star wars

Nicolas Cage is, when he wants to be, one of the best and most inventive actors of his generation. But Nicolas Cage is, always, a man of questionable taste. While out doing press for his new movie ‘Outcast,’ Cage showcased that remarkably detachment from reality by having plenty of nice things to say about the work his co-star, Hayden Christensen, contributed to George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ prequels.

Before he was a CGI creation, Jedi master Yoda was a puppet. Before green screens became the norm, the Dagobah set for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was built elevated off the ground to accommodate Yoda’s puppeteers. And before he brought Yoda to life, puppeteer and voice actor Frank Oz was best known as the man behind Miss Piggy. In a weird way, that makes the most wizened character in the ‘Star Wars’ universe a distant relative of the extended Muppet family.

The first ‘Star Wars’ standalone film is set to hit theaters in 2016, and although it’s currently seeking a replacement screenwriter, it looks as though production is gearing up on the Gareth Edwards project. Both Rooney Mara and ‘Orphan Black’ star Tatiana Maslany are testing for a leading role in the untitled film, which has been rumored as a heist film involving Boba Fett.

When Disney bought George Lucas’ company, they got more than the buildings, computers, droids, and the ‘Star Wars’ intellectual property. They also got George Lucas’ unused ideas for future ‘Star Wars’ movies. Though Lucas had insisted for years that ‘Revenge of the Sith’ was his final ‘Star Wars’ film, that didn’t stop him from brainstorming a few other potential stories that could be set after the events of ‘Return of the Jedi’ (and, I assume, mostly involve Jar-Jar Binks wandering the universe and getting into “hilarious” misadventures).

Watch the epic battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker as you've never seen before! Well, actually you have seen it...but you've never heard it like this before!

Last month, George Lucas was asked if he had seen the ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ trailer, and what his reaction was. He said he hadn’t watched the ‘Force Awakens’ trailer, had no plans to and was “not really” interested in the movie. We made him sad, we wrote at the time. But, maybe it wasn’t us that made him sad. While out promoting his new animated movie ‘Strange Magic’, Lucas reveals that he himself wanted to direct ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’.

Although all of the public focus is currently on the looming release of ‘Star Wars: Episode 7,’ Disney, Lucasfilm and director Gareth Edwards are currently trying to whip the first standalone film in the saga into shape. A few days ago, original screenwriter Gary Whitta amicably departed the project after completing his initial draft, leading the entire internet to wonder what’s next for this mysterious project, which is still due out in 2016. Now, it looks like the next screenwriter writer has already been found. Enter Simon Kinberg.

Star Wars and Marvel Comics have a long history. A Marvel adaptation of the original sci-fi-fantasy film appeared in April 1977, a month before A New Hope dominated multiplexes in May of the same year. The success of the film as well as the comics led to a volume of over 100 issues over a nine-year span, featuring stories about what happened to the heroes of the Rebellion between their big screen adventures. Following Marvel parent Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, this week sees the return of the Star Wars Universe to the Marvel banner, with a new ongoing series from Jason Aaron and John Cassaday launching on Wednesday. It's a strong debut from an A-list creative team who manages to capture the feel of George Lucas's film A New Hope while still taking advantage of the entirety of the Saga.

As if James Earl Jones’ return as Darth Vader and Frank Oz’s Yoda weren’t enough to remind you ‘Star Wars Rebels’ takes place in an era closer to the original trilogy, Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian will seal the deal. The galaxy’s smoothest smuggler will make his debut on an upcoming episode of the Disney XD animated series, but does it mean a trip to Cloud City is in order?

We're less than a week away from the launch of Marvel's Star Wars line with the first issue of, hey, Star Wars, by Jason Aaron, John Cassaday, and Laura Martin, so Marvel has put out a couple of sneak peaks of the issue -- one lettered, one unlettered. We've helpfully brought them together so you can enjoy more of the story of fan favorite character Overseer Aggadeen and... the cast of Firefly, I think? I don't really know Star Wars; sorry. Star Wars #1 is an officially in-continuity comic (for now, anyway!) that picks up directly after the end of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, following the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow in the wake of the destruction of the Death Star. Finally, a sequel to Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope! I can't believe they've never done that before.

