Star Wars Celebration and San Diego Comic-Con exclusives, Episode VIII filming news, LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens, and the future of Star Wars film-making coming to Celebration.
By Mike Audette // It was yet another busy week in Star Wars land. Hasbro announced their exclusives for Celebration Europe and San Diego Comic Con. Mark Hamill clues everyone in on when Episode VIII will wrap up shooting. LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens is released, and Episode VIII and Han Solo are coming to Celebration.
Convention Exclusive Figures
Hasbro is all about its exclusives. Last year at San Diego Comic-Con it was the First Order Stormtrooper in the limited-edition packaging. This year, with Celebration and San Diego Comic Con happening back-to-back, Hasbro is doubling down and releasing different exclusives for each convention.
For Celebration, it will be a six-inch Kylo Ren package, unmasked and featuring the melted Darth Vader helmet from the film, as well as a First Order banner and stand. For SDCC, it will be a six-inch Obi-Wan Kenobi package. It will come with two lightsabers (his own and the hilt of Anakin’s), an electronic light-up table, and the blue hologram of Princess Leia presenting her famous plea.
The figures come in at $34.99 and $44.99, respectively. It was later announced that both would be available for purchase on the Hasbro Toy Shop, while supplies last. I remember all the craziness last year with the First Order Stormtroopers, and the absolute insanity it was trying to log on to Hasbro Toy Shop. Since I’ll be attending San Diego Comic Con, I’ll be looking forward to witnessing standing in the crazy lines at the Hasbro booth.
Episode VIII
Mark Hamill dropped some knowledge on Twitter over the weekend, saying that Episode VIII will wrap on Friday, July 22nd. (Which also happens to be my birthday.)
It wraps on Friday July 22nd 2016 #LooseLipsSinkStarships #W8ForVIII #DontBeAHomer #PatienceMyPadawans #Rogue1Sooner https://t.co/92syo6m36d
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) July 2, 2016
Mark will be at Celebration Europe in London, taking place July 15-17. It’s unknown whether all his filming is wrapped up for the film, or if he’s just sneaking away for a few days to take part in the convention. Director Rian Johnson will also be there, but I’ll discuss that a little later.
I’m very interested to see what happens with the marketing for Episode VIII once filming is wrapped up. I’m sure there will be a release for the title of the film. But, will it be released before Rogue One comes out? With films releasing every year, this is a totally new era for Star Wars. To that end, the marketing and information releases need to be extremely deliberate.
Also, if you’re not following Mark on Twitter, you’re doing yourself a disservice. He always has the best hashtags.
LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens
.,This week saw the release of the next installment in the LEGO Star Wars video game franchise. You can now play through The Force Awakens in familiar LEGO Star Wars style and humor. The game allows you to explore Jakku, Takodana, and Starkiller Base in all new adventures. Over on StarWars.com, game director Jamie Eden sat down for an interview with Dan Brooks. They discuss how to faithfully adapt a film while also creating a stepping stone to introduce a new generation to video games and also Star Wars.
One of the biggest new editions for this iteration of the franchise is full voiceover dialogue from the actors. These include recordings right from the film as well as newly recorded lines just for the game. There are also new “Multi-Builds,” allowing the player to build from LEGO pile instead of having only one option. Between this and the Disney Infinity adaptation, it’s been a good time to play video games from this new world.
Celebration Europe
It was announced this week that the closing ceremony for Celebration Europe will be called the “Future Filmmaker Discussion.” The panel will feature the Lucasfilm Story Group’s Pablo Hidalgo as host, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart also of the Story Group, Episode VIII director Rian Johnson, and directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord of the Han Solo Star Wars Story.
What sort of surprises could be coming from this panel? A title for Episode VIII is possible. Maybe the title for the Han Solo story? One thing that I think that should come out of the panel would be the official confirmation that Alden Ehrenreich has been cast as Han Solo for Miller and Lord’s film. It’s been heavily rumored that Ehrenreich has locked down the role but hearing it from Kennedy and the directors would be a huge way to close out Celebration.
Since Celebration Orlando has already been announced the location for the next European Celebration could also be in play. It’s going to be very interesting trying to follow all the news coming from London while being stateside but I’m up for the task. Let’s go!