Update! Episode VIII and Rogue One Footage Shown During License Expo in Vegas? Different Age Group Being Targeted for Rogue One!

Rian Johnson

Off the heals of the blockbuster smash Star Wars: The Force Awakens, worldwide retail sales of licensed merchandise increased significantly last year. However, one industry professional suggests that a very different age group is being targeted for the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story film that could affect future sales growth.

 

 

The International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), reported Tuesday at the opening of the four-day Licensing Expo at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas that worldwide retail sales of licensed merchandise rose by 4.2% last year to $251.7 billion.

 

Toys, clothing, and other goods, including movies and TV shows merchandise, accounted for 45% of the global retail sales for licensed merchandise, or $113.2 billion — up from $107.2 billion in 2014. To no one’s surprise, sales of licensed merchandise received a huge bump because of the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens taking in over $2.07 billion at the box office.

 

From Deadline:

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens is undoubtedly the story of the year,” LIMA SVP Marty Brochstein says. “It became something that affected everybody else’s business. This is a business of share of mind, and it was tough to get in front of the consumer with other things because Star Wars was so strong.”

 

Toys R Us

Will the merchandise success continue this year with the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story? Brochstein says that a different age group seems to have been targeted  and that could affect future sales growth.

“The natural order of things is that the second year won’t be as big as the first,” Brochstein says. “You have a very different story this year with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It’s for an older audience than The Force Awakens. And by nature those don’t draw as much licensing business…..It would be the natural way if things weren’t quite at the level they were in 2015.”

Rogue One 05

 

From the beginning Rogue One was presented as a war movie, and many fans were hoping to see a dirty and gritty movie from the galaxy far, far away. Then came the rumors about the re-shoots and that they wanted to slightly soften the tone of the movie. This new report continues to support the idea that Rogue One will be a much darker movie, and it’s normal to target an older audience with it. After all, the spin-off movies are something like test projects. Lucasfilm and Disney will be testing different directions and paths to bring new experiences to the fans, and we’re confident that they won’t fail us with Gareth Edwards first movie in a series of upcoming stand alone Star Wars stories.

 

 

Episode VIII

There was also another interesting thing that happened during the event in Vegas. Here’s what Steven Weintraub from Collider posted on Twitter:

 

 

 

We all know that Star Wars Celebration Europe will mainly focus on Rogue One, but showing a footage from Episode VIII makes also perfect sense, since the movie is in its final stages of principal photography. I am sure Rian Johnson and company won’t disappoint the fans.

 

We will keep you updated if more info is revealed about what was shown in Vegas today.

 

 

UPDATE!

 

Steven Weintraub from Collider forgot to mention one little tidbit of news. He also Tweeted that along with the Episode VIII footage seen at the show, a select group got to see a ton of footage from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as well.

 

 

It looks like the possibility that we may get ‘Episode VIII’ and ‘Rogue One’ footage out of Celebration just increased significantly.

The fact that Weintraub mentions that people thought the R1 footage looked great is the best part of the Tweet. Finally, the news that fans (like us) have been looking for.

 

 

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87 thoughts on “Update! Episode VIII and Rogue One Footage Shown During License Expo in Vegas? Different Age Group Being Targeted for Rogue One!

  • June 21, 2016 at 9:54 pm
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    This shall be interesting…

  • June 21, 2016 at 10:13 pm
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    Irrespective of tone and reviews, Rogue One won’t do as well in merchadising or box office because it’s not a saga episode and it’s not coming after an 11 year gap. I’m sure the studio know this already and the merchandising approach will account for this.

    That is not to say, of course, that ot won’t still be a major success. I just don’t think it will do as well as Eps 7 or 8.

    • June 21, 2016 at 10:19 pm
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      Seems accurate enough to predict, but be aware of unexpected things.

    • June 22, 2016 at 12:05 am
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      The 11 year gap means less than quality tho. Episode VII did so well too cause it was good

      • June 22, 2016 at 8:17 am
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        Some of the scenes we saw in the Rogue One teaser were pretty stunning. I fully expect this film to have some great cinematic shots and overall be of excellent quality.

