John Boyega Confirms Star Wars: Episode VIII Begins Filming In a Few Weeks
At one of John Boyega's many surprise appearances at screenings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this time in Brixton, UK, he confirmed the time table everyone's been talking about for the next chapter of the series. Boyega said that he's excited to start filming Episode VIII "in a few weeks in London" when he addressed a crowd there.
"It's an alright film, innit?" Boyega said to the applauding full house, according to a report by Sky. "I have been doing some pop-ups at several different cinemas all over London, and I definitely had to come to Brixton since I'm from down the road in Peckham.
"So I just wanted to say a thank you to everyone for coming out and supporting this movie. The movie is yours now and I really hope you enjoyed it and we are so happy to be starting on Episode VIII in a few weeks in London. It is going to be fun," the actor said.
This narrows the timeline to late January, while Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has been saying "next month" or "January" while on the press tour for The Force Awakens. Good to know the cast will get at least a couple of weeks off for the holiday before they jump back into the shoes of Jedi, pilots, and stormtroopers from a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: Episode VIII, directed by Rian Johnson, hits theaters May 26, 2017
Source: ComicBook.com
‘Star Wars’ #1 Film of 2015 Thanks to YouTube, Instagram and Twitter
In addition to breaking records at the box office, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” also dominated digital this year, ranking as the #1 film of 2015. With over 280 million engagements across platforms, “Star Wars” trumps every other 2015 release by nearly 100 million.
The No. 2 film of the year, “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” tracks with only 189 million engagements to date.
The top three sources of engagement for “Star Wars” throughout the campaign were YouTube (66%), Instagram (15%), and Twitter (7%) — also the three channels where “Star Wars” led every other 2015 release. As expected, the film’s trailers were exceptionally popular on YouTube, while Instagram and Twitter followers gravitated to short video uploads and poster releases.
Facebook and Tumblr are the only platforms where “the force” was unable to lead the year. The strength of religious films on Facebook propelled “God’s Not Dead” to the top of the leaderboard, while Marvel was undefeated on Tumblr thanks to “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
Source: Variety
J.J. Abrams Based a 'Star Wars' Character on His High School Teacher
J.J. Abrams’ late high school teacher is now a forever part of The Force.
The Star Wars: The Force Awakens director revealed in an interview with The Palisadian Post that his late high school English teacher, Rose Gilbert, was the inspiration for one of the characters in the space film.
“Yes, the character of Maz was originally based on the great Rose Gilbert,” Abrams said. “We really wanted the story to feel authentic, despite being a wild fantasy. I mentioned Rose in an early story meeting as a sort of timeless, wise figure that I’d actually known in my life.”
Gilbert, whose large glasses are similar in size and aspect to Maz’s, was a Palisades Charter High School teacher since its open in 1961 and retired at the age of 94 in 2013 as the oldest full-time teacher in the L.A. Unified School District, according to the Post. Before her retirement, she was teaching three AP English classes in the same classroom she held for 51 years.
Abrams revealed that Star Wars’ production designer Rick Carter was also a student of Gilbert. “Turns out the production designer, Rick Carter, had also been a student of Ms. Gilbert, 15 years before me,” Abrams said.
He said of the look given to Gilbert: “While we experimented with many looks and styles before settling on the character’s final design, Rose was always at the center of the inspiration of Maz. Rick and I had hoped to contact Rose and show her what we were doing, but she sadly passed away while we were in the prep of the film.” The director and production designer both attended Gilbert’s funeral service in January 2014 — she’d died at the age of 95 on Dec. 16, 2013.
Source: Yahoo! Movies
Box Office: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Tops 'Revenge of the Sith' in U.S.
Crossing $813 million globally, J.J. Abrams' reboot has also surpassed the entire global gross of 'Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones'; a flurry of new movies open on Christmas Day.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens saw its North American cume rise to $391.1 million on Christmas Eve, passing the $380.3 million earned in 2005 by Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of Sith.
That means J.J. Abrams' blockbuster has now earned more domestically than both Episode III and Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones ($310.7 million) in less than a week in release, not accounting for inflation. And it's already surpassed the entire global gross of Attack of the Clones in 2002 ($649.4 million). Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace grossed $430 million domestically in 1999 and $1 billion worldwide.
