Disney D23 Japan Attendees See BTS Solo Footage, Get A Message From J. J. Abrams Regarding Star Wars Episode IX
Disney D23 is being held in Japan this year, and while there doesn’t seem to be a sizable presence as far as Star Wars news is concerned, fans at the event did get an update on the progress of both Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Episode IX.
As reported by the official Japanese Star Wars Twitter page, D23 attendees were able to get some small updates on the status of both movies:
開催中の #D23ExpoJapan2018 からお届けします！
会場では、R2-D2とC-3POのおなじみのコンビが登場！
『#ハンソロ／#スターウォーズ ・ストーリー』のロン・ハワード監督、そして『スター・ウォーズ：エピソード９』のJ・J・エイブラムス監督からのサプライズ映像が披露されました✨ pic.twitter.com/lKahH1k4Ch— スター・ウォーズ公式 (@starwarsjapan) February 10, 2018
Which roughly translates to the following:
“We are delivering news from D23 Expo Japan 2018 as it progresses! At the venue, the familiar combination of R2-D2 and C-3PO have appeared! Surprise footage was shown from director Ron Howard (Han Solo: A Star Wars Story) and director J. J Abrams (Star Wars Episode IX)!”
As far as I can tell from general Twitter discussions, this new footage was a behind-the-scenes reel – supposedly, the same one that was shown at a German film event less than a month ago. Meanwhile, since Episode IX doesn’t start filming until after the release of Solo, the video with J. J. Abrams wasn’t anything from the movie, but was a statement that he’s far along into the process of pre-production and that filming will start this June. Hopefully, this won’t be it for Star Wars news at the big event, but it’s a neat status update all the same.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
What about Star Wars China? Oh, wait…..
LOL Game Over! Rian killed the territory.
China has NEVER been fans of star wars. has nothing to do with Rian. Stop being an edgy twerp.
It was already dead. They should cut bait and save the marketing bucks on IX if there isn’t a dramatic uptick for Solo.
Wrong. Mao Zedong killed it with the Cultural Revolution and the aftermath of its implementation after he died, which prevented Star Wars from ever catching on in China due to the mass-censorship (especially of foreign media) that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Original Trilogy was screened for the first time a few years ago, and the Prequel Trilogy came before China became a box office powerhouse (thank Avatar – which will technically be a Disney property after the Fox sale goes through – for that). TFA was considered an underperformer – in part due to its ties to movies that most of the populace never got to see back in the 1970s and 1980s – and RO, despite being more standalone in nature and having famous, popular Chinese actors in it, did worse.
But no, it’s TOTALLY Rian’s fault that the Chinese don’t care about Star Wars. Seriously, if you’re going to blame the franchise never catching on in a specific region when it’s done well everywhere else, at least pretend to have any idea of what you’re talking about from a socioeconomic standpoint.
– Pomojema
At least someone that has something to explain, this site is taken by jerks, trolls and idiots
Amazingly Kent qualifies as all three!
yes
That’s like saying Rian Johnson ruined Xbox sales in Japan. 😛
Did he nuke it from orbit?
“Lol, GameOver”. But actually Rian made clear that fan bashing won’t change a thing about the trilogy he’s working on. Soon to be 2 months that you are wasting your time.
thank you
I’m a happy bantha.
I’ve heard a rumor that the new movie series from the GoT guys centers on an awkward bantha finding its way in the universe and learning how to be comfortable in his own fur! ☺
Does anyone else feel the GOT creators should’ve been chosen for a SW TV series? I mean, we got Rian’s trilogy and presumably the standalone movies. Perhaps they’ll be releasing more than one movie in a year. Which I guess we’ll have to see how that goes, but I don’t want the next 6 movies to be focus on two different trilogies.
If it increases the chance that we’ll see the Old Republic on the big screen or grittier, more adult movies, bring it on!
As long as it doesn’t end up being “Where is my apprentice? Trimming his cunt hairs?”
It was rumored (I think Iger said it) that they were indeed offered the TV show, but they turned it down and wanted to do the films
This is, in fact, the case.
– Pomojema
Yeah, I read the article. But still, if we want something like the Old Republic to happen, I highly doubt it’s going to be of the same vein, tonelly speaking. It’s going to have to appeal to a wide audience, and with that comes sacrifices.