        No matter how good it is though, none of the spin off films will make as much money as TFA did. If it came even close to 1.5 billion I’d be impressed.

        The only films that will have a chance are ep. 8 and 9, and that’s if they receive praise by pretty much everyone.

    • June 23, 2016 at 5:43 am
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      Vader tho.

  • June 21, 2016 at 10:40 pm
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    I’d be surprised if we saw any VIII footage before Rogue One completes its theatrical run.

    • June 21, 2016 at 11:09 pm
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      I wouldn’t. Remember we got a teaser for TFA 1 year before its release. The latest I’d expect something is maybe if they decided to wait and include the teaser for VIII in front of Rogue One. Aside from that I’d expect a teaser to come anywhere between celebration and then.

      • June 21, 2016 at 11:59 pm
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        I wouldn’t use that first TFA teaser as a guide. Disney was trying to reignite interest in the brand. We didn’t get a RO teaser until after TFA’s home entertainment release. It’s really not necessary for Disney to promote the two films simultaneously.

        • June 22, 2016 at 12:05 am
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          Guarantee they will show SOME footage whether it’s a very small peak or more

        • June 22, 2016 at 12:53 am
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          Perhaps the conventions are regarded as “for the fans”, while the ‘official’ trailer releases are “for the public”…… notwithstanding that anything shown at a fan convention will eventually work its way out into the public domain, either as an anecdotal report, or as actual first-hand material (ie, trailer).
          So simultaneously released material might well appear ?? :o)

      • June 22, 2016 at 1:09 am
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        Didn’t the first TFA teaser come towards the end of 2013? Or am I wrong?

        • June 22, 2016 at 2:46 am
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          End of 2014, just over a year before the release date of TFA.

    • June 22, 2016 at 1:03 am
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      I say we get a teaser for Episode VIII with Rogue One definitely.

  • June 21, 2016 at 10:58 pm
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    I keep telling myself to stay away from Rogue One related news, but I just have to at least know a bit more of exactly what kind of movie I’m going to see. Hopefully Celebration will confirm/solidify that this film will live up to the “gritty war film” claims. Be that through panel discussion or a new trailer/featurette.

    • June 22, 2016 at 8:12 am
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      It’s not going to be this super gritty Star Wars war film people think it is, people need to stop expecting that. It’s Star Wars not Saving Private Ryan in space.

      I’d end up being more surprised if it ends up being as dark and gritty as people think it will be.

  • June 21, 2016 at 11:45 pm
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    I’ll believe it when I see it, The only time they ever kept true to promising a “darker” Star Wars sequel was III and even then there was some goofiness to it. Empire doesn’t count since they sort of blindsided everyone with it making everyone think it was going to be you’re standard Hollywood sequel.

    • June 22, 2016 at 12:04 am
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      I thought episode VII was the perfect balance of dark and light tone.

      • June 22, 2016 at 2:02 am
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        Agreed!

      • June 22, 2016 at 5:19 am
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        No, there was too much humour at times. Some ‘serious’ scenes suffered as a result.

        • June 22, 2016 at 7:40 am
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          Boring conversation anyway.

        • June 22, 2016 at 8:08 am
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          A lot of people like humor, you might not but none of the scenes suffered with some humor. Hell, even super dark adult shows like Game of Thrones, and Penny Dreadful have humor in them. If you don’t have humor, the movie becomes too bleak and drab.

          All of the Star Wars films have had a pretty good mix of serious and humorous scenes.

          • June 23, 2016 at 5:30 am
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            I think he means maybe there was too much humor at times and not quite enough dark to balance it. I agree.

          • June 23, 2016 at 11:52 am
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            I’m talking about scenes with Kylo Ren when he’s acting all intimidating and Poe Dameron or whoever cracks a joke, completely shattering the intended illusion.

