Star Wars Bits: Celebration Europe, Disney Infinity 3.0, Star Wars Rebels, Battlefront, More Force Friday
This week isn't done quite yet, and neither is the steady stream of Star Wars news. After the jump:
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Planning to attend Star Wars Celebration Europe in London next summer? If you don't already have tickets, you may have just hit a speed bump. Saturday adult tickets for the event have sold out already, as announced on Facebook. Three-day passes sold out last month.
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Star Wars Celebration Europe Saturday Adult Tickets are sold out. Buy Single Day Tickets here: http://bit.ly/1Vdty90 #SWCE
Posted by Star Wars Celebration on Thursday, August 27, 2015
Friday and Sunday passes are still available. And ticket holders are allowed to sell their passes if they can't go, so you might luck out if someone you know changes their plans. But if you haven't gotten your tickets already, you'll definitely want to figure something out ASAP.
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Lucasfilm's brand creative director Hez Chorba and Avalanche Software's vice president of art development for Disney Infinity Jeff Bunker talk about the challenges and the process of bringing Star Wars Rebels characters to life in Disney Infinity 3.0.
"Early on," Chorba explains, "we got to a philosophical way of working. I work with a lot of teams this way, whether it's on Battlefront or Infinity: We always envision the characters as real human beings." This methodology levels the playing field, essentially; if all Star Wars characters have real-world counterparts, they can be adapted to the same style in another medium. "When we go and look at the Infinity style," Chorba continues, "we go, 'What would these characters look like if they were photo-real?' and we build down. Sometimes we might take photographs of people that look like these characters. This was a unique challenge with Rebels, because these characters are brand new. We had no live-action reference."
Learn much more at StarWars.com.
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Disney XD has yet to announce when Star Wars Rebels will return, but a leaked trailer may have given it away. While the video itself has been yanked, the screenshots below (via Star Wars Underworld) suggest we can expect Season 2 to hit October 14.
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October 14th is the premiere date for season two of Star Wars Rebels!
Posted by Rebels Report on Thursday, August 27, 2015
Those attending New York Comic-Con will be able to see the Star Wars Rebels Season 2 premiere even earlier, as the first two episodes will be screened there October 8. Expect an official date announcement from Disney XD soon.
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We already tipped you off to plans to hand out Drew Struzan's Star Wars: The Force Awakens poster in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco on Force Friday. But even the Disney stores not involved with that particular promotion are going big. The Disney Store on Chicago's North Michigan Avenue will play host to one of the unboxing events, broadcast live on YouTube's HobbyKidsTV.
Meanwhile, at all Disney Stores, the first 100 guests to make a purchase will get free commemorative Force Awakens pins, and customers can enjoy story time, craft activities, a Topps vintage trading card giveaway, and more. Get all the details at DisneyStore.com (via Rebel Scum).
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The question isn't whether Star Wars: The Force Awakens is gonna kill it at the box office. It's exactly how hard it's gonna kill it. Some prognosticators are wondering if it could make $615 million worldwide in its opening weekend. For comparison, Jurassic World set the record with $524 million earlier this summer.
Meanwhile, others are arguing that such outsized expectations are only setting The Force Awakens up to fail — because at this point, anything less than an absolutely record-obliterating performance is going to be considered a disappointment. Hear out each side of the debate at Deadline and Forbes.
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While BB-8 got his close-up and Finn demo-ed Instagram's new non-square format, Gwendoline Christie's Captain Phasma stormed the cover of German Star Wars magazine, flanked by a couple of Stormtroopers. Check it out:
I'm kind of dying to know what the Jar Jar article is about, to be honest. Any German /Film readers want to let us know? Anyway, according to Jedi Bibliothek (via Making Star Wars), the issue is out October 7.
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A glimpse inside the upcoming book Star Wars: Ships of the Galaxy has yielded a new look at the First Order star destroyer — and a name. It's called "Finalizer."
Is that name dorky or badass? Discuss amongst yourselves.
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Take a peek inside Star Wars #9, written by Jason Aaron with art by Stuart Immonen. According to the very excitable synopsis, "Luke's lightsaber has been stolen and he must retrieve it! Meanwhile, the Imperials are closing in on Han and Leia... set upon them by a mysterious woman from Han's past!"
Star Wars #9 hits September 16. Head to Comic Book Resources for more info.
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The Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer took us to the desert planet of Jakku, still littered with the debris of a fight that took place there years before. And with this winter's Star Wars Battlefront, fans will get to experience the Battle of Jakku for themselves. See two new pieces of concept art from the game:
Star Wars Battlefront hits shelves November 17. The Battle of Jakku DLC lands December 1 for those who pre-order the game, and December 8 for everyone else. More details at EA.com.