary offers an in-depth look at the sound design and sound mixing that were done for The Last Jedi. Click here to watch the full documentary.  When you’re done watching the documentary, go back the barge! 

Supervising sound editor Matthew Wood revealed to ABC News that the decision has been made to move on from the famous Wilhelm scream, which was absent from Rogue One and The Last Jedi. The distinctive scream was named by legendary sound designer Ben Burtt and it was included in the first seven films in the Star Wars saga. Woods commented, “We’re letting the past die, as Kylo Ren says.” He also revealed that they have begun to put a new signature scream into current and upcoming films. This seems to be part of a larger shift in philosophy, as Ben Burtt himself is no longer involved with the Star Wars franchise. Vanity Fair asked Burtt about his exclusion from Disney’s Star Wars productions and commented, “I was just never consulted or hired to do any of them. No one’s ever told me why.” Burtt concluded by saying, “You know that line in Indiana Jones, ‘It belongs in a museum’? That’s me. I’m a museum piece.” Click here to read the fill interview with Burtt.

Ron Howard and Jon Favreau revealed on Twitter that Favreau will provide the voice for a “very cool & important alien character” in Solo: A Star Wars Story. You can actually see the four-armed alien in the trailer for the film. Of course, this isn’t Favreau’s first time voicing a Star Wars character since he provided the voice for Pre Vizsla in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Check out the full story at Entertainment Weekly! 

Yes, you read the headline correctly. ILM VFX Supervisor Mike Mullholland recently revealed that a change was made to the design of Kylo Ren’s TIE Silencer after Rian Johnson received an early prototype of the ship’s toy counterpart. Apparently, the original plan was to have the missiles on the underside of the ship but they were switched to the side of the wings since that’s where they were located on the toy version of the ship. So it appears a toy influenced a film in this case. Head over to io9 for the full story! 

The final episodes of Star Wars Rebels are almost here! The series returns with a pair of back to back episodes next Monday, February 19th at 9pm on Disney XD. Lucasfilm has sent out a new preview of the show’s return. Check it out! 

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Disney may be on pace to announce a new series of Star Wars films each week, but JTA hasn’t forgotten about Star Wars: The Clone Wars and this week we’ll be looking at one of the series’ best episodes. Click the banner below to read our full review of the season one classic, “Trespass.”

Lucasfilm has announced that Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will write and produce a new series of Star Wars films. This new series of films will be separate from both the episodic Skywalker films and the new trilogy that is being developed by Rian Johnson. Benioff and Weiss will begin working on the new series of films “as soon as the final season of Game of Thrones is complete.” Head over to StarWars.com to read the full statements from Kathleen Kennedy, Benioff, and Weiss. What are your thoughts regarding this latest announcement? Let us know!

The wait is over. The first footage from Solo: A Star Wars Story premiered during Super Bowl LII. Click through to check it out! 

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The 2018 Academy Award nominations were announced this morning and Star Wars: The Last Jedi received four nominations overall. The Last Jedi was nominated for Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects. In addition, John Williams was nominated for the 51st time for his The Last Jedi score. Congratulations to all of the nominees. Check out the complete list of nominations at The Hollywood Reporter!  

It’s the first Star Wars: The Clone Wars review of the new year! This week we’ll be looking at the episode “Defenders of Peace.” Click the banner below to read the full review.

As the rumors regarding a potential Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone film starring Ewan McGregor continue to swirl, a lot of fans have wondered if we may see the return of Qui-Gon Jinn in this rumored film. Yahoo Movies UK had the chance to ask Liam Neeson about returning to the role of Qui-Gon. Neeson said, ““This is the first time I’m hearing of this, no one’s been in touch with me. I know in the Star Wars world anything is possible. In the first one, The Phantom Menace, I died but we know, you know, Jedis come back and stuff but no one’s been in touch. We’ll see.” It’s not surprising that Neeson would be open to returning to Star Wars. More than most actors, Neeson has spoken very highly of his time in Star Wars and even voiced Qui-Gon in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Would you like to see Liam Neeson and Qui-Gon return in a Kenobi film to mentor his former Padawan? Let us know! 

While The Last Jedi has dominated the headlines since it was released, Star Wars Rebels is about to take center stage as it finishes its fourth and final season. Lucasfilm has just sent out a press release with a ton of new information regarding the final batch of episodes. In addition to a return date, a new trailer has been released and a surprising guest star has been revealed. Click through to check out all of the exciting developments! 