          • June 23, 2016 at 11:59 am
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            That’s just how Poe’s character is, he’s just a smartass kind of guy.

            Those types of guys exist in real life not caring what’s about to happen to them, they’ll still talk crap to somebody they dislike. I’m sure Poe has heard of Kylo Ren before but has never seen him face to face and it was a perfect time to bring his mythical status down a level by calling him out in front of his troops.

          • June 23, 2016 at 12:13 pm
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            That one didn’t really bother me. It was another one that I hated, but I can’t remember it, and I don’t want to watch the film again just to get it.

          • June 23, 2016 at 9:35 pm
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            Well I can’t help you there.

            The only joke that I thought seemed forced was when Finn goes crazy and says I’m in charge now! I’m in charge now Phasma, granted he probably was pretty excited to finally get the power over her after her breathing down his neck all of those years.

          • June 24, 2016 at 1:43 am
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            I didn’t think it was forced, I just thought it was hilariously bad.

          • June 24, 2016 at 11:30 am
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            Bad in what way?

            Overacting? Forced? Unbelievable line delivery? Overdramatic?

          • June 24, 2016 at 1:24 pm
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            Overdramatic.

          • June 24, 2016 at 10:44 pm
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            You probably would be too, if you have been bossed around by someone most of your life and finally got a chance to take charge. 😉

            Or maybe not, the point is Finn’s character is dramatic. That has to do with the writing and direction.

      • June 22, 2016 at 7:38 am
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        Hell there was more actual blood in TFA than I can recall in the other films. The blood smear on the Finn’s helmet, Kylo was dripping blood into the snow. This guy on here wanted another limb lost, which would have been bloodless like it was in all the other films besides Ponda Baba in the Cantina. What kind of gore did he want?

        • June 22, 2016 at 10:51 am
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          The Wampa’s arm bleeds too in Empire and you see some on Luke’s stump via his tourniquet.

          The charred bodies of The Lars in ANH and dead children in Sith are pretty heavy for kids films too.

          • June 22, 2016 at 11:33 pm
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            I’m still looking for the blood in my copy in the Wampa scene. There was no blood with Luke’s hand cut off. Give me screencaps.

          • June 23, 2016 at 2:40 pm
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            Check the Hasbro packaging of both characters or The Making Of The Empire Strikes Back.

            Blood doesn’t have anything to do with darkness anyway. Monty Python And The Holy Grail as well as The Addams Family film which are both family friendly films have scenes with bleeding stumps in them.

      • June 22, 2016 at 10:48 am
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        It was Episode II dark with the darker scenes being Han’s death, the village raid, and the Starkiller blowing up Hosnian Prime but then you had all the constant meta jokes, Finn dunking his head in the water, and BB-8 giving a thumbs up.

        Empire and Sith are the darkest chapters so far. I’d like to see them aim for that tone again but this is Disney we are talking about here.

        • June 22, 2016 at 7:50 pm
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          The problem is that Star Wars just barely missed the “drenched in shadows and angst” period in pop culture by merely a year or two. RotS just barely grazed it, but you’re right, it was more kid-friendly than not.

          Now here we are, the public is sick of “dark and gritty” (mostly due to people doing it wrong), and Star Wars is starting again after taking a break. So you’re probably right, this won’t be truly “dark”, but we should at least get SOMETHING good out of it.

          At least with AotC’s faults, we got some cool stuff. We got to see the tech-library-esque Jedi Archives, we got to see Obi-Wan in a space dogfight, and we got to see a small army of Jedi all swingin’ their sabers and fighting things.

          • June 23, 2016 at 2:30 pm
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            I don’t think it really works when they mix them. I’d like to see a GOTG or Deadpool type of SW film just like I’d love to see another Sith/Empire. Just not in the same movie.

          • June 24, 2016 at 11:27 am
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            Deadpool is completely comedic and not dark at all just gory and mature. GoTG is pretty light and humorous, on a similar level to TFA.

