Peter Mayhew Confirmed for Star Wars: Episode VIII. The Actor Teases Big Announcement Coming Soon!

A few days ago, when the official announcement about the start of principal photography for Star Wars: Episode VIII was released, many people noticed that Peter Mayhew’s name was not among the announced cast. Some fans feared the worst thinking that the 71-year-old actor probably won’t return for Episode VIII due to his knee problems. Well, we’re happy to announce that our favorite Wookiee will return for Rian Johnson’s take on the galaxy far, far away, and not only that but Peter might also have a surprise in store for all of us…



The confirmation came after Mayhew had to cancel his appearance at this year’s Visioncon in Branson this month. (via news-leader.com)

Andrea Smith, spokeswoman for the southwest Missouri sci-fi convention, said Peter Mayhew was called to London to begin filming Star Wars: Episode VIII. “They start filming tomorrow,” Smith said Wednesday. “There was another convention this weekend; he had to cancel that, too. It’s not just us, it’s like, seven conventions.”

It’s nice to see that Peter will have a long presence on the set. Canceling 7 conventions is no joke.

And if this news was not enough, the actor announced on Twitter that he is going to be releasing a few pages each day from his own script of the original Star Wars, that will lead up to a big announcement.

Starting today I'll post a few pages from my original @StarWars script each day leading up to a big announcement. pic.twitter.com/ReXI4hyQo1

— Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) February 17, 2016

That’s really cool. This actually is the fourth draft of the script for A New Hope and it is titled “Journal of the Whills” by George Lucas. It was released in January 1976 and as you can see still has Luke as Starkiller.


Looking forward to the next post. In the meantime what do you think the big announcement will be about? Tell us in the comments below.

An Original Film Print of Star Wars Has Been Restored and Released Online

Whether or not you see George Lucas’ tinkering with the original Star Wars trilogy as 

harmless meddling or the greatest sin committed in cinematic history, it’s a shame that fans don’t even have the choice to purchase HD versions of the original theatrical cuts. But now, at least, a restored version of the first Star Wars is available online.

This isn’t a “despecialized edition” like many other fan attempts to revert Lucas’ changes. Somehow, a group of fans dubbing themselves Team Negative One found an original 35mm film print of the first Star Wars movie, and have spent years cleaning it up, scanning each frame of film and digitally restoring it to make the cleanest version of the original movie as possible. You can check out a video comparing the state of the original film reel and the final, cleaned version below:

Team Negative One’s re
storation is meant to be more faithful than the only publicly released HD version of the theatrical cuts made available as DVD bonuses in a 2006 release of the original trilogy (which themselves were taken from the Laserdisc release of the movies and suffered from detail loss in the transfer process). It’s by no means a perfect restoration, with some graininess and color differences, and you won’t get the sharp image of the Blu-ray releases, changes and all, but it’s the closest there’s ever been to a true restoration of the original Star Wars.
Due to the highly dubious legality of releasing the restoration, Negative One has remained relatively quiet about putting the restored film online; it began seeding its way through the internet about a month ago, but it’s only just started receiving wider attention as more and more fans discover it. Obviously because of this, we can’t directly link to where to download the restoration, but should you desire to see it, it’s not exactly difficult to find if you go looking.
You can check out the link below to see more comparisons between the restoration and the original print, as well as the 2011 Blu-ray release of the film.

‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’: Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern Join Cast

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Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro have joined the cast of “Star Wars: Episode VIII,” Disney confirmed on Monday.

The studio also announced that newcomer Kelly Marie Tran will have an unspecified role in the latest installment of the space opera.
Dern scored Oscar nominations for her work in “Rambling Rose” and “Wild,” and effectively ducked velociraptors and T-Rexes in “Jurassic Park.” Upcoming projects include Jennifer Fox’s “The Tale” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women.”