Moviegoing always dips on Christmas Eve day, and this year was no exception. Force Awakens saw its lowest midweek gross, or $27.6 million. Still, it topped Avatar's Christmas Eve 2009 record of $11.2 million. Overseas, the Disney and Lucasfilm tentpole took in $20 million on Thursday for a worldwide total of $813.5 million, the No. 3 film of the year.
Abrams' critically acclaimed movie, set 30 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi, features a strong female heroine in Rey, a young scavenger played by newcomer Daisy Ridley. Rey and a renegade stormtrooper (John Boyega) band together to challenge a rising evil that includes a new planet-killing laser cannon.
The film also stars Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong'o and Domhnall Gleeson, along with original trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
There's no telling how high Force Awakens will ultimately fly in terms of box-office revenue, since films over the year-end holidays can see huge multiples. James Cameron's Avatar opened to $77 million on the same weekend in 2009 on its way to becoming the top-grossing film of all time with $2.79 billion in global ticket sales, including $760.5 million domestically. And on the weekend before Christmas in 1996, Cameron's Titanic took in a mere $28.6 million on its way to grossing $2.19 billion worldwide.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
‘Star Wars’ Lifts Disney to $2 Billion at 2015 U.S. Box Office
Thanks to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Disney’s total domestic gross for 2015 has passed the $2 billion milestone for the first time.
Disney’s previous domestic record for a year was $1.719 billion in 2013, led by “Iron Man 3” and “Frozen.”
“The Force Awakens” set a Christmas Day record in the U.S. with $49.3 million, lifting its domestic total to $440.4 million after eight days. On Saturday, the seventh Star Wars movie will eclipse Disney’s previous top 2015 grosser, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” at $459 million.
“Inside Out” has been the second-highest Disney domestic performer this year with $356 million, followed by “Cinderella” at $201 million.
Disney will finish 2015 in second place in domestic market share behind Universal, which has already hit $2.4 billion, thanks to “Jurassic World” at $652.7 million, “Furious 7” at $353 million and “Minions” at $336 million.
“The Force Awakens” took in $27.5 million internationally on Christmas Day with Disney noting that the holiday tends to be relatively light in foreign markets. Theaters in the U.K. were closed.
The international total for “The Force Awakens” has hit $449.9 million for a worldwide total of $890.3 million. The top markets are the U.K. at $83 million, Germany at $44.6 million, France at $38.8 million and Australia at $29.7 million.
Variety
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Was Almost Titled Shadow Of The Empire
In November of 2014, Disney and Lucasfilm chose The Force Awakens as the title for Episode VII of the Star Wars film franchise. With a project this important, financially and culturally, it is safe to assume that there were several alternative titles being considered. And now we know one of them!
During a Twitter exchange, Pablo Hidalgo, Creative Executive of the Lucasfilm Story Group, told Jedi News editor Justin LaSalata that for a long period of time Star Wars VII was actually titled Shadow of the Empire.
That title will be familiar to you Star Wars fans as Shadows of the Empire was the title of Steve Perry's 1996 novel and it was also used for a multimedia project that included a comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics and a LucasArts' video game developed for the Nintendo 64.
Source: ComicBook.com
'Star Wars' Box Office: "People Are Seeing It Three and Four Times"
Repeat viewers and females are playing an increased role in the movie's record-shattering run as the audience broadens out.
There's no slowing down Star Wars: The Force Awakens, thanks in part to ardent fans watching the movie multiple times and a growing female audience.
J.J. Abrams' tentpole continued to crush one record after another at the Christmas box office, finishing the weekend with a whopping 10-day domestic total of $544.6 million and crossing the $1 billion mark globally faster than any film in history.
"The speed with which records are falling is a testament to the audience broadening out. And you can't do these kind of numbers without extraordinary repeat business," said Disney distribution president Dave Hollis. "We know anecdotally people are seeing it three and four times. Everyone wants to be part of something that has become a cultural phenomenon."
While males continue to show up in force, increased interest among women and girls is another key reason why Force Awakens — featuring a strong female heroine in Daisy Ridley's character, Rey — will soon overtake the $760 million earned by 2009's Avatar domestically to become the top-grossing film of all time in the U.S. and Canada.
Exit surveys don't target repeat viewers, but they do reveal how the audience makeup is shifting.