            I’ve heard people say they want a mature level Star Wars similar to Game of Thrones. I can’t ever see Lucasfilm wanting to do that though, Star Wars at its heart just isn’t that mature. It’s meant for general audiences, wanting a super dark and adult Star Wars is just a long lasting dream at this point.

            Rogue One may be the most mature film we’ll ever get and maybe the Boba Fett film, if that goes through.

          • June 24, 2016 at 1:50 pm
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            That’s what I meant. I’d like to see an openly comedic or even satirical film in the SW universe such as those films at some point where it doesn’t pretend to be anything else other than that. The PT were supposed to be serious films and the kiddie humor just took the bite out of them completely. They don’t mesh together well.

            The closest they came to that was in the KOTOR games, books, and comics which hasn’t been touched yet in the new canon. But with Disney creating a Star Wars land, I don’t see that happening on film or TV anytime soon either. It’s not like the 70’s and 80’s where they could be more experimental with somewhat darker fare like Return To Oz, The Black Hole, and even The Black Cauldron.

            No one seems to want the Fett film. Probably since the PT has ruined him for them but I like the idea of that Fett being an imposter that the real one kills.

          • June 24, 2016 at 10:42 pm
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            I actually kind of like that Fett idea too.

          • June 24, 2016 at 11:28 am
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            ESB mixes humor with dark very well.

            Rots even has quite a few humorous moments especially in the beginning.

          • June 24, 2016 at 1:53 pm
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            It’s the tone they should have aimed for since 1980 but have always been slightly off ever sense. The comedic scenes have a classic comedy sense which I enjoy. Not a huge fan of the meta stuff which is overplayed at this point.

          • June 24, 2016 at 10:41 pm
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            I can see why the meta stuff would be irritating but I feel like that doesn’t bug a lot of the fans and is usually a nice little callback to the previous films.

    • June 22, 2016 at 12:41 am
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      Yes, they also said TFA would be dark and have more brutal lightsaber fights.
      Turns out it was all lies by Disney PR machine. Why didn’t they reveal
      the true reason of the massive re-shoots instead?

      • June 22, 2016 at 10:46 am
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        Episode II as well, McCallum went on for days about how dark it would be and then we got CG Battle Droids, Toddler Fett, and the most unconvincing romance in cinema history.

        • June 23, 2016 at 7:35 pm
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          I think we can characterize that romance as being some very very dark days indeed.

          • June 24, 2016 at 2:09 pm
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            Perfect example that not all offscreen couples have offscreen chemistry.

    • June 22, 2016 at 2:37 am
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      One of the first fanedits that I made was a totally General Grievous free RotS. I loathe him more than Jar Jar Binks. I cut every visual appearance of GG from the movie, he’s really just a McGuffin who serves to take Obi Wan away from Anakin so he only needs to be referred to and not seen. The movie plays a lot better without him (the birth of the rebellion scenes went back in, too).

    • June 22, 2016 at 6:54 am
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      Hi Snarky Poo. Long time no troll.

      Why even bother to see it in order to verify? You hate everything Disney has done, you hate Episode VII, you never had anything happy to say about Gareth Edwards.

      Just Rian Johnson, who will save Star Wars ’cause Looper, in your opinion, was good.

      Just skip over it. Then we don’t have to see you whine about how bad you think it is, even if it’s good.

  • June 21, 2016 at 11:51 pm
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    FOOTAGE FROM EPISODE VIII YES

    • June 21, 2016 at 11:52 pm
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      OH YEAH!

  • June 22, 2016 at 2:44 am
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    Both TFA and R1 are/will be rated PG-13. Let’s not kid ourselves, here. We are not getting Saving Private Ryan in the SW universe and we never were. We are getting a movie with probably the same level of violence and less cute rolly droids and funny bits.

  • June 22, 2016 at 2:57 am
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    Um, an older-audience movie won’t get as much merchandising? Considering how many of the TFA toys went to adults, I kind of doubt that assessment.

    • June 22, 2016 at 6:53 pm
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      But how many of the TFA cookies, lunch boxes, toothbrushes, diapers, napkins, crackers, backpacks, pencil cases, kids’ shoes, kids’ shirts, etc. went to adults? Merchandising is more than just toys.

      “Spaceballs: The Shaving Cream!”

      • June 23, 2016 at 5:16 pm
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        Yeah, I thought about that, but then I decided to be an asshole anyway. 😐

  • June 22, 2016 at 5:24 am
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    250billion in merch? So it’s safe to say Disney made their money back

    • June 22, 2016 at 5:28 am
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      It was the worldwide sale of licenced merchandise period, not just Star Wars, not even just Disney.

  • June 22, 2016 at 5:45 am
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    First TFA teaser came out 13 months before release date,first teaser for Rogue One came out 18 months before release date (even that small tease is probably not in the movie,but it was nice to see it) So,I would say,first Full Trailer for Rogue One is coming out at celebration,also small teaser for ep8,like we get for Rogue One at last celebration,and also trailer for Rebels season 3

    • June 22, 2016 at 7:29 am
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      Some might even count the Ep8 filming announcement video as a first teaser 😉

  • June 22, 2016 at 9:26 am
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    Comicon!! I went to Disneyland for the first time in 18 years. I really hate that they own Star Wars. It just doesn’t fit in. Disney is a money hungry corrupt bullshit company that will ruin Star Wars.

    • June 22, 2016 at 9:42 am
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      Most companies ARE money hungry. That’s how capitalism works. You don’t go into business to give away money. There’s been a SW presence at Disneyland for 30 years. Glad you’ve finally caught up. Corrupt? Could you give us an example of their corruption? Ruining SW? Well if TFA is any example I would say no. You’re wrong there.

      Sounds like your just a platitude spraying bullshitter.

      • June 24, 2016 at 9:25 am
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        Sounds like you’re just a Disney sucking lover of any crap they put out. Disneyland is a shithole filled with shit people. U know nothing of my experience and why are u trying to change my opinion?! They kicked out my wife and her son on his birthday for nothing and won’t give a refund. So please don’t tell me they aren’t corrupt. Who else charges $5 for a bottle of water. I will always love Star Wars but fuck Disney and everyone that supports they’re kiddy bullshit

        • June 24, 2016 at 9:01 pm
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          Well unless you contextualise your comments, rather than just making general statements, what else are people supposed to think? By pointing out FACTS, I’m not siding with anyone. Its just facts. The sky is blue, is that my fault? Does that make me a sky sucking lover. Grow up.

    • June 22, 2016 at 9:54 am
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      Both Star Wars and Disney are family orientated so I’d say it makes perfect sense and didn’t Mr Lucas say that he wanted to give Star Wars to somebody that would take care of it?

      • June 22, 2016 at 12:04 pm
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        Correct. And people can hate on Lucas but the final gift he gave SW fans was selling it to Disney. Can anyone think of a better company to own it? Na, didn’t think so.

        • June 22, 2016 at 4:42 pm
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          Fox..we would have the original fanfare..and they also probably wouldn’t care what Lucasfilm does so perhaps they would’ve had a little bit more creative freedom without having to worry about tarnishing the Disney name because they decided to go a little too “dark” if they ever wanted to.

          • June 22, 2016 at 7:46 pm
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            But FOX doesn’t have the money, the reach and the vision that Disney have. With Fox, we could only see maybe a new trilogy, but forget about TV series, videogames and stuff like that.

          • June 22, 2016 at 8:09 pm
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            What evidence do you have that they haven’t gone dark. Han Solo was impaled and thrown down a bottomless shaft by his own son. How much darker do you want it to be?

          • June 22, 2016 at 8:21 pm
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            That was something that had to be done to give the appropriate send off that Han Solo deserved..but I can bet we will never get a movie similar to ROTS in terms of tone..but I could definitely be wrong and I guess we’re going to have to wait and see.

