Movie and TV News

A short while ago it was announced that Disney would bring the 4K version of The Empire Strikes Back, which is available on Disney+ and Blu-Ray, to cinemas in the UK and elsewhere. However, now Variety reports that apparently talks with exhibitors broke down and the 4K version will not be shown in theaters after all. Instead a standard 2K version will be screened. No reason was given why the talks broke down or why exactly the 4K version will not be shown.
The next question is if all that many people would actually be eager to watch an old movie they have seen countless times before in a theater with other moviegoers. Cinemas across the world are waiting for the first new big release in months: Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, scheduled for an August 12th release date. Unless the movie gets delayed for a third time. Anyway, for Star Wars Fans it means that you can only watch the 4K version of The Empire Strikes back in the comfort of your home.
But do you think about going to the movies again at all? Or ist that not an option for you at the moment?

I am altering the deal!

Variety broke their exclusive story earlier today: Disney will release the 4K version of The Empire Strikes Back in the UK. Cinemas will re-open in the UK in July and since there is a lack of new titles, with releases postponed and productions shut down, the 4K version of The Empire Strikes Back is meant to help give UK cinemas a boost. According to Variety a couple of Disney 4K titles are offered to UK cinemas, but for Star Wars fans in the UK the 4K version of The Empire Strikes Back may be the one compelling reason to venture into a movie theater again. No word yet if other European countries will also get the movie, Germany and France come to mind immediately, as the two other huge Star Wars markets in Europe, but it would be odd if only cinemas in the UK receive some support from Disney.

So, fans in the UK… will you buy a ticket to see the movie? Or will streaming the 4K version on Disney+ do it for you? Without a mask. Without people checking their smartphones every few minutes. It will certainly be very interesting to see if cinemas can make a comeback. Movie studios certainly still need movie theaters, at least for the time being, since it’s doubtful streaming could compensate for the lack of box office. We’ll see if things return to normal again this summer. Maybe some of the library titles can help overcome the lack of new releases.

Luke tries to keep his distance, even though Vader is wearing a mask

The brand new show “Jedi Temple Challenge” had its first two episodes released a few days ago. The game show is intended for kids, with Ahmed Best returning to the Star Wars universe as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq, who oversees the challenges. So how is the show? Click through for a short discussion!

Ahmed Best as Kelleran Beq

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Happy 43rd Anniversary to the film that started it all: Star Wars. It debuted in 32 theaters across America 43 years ago today! We’d also like to say Happy 37th Anniversary to Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi!

It’s almost unfathomable, but Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back officially turned 40 years old today. We can all celebrate the film’s 40th Anniversary and the impact it’s had on popular culture. Recollect your memories of this prestigious film in our comment.s And don’t forget to include your Kenner memories if you grew up with the toy line at this time too!

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A short while ago it was reported that Temuera Morrison was cast as Boba Fett in season 2 of The Mandalorian. A few days later Timothy Olyphant (Fargo, Deadwood) was revealed to also have a role in season 2 of The Mandalorian. And now Slashfilm has an exclusive scoop that adds another twist to the whole story. Click through for more!

Timothy Olyphant in Deadwood

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Unfortunately there are no ratings for streaming shows and the platforms keep their numbers top secret. So external analytics are performed by companies such as Parrot Analytics that look at a variety of things to determine how successful a streaming show actually is. For this Parrot Analystics analyzes video streaming, social media activity, photo sharing, blogging, comments on fan and critic rating platforms, as well as downloads and streaming via peer-to-peer protocols and file sharing sites. So how does The Clone Wars perform? Spoiler: it’s a success! Click through for more!

The Clone Wars Season 7 is a success

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Seriously delayed due to real life reasons (I moved to a new apartment last week and I still need to unbox and pose 300 figures…) there is finally time to take a closer look at the series finale of The Clone Wars. The 12th and final episode of season 7, “Victory And Death”, provides lots of action and some poignant character moments. It’s everything a fan of the show could ever have hoped for and maybe even more. So let’s discuss the season and series finale of The Clone Wars! Click here or on the banner below for the spoiler discussion!

The leaks (or reveals) for The Mandalorian season 2 continue. After learning that Ahsoka (and possibly Sabine and maybe even Rex!) will be in season 2 of The Mandalorian and that Boba Fett is featured as well, Deadline now reports that Katee Sackhoff, who voiced Bo-Katan Kryze in The Clone Wars, will now play the character in The Mandalorian season 2. Season 2 could very well turn out to be one huge guest star festival with so many prominent characters making an appearance.  Bo-Katan’s inclusion does make sense though, since she may want her darksaber back from Moff Gideon.
How do you feel about the inclusion of yet another Clone Wars character? Ar you excited about the possibilities or do you fear season 2 may get overwhelmed by its various guest stars?

Katee Sackhoff with red hair

Mark Hamill shows his sentimentality on Twitter as revealed by his May 9th tweet. The actor admits that knowing he’s played Luke Skywalker for the last time is a bittersweet thing. Cinema Blend has the full story.

The Hollywood Reporter broke their exclusive story yesterday: Temuera Morrison will portray Boba Fett in season 2 of The Mandalorian! According to the scoop Morrison will only play a small role however. The Hollywood Reporter also confirms that it was indeed Boba Fett who approached a seemingly dead Fennec Shand on Tatooine in season 1. Temuera Morrison has kept himself busy in recent years with movies like Aquaman or the Dora the Explorer movie, he also voiced Boba Fett for various Star Wars video games, this will be the first time he actually portrays Boba Fett in live action.

What are your thoughts? Are you happy that Boba Fett will return and survived the Sarlacc Pit after all?

The Hollywood Reporter has the full story!