Wow. Does that mean they are close to finishing the script for IX? Cool
JJ has said that he felt rushed during the post production of the latest Cloverfield, because Ep9 is a real challenge
Yeah. The Cloverfield Paradox was meant to get a post-production overhaul that it probably could have used, but then J. J. Abrams got the call from Lucasfilm that he needed to handle Star Wars Episode IX, and Paramount opted to dump the movie on Netflix as it was instead of have it go against Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage.
– Pomojema
Yea clover field paradox ending pissed me off. All that nonsense for 5 seconds of the monster. That was lazy
If they are already lining up a shooting and preproduction schedule for June, the basic story outline must be done already. Wasn’t there a report that JJ was pitching to the suits a week or so ago?
J.J. originally pitched the script to Bob Iger back at the end of last year/start of this one.
I watched Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day Lewis yesterday. It was a lot better than the Phantom Menace. Just saying
What about The Phantom starring Brendan Frasier?
Just don’t be a Menace 2 Society.
I thought The Phantom starred Billy Zane?
It could have starred Danny DeVito and it probably have been just as forgettable.
Has JJ been given the show-runner status for all future Star Wars?
Is he the Kevin Faige of Marvel?
Things look like they may be turning around fast
I think he might be an EP on some future movies, but not all of them. His involvement was basically to help oversee the development of the entire Sequel Trilogy, although most of it would have been for the first movie before he got the job for the third.
– Pomojema
Ep9 script is a challenge? Under statement
In someways the slate is almost clean again after TLJ. You only need to tie up what happens to the FO, Rebellion, Rey and Ben.
The FO/Rebellion is easy enough. The FO overreached and the rebels find a way to make a devastating blow to the FO. Rey explores the Force a bit but doesn’t get a full chance to really master much of it before she must confront Ben. Ben comes to grips with controlling a fledgling empire… and then it’s up to JJ if he wants to save or kill him off.
As for the others… I don’t expect anything else other than another set of throw away ideas. Hopefully they’ll tie them in a bit better with the whole FO/Rebellion aspect. Maybe flesh out the relationships a bit better…
A clean slate doesn’t necessarily mean it will be easy for JJ. I guess the big challenge he will face is to make VII, VIII and IX feel like an interconnected trilogy rather than independent episodes that always reset back to a clean slate at the end of every movie. One of teh things he will have to consider is to tie up some of the lose ends TLJ ignored and added to the saga itself.
You could argue writing a compelling story about anything is difficult. There’s a reason we aren’t all best sellers 😛
I wish they’d go back and add in the dice scene from TFA. Anyway, I think he’ll pull it off. The bits I mentioned are all that’s relevant to TLJ anyway. Ben’s in charge. Rebellion/FO wages on. I hope he does something great with Luke’s force ghost. I find it more compelling to actually haunt Ben more than Rey IMO.
I hope he doesn’t action pace his way through it all. Have some slow downs. That was one of my gripes with TFA. Never really stopped to catch it’s breath.
Yeah, wrapping it up – sure, you could make that easy. Dramatically satisfying, and feeling like there was some reason for these three films to exist in relation to each other? TLJ was such a complete wiping of the slate (we differ in that I actually liked the movie), I can’t imagine where to even start with that.
Don’t get me wrong, as I said multiple times I think TLJ is food movie but a terrible sequel and only a mildly interesting setup for IX. My hope is that JJ will retroactively correct the sequel and the setup aspect so that I can enjoy TLJ not only as a movie but as a part of the saga.
Can’t wait for Solo and Episode 9! Disney/Lucasfilm have delivered three great new films and I love all the new canon! Keep it up Kathleen!
I completely agree!
I only saw 1 great new SW movie (Rogue 1). Did i miss other great SW movies ? :p
Yeah. Go watch The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
Watched TFA 3 times in cinema, TLJ only once. So i still stand for my original post about only 1 great SW movie.
I will say…. i am much more excited for the Solo film than i thought i would be….. @_@ what a time to be alive…..
JJ: “Everybody relax. I’m coming back for Episode IX.”
crowd: http://www.nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Vader-noooo.gif
Well, you are dedicated, I give you that. Now, please go find a job or something 🙂
Agreed