Star Wars

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Check out a description for a pretty awesome scene that was cut from Star Wars: The Force Awakens featuring Maz using her Force powers and fighting Stormtroopers.

The info comes from SFX supervisor Chris Corbould (via the Collider).

CHRIS CORBOULD: There was a particular part of a scene that never made it, where they go underneath the castle and they’re going into the underground passageways, and stormtroopers are coming down the stairs and Maz uses her powers to collapse the ceiling.

From my point of view, [that] worked absolutely brilliantly because you had all the main actors running up and then Maz does her bit and then the whole ceiling collapses in front of them, but that never made it. That was a shot I was quite proud of, actually, it worked really, really well.

Other deleted scenes included more aerial combat dogfighting, a snowspeeder chase, more of the Rathars, Kylo Ren turning on his lightsaber, and a shot of Maz placing the Skywalker lightsaber into the hand of Carrie Fisher’s General Leia.

Hopefully the scenes makes their way on to the Blu-Ray, and also check out a cool video going over Star Wars: The Force Awakens deleted scenes and rejected concepts.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is currently in theaters.

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Hopes of besting James Cameron’s Avatar seem to be about as dead as Han Solo as Chinese audiences aren’t as receptive to Star Wars: The Force Awakens as their Western counterparts.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has just about crushed every box office record there is, which led to speculation the J.J. Abrams-directed film might pass Cameron’s mammoth $2.78 billion worldwide gross from 2009’s Avatar. 

However, that is not going to happen as Star Wars: The Force Awakens is “falling faster than expected in China.”

Now it’s even questioned if Star Wars will surpass Titanic ($2.18 billion).

Forbes notes in China, Star Wars is peforming ($150 million) less than: Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($165m), Avatar ($209m), Jurassic World ($228m), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($240m), Transformers: Age of Extinction ($320m), and Furious 7 ($390m).

While Disney did market the movie in China, the article notes that the movie may be considered a “rip off” by the Chinese as they are new to Star Wars and have seen similar movies like it in the past 35 years.

China Film Insider even reports younger audiences found Star Wars: The Force Awakens boring, and the movie has failed to be a hit with the younger generation.

“Perhaps what should be most disconcerting to Disney are reports that younger moviegoers in third- and fourth-tier cities, the demographic fueling China’s booming box office and the target of Disney’s marketing bonanza—the foundation for its future success in the country—were confused by the plot and even heard snoring during screenings,” the site reports.

Chinese social networks are also responding negatively to Star Wars: The Force Awakens:

“If a science fiction film lacks imagination then what makes it different from a soap opera? The story was completely in service to fans of the original trilogy and it only relied on razzle-dazzle effects. The most laughable element is that all the force in the galaxy could belong to one family. Creating nostalgia while introducing a new conceptual story doesn’t have to conflict.”

Our own movie reviewer was left scratching his head after viewing the movie, and let me remind you about my earlier tweet:

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Back when Force Friday was first launched, it was said more Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise would be revealed following the release of the movie as to avoid spoilers.

Well, typical to the internet, some fans went nuts as not many Rey toys were available, with cries of misogyny and male chauvinism hitting various social networks.

And typical of the internet, they were wrong as Disney was simply holding back on Rey as to avoid the spoiler that she is the star of the film.

Now that the movie is out, Disney has unveiled their Wave 2 line of figures for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where we see Rey is promintely featured. Happy?

Check out the pics (via EW):

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Check out video of what looks to be the First Order Stormtroopers and Chewbacca Halloween costumes for Star Wars: The Force Awakens which will be available next October.

We’ve also seen costumes for:

Batman Vs. Superman, and Aquaman

Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther

Deadpool

Daredevil

The Flash and Black Canary

Female Ghostbusters

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong’o and Gwendoline Christie will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

Update: we were asked to take these down.

Check out a cool batch of behind-the-scenes photos from members of the crew of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong’o and Gwendoline Christie will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

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Disney has released even larger sized images of Supreme Commander Snoke and Maz from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

In addition, a Redditor has manipulated the color of the Snoke image, which offers an even closer look at the big bad’s features.

You can also check out video about the theory that Snoke may actually be Darth Plagueis.

And here are the official descriptions of the characters:

Supreme Leader Snoke

The Supreme Leader of the First Order, the mysterious Snoke has no permanent base of operations, preferring to contact his underlings from a mobile command post. Snoke is powerful with the dark side of the Force, and seduced Kylo Ren into abandoning the Jedi path to become his apprentice. But Snoke also commands General Hux and the technological war machine the First Order has engineered to destroy the New Republic and Leia Organa’s Resistance.