          • June 22, 2016 at 9:11 pm
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            He could have died in a million different ways that wasn’t a gruesome as getting impaled. I don’t think there was anything disny-fied about The Force Awakens. You still have 2 more movies to get a darker tone, which Edwards and cast said 8 would be. Plus I think ROS HAD to be a darker movie. It had a lot gaps to fill and it had to show how Vader became Vader. It was also called Revenge of the Sith for a reason. Meaning the Sith get revenge, as in bad stuff will happen. Just like Empire Strikes back. The name implies a darker tone.

          • June 22, 2016 at 9:16 pm
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            I agree..like I said we’re just gonna have to wait and see

      • June 24, 2016 at 9:27 am
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        I don’t care. I still hate Disney. Fuck them and their rich greedy agenda. Look how they ripped him off. Now they are making 3 times what they sold it for. He should have kept it.

    • June 23, 2016 at 3:34 am
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      For someone hating Disney’s control of Star Wars, i noticed that your avatar picture was of their Star Wars film 😉

      • June 24, 2016 at 9:30 am
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        My picture has nothing to do with my last experience at the shittiest place on earth. Fuck Disneyland and everything they stand for. Rich elitist control of everything and if you can’t afford it then u don’t get to enjoy it. Nothing they do has any heart in it anymore. I remember loving Disney as a kid but I see the bullshit for what it is now

        • June 24, 2016 at 10:00 pm
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          Can you please illustrate, point by point, Disney’s ‘bullshit’. Becsuse its very easy to say something but unless you can support your comments with verifiable facts then your argument is essentially baseless.

        • June 25, 2016 at 3:16 am
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          is there an amusement park that doesn’t subscribe to high prices? 😛

  • June 22, 2016 at 3:36 pm
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    i was really thinking we wouldn’t see anything from 8 until next year, but we’ll see.. i have a feeling it’ll be more along the lines of a title announcement, rather than a legitimate teaser trailer? i really want to focus on rogue one stuff for celebration so we’ll see.. i have a feeling they may just save the title and drop it around christmas time this year, which will definitely get more people into the theater to see R1

    • June 23, 2016 at 3:33 am
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      well, remember we got the Force Awakens teaser December 2014, so i honestly wasn’t expecting it till this christmas. Then again, i was also expecting a Rogue One teaser last Christmas, so the only trend are the actual film release dates. Anything can happen lol

  • June 22, 2016 at 8:11 pm
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    SPOILERS!

    Darth Vader is going to Mickey ears in Episode 8 everyone!!! You have to tag your spoilers man.

    Do you think that maybe some of the stuff isn’t for you and your age group? That they want to make Star Wars for everyone?

    • June 22, 2016 at 8:13 pm
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      That’s the thing..Star Wars was ALWAYS for everyone Mickey ears or not

  • June 23, 2016 at 4:05 am
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    After TFA my anticipation couldn’t be higher for VIII. Rogue One is just the incredible cherry on top

  • June 23, 2016 at 5:38 am
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    Fox is responsible for X-Men 3 and Wolverine Origins….and Fan4stick.

    • June 23, 2016 at 5:46 am
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      And Deadpool is the answer for what can happen when they back off..and I’m sure they wouldn’t dare say anything to Lucasfilm. Star Wars would probably be the only property where they wouldnt have to bother putting any sort of “creative input” for because they would most likely trust Lucasfilm completely.

      • June 23, 2016 at 6:59 am
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        They also hired Josh Trank and Deadpool relied on Hugh Jackman pushing it on them – the same Hugh Jackman that had been a mainstay of their hero films. And its the same studio that still didn’t just give money to Deadpool – they were still very wary of it.

        The Creator trusted Disney for 30 years prior to selling – and trusted them today more than the studio that first gave him the chance to make a mash-up of Flash Gordon and Hidden Fortress 40 years ago. Alan Ladd’s not there anymore. The Creator made the deal with Disney and Bob Iger for a reason.

        • June 23, 2016 at 7:02 am
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          Good point!

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