With four months to go before the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Lucasfilm’s publicity team is slowly but surely getting ready to slake fans’ thirst for more info on the first Star Wars spin-off film. In today’s Movie Morsels, we’ve got word, straight from the mouth of director Gareth Edwards, on the planet on which much of Rogue One is set. Plus, the latest on the next Superman solo film (yes, there will be one after all), Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and much more!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
We haven’t heard much thus far about the new planet featured in Rogue One. Fortunately, Gareth Edwards enlightens us in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly:
âThe Force is basically in Star Wars like a religion, and theyâre losing their faith in the period that we start the movie… We were trying to find a physical location we could go to that would speak to the themes of losing your faith and the choice between letting the Empire win, or evil win, and good prevailing. It got embodied in this place we called Jedha.â
The filmmaker describes the Middle Eastern-influenced holy land for the Force faithful: “Itâs a place where people who believe in the Force would go on a pilgrimage. It was essentially taken over by the Empire. Itâs an occupied territory⦠for reasons we probably canât reveal… Thereâs something very important in Jedha that serves both the Jedi and the Empire. It felt very much like something we could relate to in the real world.”
He adds, âWithin Jedha, even though thereâs the oppressive foot of the Empire hanging over them, thereâs a resistance that wonât give up and our characters have to go and meet people there to try and secure a person from this group.” Read more on Edwards’ thoughts on the Force and Jedha back at EW. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens on December 16.
Man of Steel 2
Believe it or not, Warner Bros. is apparently fast-tracking another solo Superman movie. Perhaps because, now that Suicide Squad is in theaters, the studio has realized Man of Steel is the best received of their three DC Universe movies so far.
[The Wrap]
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Today we’re getting the very first trailer for the very last film in Sony’s Resident Evil franchise. And to get the day started, here’s a spiffy new poster for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, courtesy of star Milla Jovovich, who will be making one last go-’round as the series’ messianic heroine Alice…
Also, tune in tomorrow at 12 noon LA time (pacific standard) to watch my FB live chat on my FB page! pic.twitter.com/e4ctQmYVIq
â Milla Jovovich (@MillaJovovich) August 8, 2016
[Twitter]
Friday the 13th
It looks we’re finally gonna get another Friday the 13th movie. Yes, the film series, like Jason Vorhees himself, simply refuses to die… Paramount (which got the Friday film rights back from Warner Bros.) is currently in talks with director Breck Eisner, whose remake of George Romero’s The Crazies was a modest horror success. And whose The Last Witchhunter, er, wasn’t.
[Deadline]
Curious George
Finally today… Smile, monkey lovers! There’s a live-action Curious George movie on the horizon. And it may soon have a director. Shrek and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe filmmaker Andrew Adamson is in talks to helm and cowrite the film for Universal and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. Little George last graced the big screen in his 2006 animated feature debut (pictured above).
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Featured Image: Disney/Lucasfilm
Images: Lucasfilm/Disney, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures