Star Wars Bits: Josh Trank, Rogue One Set Photos, D23 Expo Force Awakens Merch, Star Wars Emojis, Battlefront And More

By Peter ScirettaAug. 11, 2015 6:30 am EST

In today's edition of Star Wars Bits:

The real reason director Josh Trank is no longer directing the Boba Fett Star Wars Anthology movie?

See the first photos from the set of Star Wars: Rogue One.

See the exclusive Star Wars merchandise that will be available at D23 Expo 2015 this week. It includes some new Star Wars: The Force Awakens pins, shirts and sweatshirts.

Find out where you can get the awesome Star Wars emojis on your phone.

Star Wars Steelbooks are now available for pre-order.

A Star Wars Battlefront Developer Diary video gives us a better look at Fighter Squadron Mode and a new planet that was brought to life in the game.

EA answers Battlefront questions on Twitter

The first Star Wars: The Force Awakens toy has been sold prematurely.

Learn more about what to expect on Force Friday: see the covers for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Monopoly and Battleship board games and get a first look at BB-8 and Kylo Ren watches.

All this and more, in today's Star Wars Bits.

Entertainment Weekly has a fantastic breakdown of what went wrong between director Josh Trank and 20th Century Fox in the making of Fantastic Four. In the breakdown, they mention the real reason behind Trank's exit from Lucasfilm's untitled Star Wars Anthology film which was to focus on bounty hunter Boba Fett:

...Sources close to those films say, without question, Trank was fired from the movie after Lucasfilm executives investigated rumors of the Fantastic Four conflict, talking to numerous figures involved in the movie, and determined he would be too big a risk for a Star Wars film.

This is nothing new or nothing we haven't heard in the rumor mill, but its interesting to see a magazine like EW putting it in print.

Star Wars Force Awakens as Storm Troopers seen chilling http://t.co/8SXqUi1aie pic.twitter.com/aGSYzBnEpi

— Mirror TV (@MirrorTV) August 8, 2015

Mirror Online has the first photos from the set of Star Wars: Rogue One. The newspaper reports that the images are from Star Wars: The Force Awakens reshoots (which are happening, but not in the UK), but they appear to us or anyone with any sense as being from Gareth Edwards Star Wars anthology film currently shooting in London. The images show Galactic Empire Stormtroopers (from the New Hope era) and not the First Order Stormtroopers and landers as seen in the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There are no spoilers to be had here, so feel free to head over to the Mirror's website to see more images from the Rogue One set.

The official Star Wars app which launched last month with games, official videos, a Star Wars news feed, Star Wars animated gifs, soundboards, countdown clocks and more. This week Lucasfilm and Disney updated the app with new quizies, polls, soundboard additions, but the biggest addition is probably the Star Wars emojis, which includes images from all the films, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Clone Wars and and even Star Wars Rebels. The update is only available for IOS devices at the moment, but Android will eventually get the leftovers.

The DisneyBlog has an interview with artist 100% Soft, who we've featured many times before on the site, talking about how he designed the Star Wars emojis. IO9 also has a feature on how 100% Soft created the Emojis.

Last week we told you that the Star Wars series was going to be released as commemorative Blu-ray steelbooks on November 10th 2015. Previously the series was only available on Blu-ray in trilogy or series collections, and not individually. More information in the above link. Now the Star Wars steelbooks are available for preorder online. The individual movie releases are available for $22.49, 10% off the $25 msrp.

D23 Expo 2015 will have some exclusive Star Wars merchandise (including Star Wars: The Force Awakens merch) on sale in the Dream Store. Here is what to expect:

Star Wars: Force For Change Trading Pin Edition: Limited ReleaseRetail: $9.95 Limit TWO (2) This limited release pin features BB-8 from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: Force For Change Adult Tee Retail: $24.95 #234 – Small#235 – Medium#236 – Large#237 – XLarge#238 – 2X#239 – 3XLimit ONE (1) of each size, per Guest This charcoal greay adult tee features a Stormtrooper from Star Wars: the Force Awakens.

Star Wars: Force For Change Ladies Tee Retail: $29.95#246 – Small#247 – Medium#248 – Large#249 – XLarge#250 – 2X#251 – 3XLimit ONE (1) of each size, per Guest This charcoal grey ladies tee features a Stormtrooper from Star Wars: the Fo

Star Wars: Force For Change Adult Fleece Retail: $49.95#240 – Small#241 – Medium#242 – Large#243 – XLarge#244 – 2X#245 – 3X Limit ONE (1) of each size, per Guest This black fleece features a Stormtrooper from Star Wars: the Force Awakens.

Star Wars: Force For Change Youth Tee Retail: $21.95#252 – XSmall#253 – Small#254 – Medium#255 – Large#256 – XLarge Limit ONE (1) of each size, per Guest This black youth tee features a Stormtrooper from Star Wars: the Force Awakens.

R4-D23 Specialized Astromech Droid Retail: $12.95 Limit TWO (2) Part of the Star Wars™: Droid Factory Series, R4-D23 is a single carded collectible action figure.

Princess Kneesa the Ewok Plush Designed by: Jackie Harris Edition: Limited ReleaseRetail: $17.95 Limit TWO (2) Bring home a friend from the forest moon of Endor with this limited release Princess Kneessa the Ewok nine-inch plush inspired by the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars™ RebelsLimited Edition Eachez Vinylmation™ Edition: 1,500Retail: $16.95Dimensions: 3" H Limit TWO (2) This blind boxed Vinylmation™ Eachez features Hera Syndulla as a common (9 out of 10) and Kanan Jarrus as a chaser (1 out of 10).

Gemstop has released a new Star Wars: Battlefront developer diary from EA's Dice Studios, talking about the new Fighter Squadron mode which allows for epic 10 vs 10 dogfights, alongside the ships featured in the mode. We get a glimpse of how they recreated the ships from the movies and created a new world for the game. Watch the developer diary embedded above.

As for Battlefront, EA has answered a bunch of fan questions on twitter this week., MakingStarWars has a good roundup, but here are the highlights:

Character customization will include both males and females. Racial options will include Twi'leks, Sullustans, Zabraks, Quarren and more.

The game will feature 12 maps at launch. In December, EA will add two more maps to the mix with Star Wars: The Force Awakens prequel The Battle of Jakku.

While you can't get in the cockpit of AT-ATs in the game, they will march towards its goal unless they are stopped by the Rebel faction. Empire players will be able to control the AT-AT's weapons and will be able to call orbital strikes.

More player heroes and villains will be revealed soon.

Battlefront missions will be available for both online and offline play, but the multiplayer maps will only be available for online play.

Rebelscum has the story about the first Star Wars: The Force Awakens toy purchased publicly. It looks like the toy was prematurely stocked on store shelves at a Toys "R" Us in Canada. Aside from the First Order Stormtrooper that was exclusively available at San Diego Comic Con International 2015, this is the first Star Wars: The Force Awakens toy to be purchased publicly. Sadly, there isn't much to be learned from this new toy as it is a micromachines set for the Millennium Falcon, and the only noticeable difference is the dish, which was noticed in the first teaser trailer. Click through to Rebelcum to see a ton more images of this and other toys which were on the store shelf.StarWarsUnderworld has a first look at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Monopoly and Battleship sets that will be released on Force Friday.MakingStarWars has a look at some Star Wars: The Force Awakens watch sets, featuring B-8, Kylo Ren, and the First Order stormtrooper.Yakface Forums (via) has come across images of some of the planogram sheets for Walmart's "Force Friday" product reset on September 4th 2015.

A source has passed on to us Wal-Mart's shelf planogram for the upcoming reset for Force Friday. These documents were left in plain sight in store and not obtained through swindle, subterfuge or nefarious means. There are some interesting confirmations revealed on the pages, especially the pegs allotted for 3.75" Black Series figures for The Force Awakens. Click on through for a closer look at space dedicated to figures, vehicles, Hot Wheels, role play, Micro Machines and more.

Head over to the forum to see the images.