The rumors were true after all! A new Star Wars movie and a new Disney+ series were announced today! Click through for more!

Taika Waititi and Leslye Headland

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Check out the latest episode of Galaxy of Adventures: The First Order vs. The Resistance over on the Star Wars Kids YouTube channel.

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Today is not just the day for toy reveals, it’s also time for Order 66. You all know what that means. As season 7 of The Clone Wars draws to a close things seem to turn out very well for the Republic. Dooku is dead, Grievous has been cornered by Obi-Wan, Maul has been captured and the war could very soon be over! And now Ahsoka will accompany Rex to Coruscant as Maul is delivered to the capital to face justice. So what could possibly go wrong with Ahsoka on board a Republic Star Destroyer filled to the brim with clones? Today we talk about “Shattered”, the episode that tells us what happened to Ahsoka when Order 66 was issued. Let the grief counceling begin in the spoiler review of the penultimate The Clone Wars episode “Shattered”, which is yet another masterpiece. Read it by clicking here or on the banner below!

Rex and Ahsoka, best friends forever

Starting today, the Disney+ homepage carousel will feature Star Wars concept art from the legendary Ralph McQuarrie from his 1975 painting of the droids in the desert. For the first time, fans will be able to navigate to a dedicated brand page directly from carousel art. Once immersed in the Star Wars brand page fans will be treated to an adaption of character art from the Star Wars Celebration 2019 commemorative mural by Jason Palmer and other celebrated artists.

The concept art takeover continues on May the 4^th with each film and series’ artwork updated to feature its original concept paintings. Click through for more details and a sneak peek at some of the other Concept Art!

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After successfully capturing Maul on Mandalore, Ahsoka plans to deliver him to the Jedi Council on Coruscant. When Order 66 is declared in the midst of her journey, her world is turned upside down. Friends become foes, and enemies become allies in “Shattered” this Friday, May 1st, followed by the heart-pounding series finale “Victory and Death” on Monday, May 4th on Disney+.

Click through for preview images and video for Shattered!

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If you’ve been holding out buying the physical disk of the last entry in The Skywalker Saga, it looks like May the 4th will be the day to start streaming it on Disney+. Click through for the full press release.

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Most fans will have seen the latest episode of The Clone Wars by now. The perfect time to talk about “The Phantom Apprentice”. In many ways the current arc is a compendium piece to “Revenge of the Sith”, with events in the series unfolding concurrently. And in the latest episode Ahsoka learns the truth. About everything. So what does she do? Click through for the spoiler discussion of “The Phantom Apprentice” by clicking here or on the banner below!

It seems the Cassian Andor series is finally moving ahead. There are some casting news for the show! Mon Mothma will return! And the show has a new showrunner you all know, Tony Gilroy, who was hired to salvage Rogue One previously. Click through for more details and casting news about the series!

Genevieve O’Reilly reprises her role as Mon Mothma

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Check out the latest episode of Galaxy of Adventures: An Unlikely Friendship over on the Star Wars Kids YouTube channel.

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The Star Wars YouTube channel has released an all new trailer for the upcoming behind the scenes documentary show about The Mandalorian! The Mandalorian uses some groundbreaking new tech that may and most likely will revolutionize the way movies and tv shows are made. Interactive LED panels with in camera virtual sets are used to realize most of the shots. And things you thought were shot on location are instead shot in that “LED wall” cage, which also makes for some very natural looking lighting on set. You can see some of that in the trailer! Anyone who’s remotely interested in how The Mandalorian was made should definitely check out the series once it’s released on May 4th. You can watch the trailer by clicking on the image below!

You can see the virtual set with the LED walls

Variety has an exlusive report about an all new Star Wars series for Disney+! According to Variety’s sources the show will be a female-focused series in a new, yet unexplored timeline. Some people think that means “alternate timeline”, as in “alternate universe”, which is most certainly wrong, it merely means that an unexplored section of the timeline will be the setting for the show. Not much else is known. Showrunner is supposed to be Leslye Headland, who is co-creator and showrunner for the Netflix Show “Russian Doll”, which  has been generally well received.
One thing that is more or less certain is the fact that the characters will probably be all new original creations, thus, it won’t be a Dr Aphra or Ahsoka series, unless the “new timeline” premise turns out to be wrong.

What are your thoughts? Are you excited for more Star Wars to come? Another thing is if Leslye Headland will still be showrunner for the yet untitled show in a year from now, considering Lucasfilm’s track record. There has been no official confirmation yet, but Variety usually has reliable sources.

Leslye Headland

Good news everyone! Variety has learned that work on season 3 of The Mandalorian is already underway. In their exclusive report Variety says that Jon Favreau has been writing season 3 scripts for a while now and that the art department under the supervision of Doug Chiang has been creating season 3 concept art for the past few weeks! The Mandalorian is one of the lucky shows that wrapped season 2 production before the current pandemic threw a spanner into the works of many other tv and movie productions. Season 2 will air its first episode in October. And with production on season 3 already beginning there’s good hope that the show will return again in 2021.

Flying to new adventures

Ahsoka leads Republic clones to confront Maul’s forces on Mandalore, while Maul senses the impending chaos and makes a calculated play to ensure his own survival in “The Phantom Apprentice,” an all-new episode of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” this FRIDAY, April 24^th on Disney+.

Click through for preview images and video for The Phantom Apprentice!

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The Clone Wars enters its final stages. The Siege of Mandalore begins! While Anakin and Obi-Wan must rush to Coruscant to ward off an attack by the Separatists under command of General Grievous, Ahsoka and Rex make their way to Mandalore in an attempt to capture the renegade Sith Lord Darth Maul. Read the full spoiler review of “Old Friends Not Forgotten” by clicking here or on the banner below!