See More:‘Star Wars,’ Theme Parks Power Disney to Record Q1 Earnings

Del Toro scored an Oscar playing a morally conflicted cop in “Traffic,” earned another nomination for “21 Grams” and headlined the likes of “Sicario” and “Savages.” He next reprises his role as the Collector in “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.” An earlier Variety report said that Del Toro will play the villain role in the new “Star Wars.”

Principal photography on “Star Wars: Episode VIII” begins Monday at Pinewood Studios in London. The film hits theaters on Dec. 15, 2017, when it should mint money.
“Looper” director Rian Johnson wrote the screenplay and will replace “The Force Awakens'” J.J. Abrams behind the camera. Cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie and Andy Serkis will all return for the latest sequel.

Mark Hamill finally has his say on that Luke and Leia incest kiss in Star Wars

It is one of the most memorable kissing scenes in movie history – for all of the wrong reasons – and Luke Skywalker’s snog with Princess Leia has become a bit of a joke among Star Wars fans. 
Let’s face it, you either have to laugh or cry. Or vomit.
To be fair to Luke and Leia, they had no idea that they were engaging in incest when their lips met in The Empire Strikes Back – Luke only learned that she was his sister in Return Of The Jedi.
And now, Mark Hamill has finally spoken about his character’s unfortunate (and only) romantic moment in the original trilogy by pointing out that while we may all laugh, it was actually understandably traumatic for poor Luke.
He tweeted:

It's a big joke & everyone has a good laugh, but for Luke it was TRAUMATIC! Seriously, a life-altering experience. https://t.co/IKBBtV2omK

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) February 10, 2016

Yeah, fair point.

Best not to mention that there was actually an alternate kissing scene filmed too, which didn’t make the cut:

Hamill, often answers Star Wars questions posed by his 905k followers on the social media site:

Much too long!They'd lift me into an L-shape b'tween takes to avoid the blood rushing to my head. Lost weight though https://t.co/5kVVnNK4E3

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) February 12, 2016

I was convinced I could wear anything & remain unnoticed alongside Carrie (as long as she was dressed like that). https://t.co/Jx8Fas4NWc

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) February 13, 2016

All the more reason to follow him, then. He only needs 95,000 more to reach 1 million. Help a Jedi out:

Why not just encourage 103,000 of your closest friends to follow me so we can finally reach the big 1M? #GreedyMe https://t.co/voMLOGLYNw

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) February 10, 2016

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/02/14/mark-hamill-finally-has-his-say-on-that-luke-and-leia-incest-kiss-in-star-wars-5681271/#ixzz40GW4Wyv6

New Han Solo: A Star Wars Story Casting Rumors

With Rogue One filming almost finished and the start of principal photography for Episode VIII, we will briefly move our focus further in the future and discuss a new rumor we heard about the cast for the second stand alone movie – Han Solo…

POTENTIAL SPOILERS!

You probably remember the rumor that actor Taron Egerton (Kingsman) was wanted to play the lead in the upcoming Han Solo film. The rumor first originated from the tabloid The Sun back in February 2015. Since then there were multiple reports on many young actors who supposedly tried their luck to score the dream role. Surprisingly Taron’s name was not mentioned in the recently revealed list of actors that possibly auditioned for the role.



Now we’ve learned from a source that Egerton is still on the wanted list. And not only that, but he actually already auditioned more than once for the role. We can also add another name to the list of actors being eyed for the role of the famous scoundrel – Alden Ehrenreich.



What’s interesting is that according to our source, both actors auditioned separately and together. This means that they might be up for two different roles. They were screen tested using a script that suggested that they are both related. This script of course had nothing to do with the Han Solo script. You probably remember that for TFA actors read a scene from The Hunger Games for Finn and Rey. So we can’t say for certain that the close relation between the two characters will remain in the movie as well. Our source even thinks that actually Han Solo might have a brother, but for now we put that under the rumors column. Let’s just say that a major male family member is up for casting and that it is of the same type as Han.

The source also confirmed that some of the already released names did audition, but what’s interesting is that they were doing it in pairs as well as single auditions.