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Although The Last Jedi has continued to perform well at the US box office, the film collapsed in China and has already been pulled from Chinese theaters. Star Wars has never had a strong foothold in China, the world’s second largest film market, but an already disappointing opening weekend followed by a disastrous second weekend drop of 92% sealed the film’s fate in China. To put things in perspective, The Last Jedi will finish outside of the top 50 in China and behind box office bomb Geostorm. The Hollywood Reporter did a great job of examining the continued failure of Star Wars in China. The problem stems from the well known fact that the original films never received a wide release in China. While franchises such as Fast and Furious focus on ease of access and mindless action, Star Wars films are often driven by nostalgia for and references to the original films. Jimmy Wu, who owns one of the largest theater chains in China, bluntly told The Hollywood Reporter, “Star Wars has no legacy here.” It is an interesting situation, and one that probably has some Disney executives concerned. Check out the full story at The Hollywood Reporter!

The state of Star Wars since the sale to Disney has generated a lot of discussion, which only intensified after The Last Jedi was released. Three Star Wars films have been released since the sale to Disney and Solo: A Star Wars Story is just around the corner. In addition, we have Star Wars Rebels, Battlefront II, and the various novels and comics that have been released under this new leadership. Now that we a significant amount of material to work with, let’s open up the discussion of “Disney’s” Star Wars a little more. I have put together a list of questions that are intended to assess the state of Star Wars under Disney’s leadership, as well as your hopes for the future. We take pride in the wonderful community that has been established here and would love it if you participated in this discussion. As always, please keep the discussion civil and be respectful of differing opinions. Click through to see the full list of questions.

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Living legend John Williams, now eighty-five years old, confirmed to Variety that he will score Episode IX. Williams simply told Episode IX director JJ Abrams, “I would very much like to complete that.” John Williams also shot down the idea that he planned on retiring and when asked to reflect on his sixty year career he said, “It feels like a good start.” Head over to Variety to check out the full story.

The Last Jedi featured several notable deaths, but even The Last Jedi editor Bob Ducsay has had second thoughts about how a certain death was handled in the film. Ducsay revealed this during an interview with The Huffington Post. Click through for the full story. BEWARE OF SPOILERS FOR THE LAST JEDI.

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After four seasons, Star Wars Rebels is coming to an end. We’re halfway through the final season, and it appears Dave Filoni and company are pulling out all of the stops for the show’s conclusion. Kevin Kiner has finished the final score for Star Wars Rebels, and he was given a live orchestra to work with. Dave Filoni confirmed this news on Twitter but we want to thank JTA reader Joseph for bringing it to our attention.  Click through to see Filoni’s confirmation.

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Ewan McGregor won a Golden Globe for his role in the third season of Fargo on Sunday, but the subject of Obi-Wan Kenobi quickly came up when he took questions from the media. McGregor reiterated that he would be happy to return to the role but said, “There’s no plan at the moment.” Ewan looked the part though. His beard certainly conjured up images of his Obi-Wan Kenobi days. Click through to watch a video from Variety for McGregor’s full comments, including his thoughts on The Last Jedi. 

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After a massive opening weekend and a sharp second weekend drop, the box office performance of The Last Jedi has generated a lot of discussion. How has the film been performing since then? The film has already grossed over one billion dollars worldwide, and Variety reported on Wednesday that it passed Rogue One at the domestic box office. It’s not all good news though. The Last Jedi is latest Star Wars film to underperform in China. According to Variety, the film lost to a Chinese romantic comedy in its debut. The Force Awakens and Rogue One also disappointed at the Chinese box office, where Star Wars doesn’t have a strong foothold. Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the aforementioned second weekend drop, The Last Jedi is performing very well overall and similarly to past Star Wars sequels. In a detailed breakdown of the film’s performance, Forbes revealed that it will likely finish around 30% behind The Force Awakens. Thats nearly identical to The Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones, who finished 32% and 28% behind their predocessors respectively.  

Business Insider interviewed Rian Johnson shortly after the release of The Last Jedi. During the interview, Johsnon addressed fan backlash, Luke Skywalker, the lack of Captian Phasma, and the brand new trilogy that he is developing. Johnson provides several interesting and thoughtful answers in this interview. Check it out! 

I have a lot to say about The Last Jedi. Click the banner below to read JTA’s review of Episode VIII. BEWARE: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS FULL SPOILERS FOR THE LAST JEDI.

Hera took center stage in the midseason finale of Star Wars Rebels, which may be season four’s best episode so far. Click to banner below to read the full review!