Maz Katana

Maz Kanata is more than a thousand years old, a diminutive being with vast experience at surviving in the underworld. From her castle on Takodana, Maz has seen galactic powers rise and fall and felt the Force ebb and flow, seeking an elusive balance between darkness and light. She has given many a young smuggler a start by offering credits, equipment or connections, and helped many an old friend rediscover a lost path. 

Click to enlarge:

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Is it safe to say that just about everything in Star Wars: The Force Awakens is borrowed from previous material? Which is actually cause for a lot of complaints…

Spoilers follow for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

We know that The Force Awakens is a big time homage to A New Hope, but now it’s also learned that the Han Solo death scene was actually first played out in a video game. Obviously the scenes aren’t exactly the same, but watch the Han Solo death scene from the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2—Battle of Endor video game below which sees Han take a lightsaber right in the chest — virtually the exact same spot of Kylo Ren’s own finishing blow (via CBR).

Maybe there is something to that George Lucas petition?

And here are the images to compare:

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It wasn’t Han Solo, or Chewy, or Luke, or Finn, Rey, Poe or BB-8 that stole the show in Star Wars: The Force Awakens — it was the bad arse Stormtrooper that yelled “Traitor!”

And now he has a name.

If you’ve been online, you certainly have seemed various memes and videos associated with the Stormtrooper (aka TR-8R), and now LucasFilm has revealed his name.

The Stormtrooper is known as FN-2199, but his friends call him “Nines,” and Nines is also a part of the Greg Rucka’s Star Wars book, Before the Awakening: 

Nines trained and served on a squad with Finn (then FN-2187) in the First Order (see image below). That explains why he seems just a little extra angry upon seeing Finn during the attack on Maz’s Castle.

The name of Nines’ mace is also revealed; it’s a Z6 Baton.

He’s riot control, and part of an elite squad that enforces order or squashes uprisings. While their weapons are non-lethal in theory, the Z6 can definitely cause harm or kill an opponent when used with brute force. 

Skywalker Sound sound editor David Acord provided the voice, and while Nines did get blasted by Han Solo, maybe we’ll see him again in a galaxy far, far away…

Update: Nines is played by Liang Yang, a veteran stunt performer.

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With the release of the recent high-res images of Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens came comments from Andy Serkis about just who the big bad really is.

There’s a theory that’s been going around online that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis, the Sith Lord that trained the Emperor.

Serkis told EW.com the following about Snoke:

“Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful,” Serkis says. “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.”

The article goes on to state that Snoke isn’t Darth Plagueis, and while Serkis isn’t quoted directly as stating it, EW notes:

Although there was much speculation about who Snoke might turn out to be (one popular theory was that he’d turn out to be a Sith Lord known from the prequels as Darth Plagueis) he actually turns out to be … just Snoke.

Serkis said the character was aware of the events from the earlier films but was a new addition to the storyline.

There is just one problem in that it should be noted EW.com is using quotes from an older article from November. So what gives? Is EW just providing spin to steer people in the wrong direction?

Honestly, I’m still not sold on Snoke not being Darth Plagueis – as Serkis didn’t specifically deny or say it – but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In additon, the John Williams music scores match up, and reportedly, Disney told a movie podcast to scrap mention of Plagueis.

Another theory has aalso popped up online regarding the look of Snoke, is that he may be blind in one eye. A Redditor manipulated the image, which may hold some truth to it as Snoke’s left eye does look blind.

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Check out an explanation for Kylo Ren’s lightsaber design in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is pretty much what everyone thought when we first seen it in the teaser — that Kylo didn’t really have a clue how to construct one.

The info comes from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary (via Blastr):

Though Kylo’s weapon evokes an ancient feel, its components are modern. Its crude appearance suggests construction by an inexperienced hand.

The stressed crystal barely contains the power of the weapon, necessitating lateral plasma vents that become the crossguard quillons.

It’s also stated that Kylo used a “cracked kyber crystal” which explains the “ragged, unstable appearance” and “unstable plama blade matrix.” 

And the reason for the crossguard blades? They help balance the power of Kylo’s lightsaber.

Here is a pic. Click to enlarge:

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“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is  directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong’o and Gwendoline Christie will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.