While our source was pretty confident for the accuracy of the above report he also mentioned another interesting casting possibility that is still not confirmed. So take it with the usual dosage of salt. According to him, Idris Elba met with Lucasfilm recently. We’re not sure for what role he might be considered if any, but keep that in mind.

It’s interesting that Elba was recently announced to be in talks to star in the romance drama “The Mountain Between Us” at Fox 2000. The most recent draft of the screenplay was written by Rogue One writer Chris Weitz.


Special thanks to Pelican for supplying the news.

Fan mashup of 'Mario Kart' and 'Star Wars' is a gaming dream

'Star Kart' would be an instant pre-order... if it were real.

If you're like me, you spent your youth imagining what it'd be like if your favorite fictional universes got together -- heck, Aliens vs. Predator and Kingdom Hearts are practically kids' dreams made real. Well, some fans weren't willing to keep their fantasy locked in their heads. YouTube team Dark Pixel made Star Kart, a video mashup of Mario Kart and Star Wars that's pretty much the blend you'd hope it would be. The project (which took a year to produce) has Mario, Yoshi and crew racing Star Wars ships across a galaxy far, far away, complete with cute touches: shells replace laser cannons, getting knocked out means leaving hyperspace... and of course there's a Death Star trench race. Frankly, we wish Disney and Nintendo would find a way to make this a proper game, even if it's just a Mario Kart 8 add-on.

Star Wars: Episode VIII has started filming

Disney CEO Bob Iger updates investors on the galactic franchise.
Filmmaker Rian Johnson is already making a few special modifications to the Star Wars universe. The director (best known for Brick and Looper) has started rolling cameras on Star Wars: Episode VIII, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
The galactic sequel was set to begin in January, but principal photography was pushed back a few weeks around the same time the movie’s release was shifted from May 2017 to December of that year.

Iger provided updates on the studio’s ever-expanding Star Wars universe during The Walt Disney Co.’s quarterly earnings call, touting the gargantuan financial success of the The Force Awakens. It is only the third film in history to collect more than $2 billion at the global box office, and the only domestic release to collect more than $900 million. In addition, he said it earned more than $3 billion globally in consumer products.
Iger said the company had a simple strategy for the future of Star Wars: don’t lose sight of what sold all those tickets and merchandise.
“There is no better way to propel this franchise into the future than producing quality products,” he said. “Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII, the next chapter of the legendary saga, has just commenced and it will be in theaters December 2017. And production of Episode IX, a 2019 release, has also begun.”
That third film in the franchise will be directed by Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed filmmaker Colin Trevorrow. Exactly what Iger meant when he said production had begun is unclear, given how far off that movie is — and how much Lucasfilm still has to deliver before that.
“Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we’ve seen so far,” he said, of the heist story about Rebel plans to steal the blueprints for the original Death Star. (The film, directed by Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards, will be released Dec. 16.) “This is the first of a set of planned stand-alone stories and we’re already in preproduction on our next one, for release in May of 2018.”
That one would be the announced “young Han Solo” movie, which The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are making, based on a script by Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon Kasdan. While Disney has been shifting Star Wars release dates from spring to the winter holidays, Iger’s announcement that young Han Solo would remain in May, at least for now, was a surprise.
For more Star Wars news, follow @Breznican. Sound off in the comments about what else you hope to see from this franchise in the future.
Finally, Iger confirmed that the company planned to break ground later this year on new Star Wars attractions at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
If they start digging a trench with a giant cannon in the center, we’ll know Disney’s plans for world domination have gone too far

Han Solo, Princess Leia and Kylo Ren finally get a corny family photo

Who is the real villain: the dude who ditched his family for the Dark Side, or the parents who made him pose for a family photo even though he just wanted to sulk in his bedroom?
A Star Wars fan on Reddit gave Han Solo and Princess Leia the picture-perfect family photo they never got using the force of Photoshop, and it's kind of unsettling.