With all of his projects, J.J. Abrams has shown extraordinary good taste in casting and ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ is no different. Forget about the old-timers returning to the saga and think about John Boyega, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie and the other terrific thespians being given the biggest spotlight of their careers. Abrams, more than most working filmmakers, knows how to showcase an actor or actress in a way that makes us wonder why they weren’t movie stars before he cast them. Anyway, this is just a longwinded way of getting around to saying that Abrams’ impeccable taste is once again on display since a trio of actors from ‘The Raid’ and ‘The Raid 2’ are apparently in ‘The Force Awakens.’

Did you know that in 'Empire Strikes Back' they used potatoes to stand-in for asteroids? Or, that Sir Alec Guinness was paid millions of dollars for five hours of work as Obi-Wan Kenobi? Well, now you can test your 'Star Wars' knowledge with the latest entry in our video series "You Think You Know Movies?"

Last week saw the official announcement of some of the new 'Star Wars: Episode 7' characters' names. There was Kylo Ren, Finn, Rey, BB-8, and who could forget Poe Dameron. But, there's one more new 'Star Wars' character whose name has been revealed and if you thought "Kylo Ren" sounded silly, wait until you hear this: Captain Phasma.

Recent weeks have seen excitement for Disney XD’s ‘Star Wars Rebels’ somewhat eclipsed by revelations of ‘The Force Awakens’ trailer, but it seems the animated series will seek to establish yet another major connection to the films. Not only will Master Yoda pop up in a future ‘Star Wars Rebels’ installment, but the character will be voiced by his original portrayer and puppeteer, Frank Oz.

Pretty much everyone has seen the 'Star Wars: Episode 7' trailer at this point. It was the most-viewed trailer of 2014 and is on track to become the most-viewed trailer of the internet age. It has been viewed over 72 million times and has spawned countless parodies and memes but, there's still one person who hasn't seen it: George Lucas. The man who created the franchise says that he hasn't seen the 'Force Awakens' trailer and has no plans to. In fact, he's not even that interested at all.

OK, considering 'Star Wars: Episode 7' doesn't come out for another year and the only footage we've seen from the movie is 88-seconds long and we still don't even know any of the characters names, you might think that there's not a lot to know about J.J. Abrams' secretive 'Star Wars' movie. We find your lack of faith disturbing! In this very special bonus episode of You Think You Know Movies, we're dropping some galactic knowledge on you. The facts are strong with this one!

The ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ trailer just premiered online last week, but if you’re already starved for new footage (and, who could blame you after that teaser), we’ve got word on when you can see the next ‘Star Wars’ trailer. The bad news is you’re going to have to wait a while. The good news is, you were going to see ‘Avengers 2’ anyway, so now you have the added bonus of seeing a new ‘Star Wars: Episode 7' trailer before Iron Man and Captain America start punching on some evil robots.

Much was made about how the ‘Avengers 2' trailer broke online viewing records for 2014, shattering the previous record by ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. But, records were made to be broken and it took just over a month for the ‘Avengers 2’ trailer to be surpassed, not surprisingly by the ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ trailer, which, if it keeps up at its current pace, could set the all-time record for trailer views.

You think you liked the ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ trailer? That’s nothing. One ‘Star Wars’ fan liked what he saw from that 88-second glimpse of ‘The Force Awakens’ so much, we spent his Thanksgiving weekend getting it tattooed on his body. Now that’s dedication.

We'll be breaking down the 'Star Wars: Episode 7' trailer sorta-live, with some commentary on what these 88 seconds actually mean. Who's that dude with the rad new lightsaber? Let's see what happens when we slow this 'Star Wars' trailer down and grab some HD screengrabs...