Force Awakens skewed heavily male, or 67 percent, when opening domestically over the Dec. 18-20 weekend, according to industry leader Rentrak, which conducts real-time exit polls via PostTrak. The gender breakdown changed by Christmas weekend, with males making up 62 percent of the audience and females, 38 percent.
Disney always knew that males would be the demo most keen to see Force Awakens, so went to great lengths to target females in its marketing campaign, as well as families.
The audience is also becoming more diverse, according to PostTrak. Initially, 63 percent of ticket buyers were Caucasian, followed by Hispanics (12 percent) and African-Americans (10 percent). Over Christmas weekend, those numbers changed to 57 percent, 15 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Force Awakens is expected to pass Avatar by the end of New Year's weekend in North America, and even has a shot of ultimately hitting $1 billion domestically. It's still not clear, however, whether Force Awakens can eclipse Avatar's record global gross of $2.8 billion, although most believe it will easily cross $2 billion worldwide, putting it in the range of 1997's Titanic, the No. 2 title of all time ($2.19 billion). (Titanic was especially famous for repeat viewings.)
A key test will be China, where Force Awakens doesn't open until Jan. 9. Box-office experts are already predicting that it will outgross the $238 million earned by Jurassic World in China, even though the Star Wars franchise isn't a known quantity.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
'Star Wars: Force Awakens' Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide, Topping Christmas Weekend
With the largest second weekend of all-time, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has now grossed more than $544 million domestically and another $546 million internationally, totaling over $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales in just twelve days. Along with five other new wide releases, it also sits atop the second largest weekend of all-time with the top twelve films grossing over $285 million as Daddy's Home defied expectations, cruising to an easy second place finish with an estimated $38.8 million. Otherwise, expectations were mostly met when it comes to fellow newcomers in Joy, Concussion and Point Break while The Hateful Eight performed quite well in its limited, 100 theater debut.
Topping the weekend for a second straight weekend with an estimated $153.5 million, Star Wars is now the second highest grossing domestic release of 2015 with $544.5 million and the 15th highest grossing worldwide release of all-time. It's also now the record holder for the largest second weekend of all-time, besting Jurassic World's previous record by a massive $46.9 million. In fact, the records are piling up so quickly it's becoming ridiculous as it is now the fastest movie to cross $100, $150, $200, $300, $350, $400, $450 and $500 million as well as holds the largest three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten day gross. For even more of the over 35 records it now holds click here.
Force Awakens has topped the two largest weekends of all-time and next weekend the only added competition is the expansion of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Avatar's domestic box office record of $760.5 million is very much in sight as Force Awakens is currently only $215.9 million shy of that number and has only been in domestic theaters for ten days. The question right now doesn't necessarily seem to be a matter of "if", but "when" followed by "How much?" A 3.5 times multiplier based on its opening weekend alone projects a $867.8 million domestic run... could it possibly go higher? A drop of 50% next weekend would still be enough to claim the largest third weekend of all-time as the stars seemed to be properly aligned for continued Star Wars box office glory.
You can browse the complete weekend estimates right here and, as the holidays continue, don't expect full actual results until around January 4, 2016.
Source: Box Office Mojo
U.K. Box Office: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Already Among Top 10 Films of All Time
The film nears $100 million in 10 days, having already topped all previous 'Star Wars' titles, plus 'The Hobbit,' 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' 'Dark Knight' and all but two 'Harry Potter' films.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is reverberating around the world with stunning results, blasting past $1 billion in record time, and it is doing some of its biggest numbers in the country where much of the film was shot.
After just 10 days of release in the U.K., J.J. Abrams' 7th installation of the space epic is already nearing the $100 million mark, with $97.2 million as of Saturday and having surpassed all previous Star Wars, plus The Hobbit, Pirates of the Caribbean and Dark Knight titles. It has also soared beyond all but two films from the Harry Potter franchise.
With Sunday's results, the film — which was shot mostly at Pinewood Studios and has two Brits, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, in lead roles — is expected to enter the top 10 films of all time in the U.K. (skipping over The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and begin challenging Jurassic World ($99.7 million) for the ninth spot.
While The Force Awakens still has a way to go before it starts challenging for the U.K.'s top positions, its momentum will likely see it soon knocking on the door of Disney's only top 10 release, Toy Story 3 ($116 million), on its way towards 2015's current leader Spectre ($138 million), plus the overall title holder Skyfall ($161 million).