See also: 7 things you didn't know about Adam Driver

And since this is Reddit, people are photoshopping the original photoshopped picture.

Image: Imgur, https://www.reddit.com/user/scarymoose

Kylo Ren will probably be going for a Skrillex look by the time it's time for the Christmas card. Dark warriors — they grow up so fast!
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

The NFL meets 'Star Wars:' Helmet designs from a galaxy far, far away

See what the helmets of NFL teams would look like if they were set in the 'Star Wars' universe.

Disney is poised for an earnings lift from 'Star Wars' amid angst over ESPN

Since early August, seven analysts who cover Disney have downgraded its stock. Above, actor Gilles Marini with Mickey Mouse at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World in Florida in 2013. (David Roark / Disney Parks via Getty Images)

Walt Disney Co.'s "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is expected to cross the $2-billion mark at the box office this week, becoming just the third film to reach that lofty plateau.
The blockbuster space opera is the opening act in a multiyear push by Disney to infuse its various businesses with the "Star Wars" brand, generating billions of dollars in revenue for the Burbank entertainment giant.
Investors and analysts have cheered the plans, but that hasn't yet translated to gains on Wall Street. Amid a wider market downturn, Disney's stock has declined 19% in the last three months, the steepest drop among rivals Time Warner Inc., 21^st Century Fox Inc., Comcast Corp. and Viacom Inc.
See more of Entertainment’s top stories on Facebook >>

Shares of Disney have been in a slump since August, when concerns over the strength of its television business in the face of cord-cutting and questions about the high cost of sports rights led to a sell-off of many publicly traded media and entertainment firms.

This subject is likely to surface again Tuesday when Disney reports fiscal first-quarter earnings. Though "Star Wars" merchandise and movie ticket sales are expected to provide a big boost to the company, challenges in the TV business remain a lingering concern among many analysts and investors. Nielsen Co. said last summer that ESPN had lost about 3 million subscribers over the prior year.
"We are concerned about the ESPN situation, television itself, the whole television industry," said Janna Sampson, co-chief investment officer of OakBrook Investments, which owns about $25 million of Disney stock. "Are there continuing subscriber losses [at ESPN]? Any new issues? … I think people will be focused on that."
The subscriber losses mean that Disney will collect less money from pay-TV operators for the right to carry its content. Those cable programming fees generate huge profits for Disney and other media companies with cable TV channels.
ESPN long has been a cash cow for Disney and the biggest contributor to the company's lucrative cable group, which produced $16.6 billion in revenue and operating income of $6.8 billion for fiscal 2015.

Star Wars 8: C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels threatens to reveal plot, director intervenes

Most of the Star Wars cast hold an Omerta-like code of silence regarding plot spoilers, but not C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels, who finds the whole thing kind of stupid.
Ahead of The Force Awakens, he recalled:
“I said that I’d met so-and-so. An actor who plays a … thing in the film. A character. Immediately I received a message from Disney: ‘Remove the tweet! You’re not allowed to say that!’ Honestly. It’s a kind of Kremlin attitude.”
This week he had more Disney reps sweating, tweeting: “Just read Ep VIII and thought I'd share the story with you because I know you can't wait to hear it too. You do want to hear it. Don't you?”

He was probably joking, but still the ‘yaaaaas’ replies rained in.

Director Rian Johnson (who also wrote the script for the sequel) was having none of it however, interjecting:

.@ADaniels3PO pic.twitter.com/fUi2lx4nj7

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) January 31, 2016

So far Disney has managed to keep the Star Wars: Episode VIII plot under wraps, although we do know - and this is a good thing - that it’s going to be ‘weird’.

