We all know that ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is out just in time for Christmas but you should also be excited about ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ that is set before the events in original movie ‘Star Wars : A New Hope’ and is due to blast into cinemas in December 2016.
Rogue One is understandably being overshadowed by the upcoming movie this year but it is sure to be a hit itself as it offers a further exploration of the Star Wars universe. It is the first of the planned stand-alone movies and is about a group of resistance fighters risking their lives to get the plans for the Death Star. The director is Gareth Edwards who made his name with ‘Monsters’ and ‘Godzilla’. It stars Mads Mikkelsen, Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker and Alan Tudyk who found fame in TV series ‘Firefly’ that has a cult following.
A major announcement and several clues about the new Star Wars stand-alone movies were made at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim earlier this year when Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, and Pablo Hidalgo were joined in a panel discussion by director Gareth Edwards and Industrial Light and Magic’s John Knoll.
“Kathleen Kennedy revealed that the upcoming big screen adventures that explore the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga will be known as the Star Wars Anthology Series. Edwards revealed that the film will revolve around a rogue band of resistance fighters who unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring new hope to the galaxy,” it is stated on the official Star Wars web site. “I couldn’t sit in a cinema and know that someone else made this film,” an enthusiastic Edwards said during the event.
Further information was given at the event that the idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. He will executive produce along with Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) are on board to produce and John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will co-produce. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement.
The future seems to promise a visual feast for Star Wars fans but a lot rests on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ being a success and repairing the damage that the prequel films did to the beloved franchise. To paraphrase Yoda, “Trust the Force Awakens.”