Unless British cinemagoers see a sudden, unexpected switch of interests from lightsabers to transsexual Scandinavians or Miracle Mop inventors, with The Danish Girl and Joy both being released this week, The Forces Awakens' hold on the local box office crown is likely to remain as tight as ever heading into the new year.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Final Box Office: 'Star Wars' Ends Christmas Weekend With Record $149M
The tentpole crossed $1 billion worldwide on Sunday, becoming the fastest film in history to achieve the milestone.
J.J. Abrams' record-shattering Star Wars: The Force Awakens came in slightly behind Sunday estimates, earning $149.2 million over Christmas weekend in North America, versus $153.5 million, for a mammoth domestic total of $540.3 million and worldwide haul north of $1 billion.
That represents the largest second weekend in history and is by far the top holiday gross of all time. The previous Christmas weekend champ was Sherlock Holmes in 2009 with a $62.3 million opening.
Force Awakens has smashed one record after another since its debut. Add to that list becoming the fastest film in history to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office, a feat it accomplished on Sunday, its 12th day in release. That compares to 13 days for Jurassic World, which boasted a day-and-date opening in China. (Star Wars doesn't open in China until Jan. 9).
At this rate, there's no saying how high the Star Wars reboot will ultimately fly. Domestically, it's now assured of eclipsing 2009's Avatar ($760.5 million) to become the top-grossing title of all time, a record it could claim by the end of New Year's Eve weekend, not accounting for inflation. Some believe it could ultimately earn north of $1 billion in North America.
Overseas, Force Awakens has grossed $550.3 million for a global cume of $1.09 billion through Sunday.
Between Force Awakens and a flurry of new movies, revenue over Christmas weekend clocked in at a record $295 million, well ahead of the $269 million grossed in 2009. Five movies opened nationwide over the holiday — Daddy's Home, Joy, Concussion, The Big Short and Point Break — while Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight and Alejandro G. Inarritu's The Revenant launched in select locations.
The week between Christmas and New Year's weekend is the most lucrative corridor of the year in terms of moviegoing, and the new films are hoping for strong multiples even with Force Awakens dominating much of the marketplace.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Crosses $100M Milestone in Imax Theaters
The Disney sequel has earned $106 million to date on Imax screens after a record-setting 12 days, and without China.
In Imax theaters alone, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has crossed the $100 million global box office mark in a record-setting 12 days, the giant screen exhibitor said Monday.
The Walt Disney release now has a global take to date at $106 million, and without a China release. That beats Jurassic World, which took 18 days to reach $100 million in global box office with a day and date China release.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens grossed $27.2 million at the worldwide box office this past weekend, with $18.6 million having come from 391 Imax screens domestically, and another $8.6 million from 282 Imax screens globally. That takes the North American cume to $70 million and the overseas total to $36.4 million.
J.J. Abrams' sequel will premiere in China on Jan. 9, and elsewhere across the Imax network into February. Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke records elsewhere at the Christmas box office, finishing the opening weekend with a 10-day domestic total of $544.6 million and crossing the $1 billion mark globally faster than any film in history.
Imax set the table for the record-setting opening weekend performance by Star Wars: The Force Awakens by offering all of its large-format screens in North America and most of its foreign screens to the tentpole release.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
‘Star Wars’ Named Best Movie of 2015 by Fandango Customers
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has been selected as the best movie of 2015 by customers of the online ticketing service Fandango.
“The Martian” was runner-up and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” took the third spot.
“The Force Awakens” won by an “overwhelming” margin in the company’s survey, which was taken during recent weeks. It also noted that “The Force Awakens” set new Fandango ticketing records, including top pre-seller and best-selling movie of all time, before the film was released in theaters.
Fandango, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, also found in a separate survey that 42% of its customers will see “The Force Awakens” more than once in theaters.
Here are the fans’ picks for the 10 best movies of 2015:
1. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
2. “The Martian”
3. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2”
4. “Avengers: Age of Ultron”
5. “Furious 7”
6. “Jurassic World’
7. “Creed”
8. “Trainwreck”
9. “Inside Out”
10. “Mad Max: Fury Road”
Source: Variety
Box Office: 'Star Wars: Force Awakens' Rockets to $1.16B
The Disney and Lucasfilm tentpole is quickly moving up the chart of all-time top-grossing films, leaping past 'Minions' and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' worldwide.