 Star Wars 7: Frank Oz Yoda Scene Was Cut From The Force Awakens

As Star Wars – Episode 7 drives towards a $2 billion box office haul around the world, fans are still being treated to interesting behind-the-scenes details and pre-production ideas that didn’t make the final Force Awakens cut. From the conceptual origins of new franchise stars Rey and Finn to the practical effects behind some of the film’s best moments, fans have plenty of trivia to digest as they wait for Disney’s first Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One, to arrive on December 16th.
Deleted scenes are always a fun opportunity to reflect on what could have been – in contrast to what ultimately hit theater screens. Since J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan drastically reworked Michael Arndt’s original Star Wars 7 script, crew members have already revealed a number of interesting changes and cut sequences that were considered but dropped before, during, and after filming. Most of the deleted scenes simply offered more insight into characters that were already fleshed-out by the slimmer Force Awakens cut – while others provided a bit more screen time and/or development for new cast members. Nevertheless, some were more substantive – including a sequence that would have featured the return of a fan-favorite Jedi master from the original trilogy: Yoda.

While attending the American Cinema Editors awards, Force Awakens editor Maryann Brandon revealed to Entertainment Tonight that Yoda had been considered for inclusion in Star Wars 7 – indicating the idea went far enough to warrant a visit from puppet master Frank Oz.There was one point where we were actually thinking of having Yoda in the film, and then we decided not to. Frank Oz came in for a day and did a whole bunch of Yoda and he was over the moon to do it — and we were tickled pink!”Unfortunately, Brandon does not elaborate on how Yoda would have been utilized or why, exactly, J.J. Abrams decided not to bring back the beloved Jedi. Still, unlike Yoda’s current cameo in The Force Awakens (in which he is represented by voice only), a “bunch” of work from Frank Oz definitely suggests that a larger role for the deceased Jedi master was under consideration at one point.How long the character was considered and where Oz visited with Abrams isn’t clear either. It’s possible Abrams only explored the idea of including Yoda for a few days in pre-production and brought Oz in for a relatively informal creative meeting – or, conversely, the character could have been up for a much larger part and Oz came to set during filming. Until Brandon or someone else specifies, there’s no way of knowing how much, or how little, screen time Yoda might have been given in Star Wars 7.

Since there were no murmurs of Oz on set, in juxtaposition to Simon Pegg’s work, it’s more likely that Oz (and the idea of including Yoda) were part of pre-production meetings – as Abrams and Kasdan began refining The Force Awakens script. That said, it’s still fun to think about how the character might have been depicted and where he would have fit into the film. The most obvious way to include the now Force ghost Jedi would have been in Rey’s Force flashback – but, again, the suggestion that Oz came in for a day certainly hints at a more substantive part. Assuming the visit from Oz was early in the process, maybe Yoda was, at one point, going to appear as a Force ghost to help guide Rey on her journey to Skywalker (or possibly narrate the entire Force vision).It’s similarly unclear what “doing a bunch of Yoda” actually means. Was Abrams going to ditch the prequel CGI model in favor of a practical Yoda puppeted by Oz or did Oz come in and “do” Yoda in a voice over booth? Given that Abrams tried to do everything he could with practical effects, the idea of bringing Yoda back to the big screen using modern puppeteering is an exciting one; though, Abrams also turned to CGI effects for the Yoda-like heroine Maz Kanata.After all, Oz’s puppeted Yoda was not particularly well-received in Episode 1 – forcing Lucasfilm to replace the practical performance with a CGI character for the Blu-ray release.Either way, it’s a fun behind-the-scenes detail – and a hopeful indication that we might still get to see Yoda again in a future film.

Admiral Ackbar to Return in ‘Star Wars 8’? 

Admiral Ackbar to Return in ‘Star Wars 8’? While we know that most of the new cast from Star Wars: The Force Awakens is returning for Star Wars: Episode VIII, we haven't heard about some of the more iconic secondary characters from the original trilogy who returned for this new sequel. We now have word that Admiral Ackbar is most likely going to be making his third appearance in a Star Wars live-action movie.

