Rogue One Will Rerelease In Select IMAX Theaters Ahead Of Andor Premiere
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is back from the dead. The standalone film that took the long-running sci-fi saga in entirely new — and ultimately much darker — direction in 2016 is making a return to theaters ahead of the premiere of "Andor" on Disney+.
The special event will likely be a can't-miss for anyone who's eagerly awaiting Diego Luna's prequel series, as it's set to include an exclusive look at "Andor" according to Fandango. The IMAX-exclusive event will begin August 26, 2022, meaning whatever surprises the footage or featurette that accompanies the movie will contain, "Rogue One" viewers will be seeing them almost a whole month ahead of the show's release.
The IMAX event also boasts a new poster for "Rogue One," a stark, black-and-white design featuring the film's heroes set against an outline of the Death Star. With its minimalist design, the illustrated artwork is a far cry from the "Star Wars" posters fans are used to, which makes it perfect for a movie that turned out to be a total departure from the sagas fans knew when it premiered in 2016.
Lucasfilm
Revisit the standalone story on the big screen
As part of a then short-lived foray into standalone feature storytelling, Gareth Edwards' film holds a unique spot in the "Star Wars" series, but it's also been commended for its originality, too. In Peter Sciretta's review for /Film, he says the prequel film "makes 'A New Hope' a better movie, explaining away some possible flaws and adding to the character motivations." Yet it's also already remembered as perhaps the most tragic entry into the "Star Wars" canon, with an ending that extinguished any hope for "Rogue One" itself ever having a sequel.
It will get its own prequel, though, in the form of "Andor," the two-season series that will explore five years of Cassian Andor's (Luna) life before the events of "Rogue One." Although the spy gets first billing in the series, showrunner Tony Gilroy has hinted to Vanity Fair that the series has an epic scope, with "a huge, orchestral, Dickensian ensemble cast" involving Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma, Stellan Skarsgard's Luthen Rael, and more.
The IMAX rerelease of "Rogue One" will serve to refresh fans' memories about how Andor's story ends, but like any rerelease, it could also have the effect of upping the film's overall box office numbers. Currently, "Rogue One" already holds the third-best spot in "Star Wars" box office history, behind only "The Last Jedi" and "The Force Awakens."
"Andor" will premiere on Disney+ on September 21, 2022, while tickets for the "Rogue One" IMAX event, which begins August 26, will be available on Fandango.