Star Wars is the Keith Richards of Movies. The only difference being that one day, Keith Richards will actually die (for real) and Star Wars will live on. Just when you think interest in Star Wars is waning or going away, something happens to bring it right back to life. News is more frequent and now that Disney owns the whole mess, expect the merchandising to get even bigger. Whatever you’ve seen from Marvel in the last few years, that’s what you’re going to get with Star Wars and Lucasfilm. You’ll see new films, TV shows, comics, games and much much more. Here are a few recent news bits I thought you might enjoy and Happy Holidays!
STARWARSHOPPING
The Wall Street Cheat Sheet has released their list of 10 great Star Wars gifts that are good all year long as far as I’m concerned. There are a few here that I’m surprised haven’t been available sooner like the Chewbacca messenger bag, which is genius. My favorite is the Boba Fett hoodie, which I want for myself. There’s something for everyone on this list from kids to adults so check it out and get shopping.
Link: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/10-star-wars-gifts-that-are-strong-with-the-force.html/?a=viewall
STAR WARS: ATTACK SQUADRONS
Disney Interactive is releasing a new free-to-play online Star Wars game called Star Wars: Attack Squadrons. The game appears to be a re-imagination of the old X-Wing and TIE-Fighter games from Lucasarts, but the online feature should expand this experience quite a bit. The details are sparse but according to Starwars.com the game is open-web (open world?) and will feature multiplayer space combat. You’ll be dogfighting in familiar Star Wars environments in no time.
While it’s free, I’m sure there will be some sort of micro-purchasing going on, much like with the fun little time-waster Tiny Death Star, which I’m currently sucked into both on my phone and my PC at home, although I refuse to spend money on it. You’ll most likely be able to play the game just fine without purchasing anything, but the current trend with these “free-to-play” games is that there are things you can buy which will speed up in-game features, perhaps like ship upgrades and such.
They’re also allowing people to sign up as beta testers so if you’re interested, pilot your X-wing over to Disney and sign up!
Link: http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-attack-squadrons-space-combat-game-coming-soon.html
MYTHBUSTERS & STAR WARS = WIN
Mythbusters is the kind of show I really enjoy. While I haven’t seen every episode, I watch it whenever I can because I enjoy actual REALITY in my reality TV. Beside that, the cast is great and you actually learn stuff. The show is always fresh and funny. An all-new season premiers this January featuring a Star Wars themed episode. See what Jamie, Adam, Kari (yummmm), Grant, and Tory have in store in their sneak peek trailer.
Link: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters
THAT EPISODE VII MOVIE
Reports on various websites are stating that the script for Star Wars: Episode VII (started by Michael Arndt and being completed by Larry Kasdan and Director J.J. Abrams) is going to be turned in by January 2014. Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn has gone public with the budget of $200 million, which would make it the most expensive Star Wars film to date. I’m sure persuading Harrison Ford alone was an expensive venture, so who knows if the $200mil will stick or inflate even more as time goes on. While no major (human) casting announcements have been made, George Lucas has mentioned publicly that Luke, Leia and Han will be in the new film(s) in their iconic roles. The film is set to be released on December 18, 2015.
More as it comes in…