A number of Resistance actors from Star Wars: The Force Awakens were scheduled to appear at the upcoming Pensacon. But two of these actors have had to pull out at the last minute. One of them was expected. As we saw at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Chewbacca and R2-D2 accompanied Rey to Luke Skywalker's secluded retreat, where the action will pick back up in Star Wars: Episode VIII. So it makes sense that Chewbacca will be a big part of this story. While Joonas Suotamo has taken over the heavy lifting for original Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew, it sounds like Mayhew has not fully handed over the reigns of his iconic character just yet. He was pulled out of Pensacon alongside actor Tim Rose, who plays Admiral Ackbar, so that they could shoot a new project together. It has not been confirmed that the project is, in fact Star Wars: Episode VIII, but all signs point to that being the case. Pensacon takes place February 19-21, which lines up with the Star Wars: Episode VIII shoot. Also set to appear at the convention are Jessica Henwick, who plays Jessika Pava, and Mike Quinn, who plays Nien Nunb. There participation is still up in the air, but if they also pull out, this is a good indication that both characters will return in Star Wars: Episode VIII. The official PensaCon released this statement. "Unfortunately, we have some bad news to report this morning, but we prefer to let you know as soon as we know something is happening. Both Peter Mayhew and Tim Rose have been called to report to London for a film project they are working on (It "8" our guests... Wonder what it could be?) and will not be able to attend Pensacon this year. Both send their regrets. We are not sure if this will effect two of our other guests, but we will keep you posted. We are working to book some new guests on short notice, if we can. Thanks for your understanding." It has been speculated that Joonas Suotamo will completely take over for Peter Mayhew at some point, but for now it looks like the original Chewbacca may be appearing in all three new trilogy movies. Joonas Suotamo may go it alone when it comes to the Star Wars Anthology: Han Solo movie, but that hasn't ever been confirmed or denied. So, what do you think? Are you happy to see ol' Admiral Ackbar returning yet again for another live-action movie?..

Star Wars Character Encyclopedia Gets Updated and Expanded With The Force Awakens

I wonder if Leia thinks Han Solo's nerf leather jacket is scruffy-looking?

                 Fans have had years to learn everything they can about every single character in the Star Wars universe, and now, they can find out all there is to know about the characters in The Force Awakens.

Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded was given a sneak peek by the official Star Wars website. It releases in April and is filled with information on every character.

The encyclopedia reveals some new facts about classic characters like Han Solo and new characters like Korr Sella and Grummgar who weren't featured prominently in The Force Awakens. You can check out more images of the encyclopedia here.
It looks like that even with the updates, the entries shown remain largely spoiler-free and don't include many plot details from The Force Awakens.
For those looking to dive even deeper into the Star Wars lore, publisher DK also released a visual dictionary for The Force Awakens back in December. The latest Star Wars movie's list of voice actors was also recently revealed.

 Gwendoline Christie confirms Captain Phasma return in Star Wars: Episode VIII

British actor hopes mainstream success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will encourage more women to audition for parts originally written for men

Captain fantastic ... Gwendoline Christie with fellow cast members Oscar Isaac and John Boyega at Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ world premiere in Los Angeles on 14 December. 

Gwendoline Christie has confirmed she will return to the role of imposing villain Captain Phasma in the forthcoming sequel to box-office record-breaker Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Speaking to People magazine at the Screen Actors Guild awards on 30 January, Christie also said she hoped her achievement in winning the part of a character originally written for a man would encourage greater diversity in Hollywood.
“I will be in the next Star Wars movie. I think that’s an exclusive, actually,” she said. “I was very overexcited. I made no secret of the fact that I really campaigned for the part for a long time. And then I was delighted when JJ Abrams wanted to have me in the film and then wanted to cast me in this role that had originally been designed for a man.”

Star Wars: Episode VIII release delayed to Christmas 2017

Christie, 37, added: “I thought the costume was incredibly striking. I also just liked this notion of a female stormtrooper. I felt it encouraged diversity and it was doing something new and it was an interesting bit of casting for women, and I hope that in something that was such a mainstream success it would breed more of those kind of opportunities for other women.”