J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens is speeding toward the $600 million mark in North America after earning $31.4 million from 4,134 theaters on Monday for a domestic total of $571.4 million.
It will become only the fifth film in history to cross $600 million domestically, after The Avengers ($623.4 million), Jurassic World ($652.3 million), Titanic ($658.7 million) and Avatar ($760.5 million), not accounting for inflation. And it's possible Force Awakens could overtake Avatar by the end of New Year's weekend.
Worldwide, Force Awakens has cleared $1.16 billion for Disney and Lucasfilm, quickly moving up the chart of all-time top-grossing titles. On Monday, it took the No. 10 spot after passing up a slew of movies, including Transformers: Age of Extinction ($1.1 billion), Skyfall ($1.11 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion), Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($1.124 billion) and Minions ($1.157 billion).
Force Awakens earned $39.4 million internationally on Monday for a foreign total of $589.7 million.
The movie has smashed one record after another since its debut. Add to that list becoming the fastest film in history to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office, a feat it accomplished on Sunday, its 12th day in release. That compares to 13 days for Jurassic World, which boasted a day-and-date opening in China. (Star Wars doesn't open in China until Jan. 9).
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Marches On with Strong Second Monday
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now the proud owner of the two biggest Mondays at the domestic box office in history. After setting the record last week, the film's second Monday is at an estimated $31.4 million, again beating the old record of Spider-Man 2's, and taking the second spot all time.
The strong second Monday puts The Force Awakens on pace for $600 million in the next couple of days (it's at $571.4 million total domestic currently), and should hit $700 million over the second holiday weekend in a row for the film, its third weekend in theaters. It's already the fifth-highest domestic gross of all time, and would be only the fifth film to ever hit $600 million, and only the second to ever hit $700 million in the domestic market.
Avatar's domestic gross record of $760.5 million, held since 2009, seems well within reach for Star Wars: The Force Awakens now, ready to be tallied up to the ever-growing list of records for the Lucasfilm juggernaut. The foreign tally of $2.02 billion and worldwide total, then, of $2.79 billion, though, will be a tough one to catch. While Star Wars international numbers have stayed on pace with domestic with China yet to open (January 9, 2016 debut in the world's second largest film market), it would need a significant push and staying power to reach those heights.
Source: ComicBook.com
‘Star Wars’ Pushes U.S. Box Office to $11 Billion for First Time
The U.S. box office has hit the $11 billion mark for 2015 for the first time, thanks to a final push by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Domestic box office receipts for this year crossed the milestone on Tuesday, according to Rentrak. With two days left in 2015, the final number will hit about $1.1 billion.
This year’s total will be about $200 million ahead of the previous record of $10,919,694,802 set in 2013. And it’s 7.2% ahead of the 2014 mark of $10,356,099,042, which declined 5.2% from 2013.
Disney’s “The Force Awakens” took in $31.4 million on Monday in U.S. theaters for a domestic total of $571.4 million in only 11 days. The seventh “Star Wars” film may catch Universal’s “Jurassic World,” the top 2015 grosser at $652 million, by the end of the week.
“The Force Awakens” is already the fifth-biggest domestic grosser of all time, trailing “Avatar” at $760 million, “Titanic” at $658 million, “Jurassic World” at $652 million and “Marvel’s The Avengers” at $623 million.
Disney also had the third and fourth highest grossers this year with “Avengers: Age of Ultron” with $459 million and “Inside Out” with $356.5 million as the Pixar title became a surprise blockbuster. “Age of Ultron” is the ninth-highest domestic grosser of all time.
“Inside Out” edged Universal’s “Furious 7,” which drove to $353 million in domestic box office. Universal also had the sixth largest grosser with “Minions” taking in $336 million.
Universal will win the box office crown with more than 21%, followed by Disney at nearly 20%.
Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” took seventh with $265.9 million, followed by Fox’s “The Martian” at $225 million. Disney’s “Cinderella” came in ninth at $201 million followed by Sony’s “Spectre” with $196.5 million.
The top 10 films combined to gross more than $3.6 billion.
Source: Variety
Statistics: Posted by ArchuLinShved14 — Wed Dec 30, 2015 5:24 am