STAR WARS VIII - "The Last Jedi" - Movie Discussion

[jaisonline]

This topic can be the source for our episode VIII movie discussions like we had for Ep VII

 

 

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In Ep 8 news today (and as rumored), the release date has been delayed from May 2017 to Dec  2017.  We know Ep 7 was delayed due to a major script rewrites. I believe it's for a similar reason.

 

http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-viii-to-open-december-15-2017?cmp=smc|339573415&linkId=20528616

Star Wars: Episode VIII to Open December 15, 2017

The release date for the next film in the saga is confirmed.

Today, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally scheduled for release in summer 2017, will now debut on December 15, 2017.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: Episode VIII is currently in preproduction and will begin principal photography in London next month. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman will produce and J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski will executive produce.

[jaisonline]

update: I just saw the front page at slashfilm.com now mentions "rewrites".

http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-episode-8-release-date-change/

"This news also arrives on the heels of rumors of Episode 8 undergoing some significant rewrites, with Johnson pulling focus from new characters to give more action to Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron. This move would accommodate those creative changes and place the new film in the position Disney so clearly desires."

"Unless one of them budges, Star Wars: Episode 8 will now directly confront James Cameron‘s Avatar 2 at the box office."

[Sauromosis]

Idiots if they were going to pull focus away from the big 3 (and Kylo).  Idiots.

[Darth_Raichu]

28 minutes ago, sauromosis said:

Idiots if they were going to pull focus away from the big 3 (and Kylo).  Idiots.

More characters = more action figures / toys / craps to sell = more for the big D.  

[jaisonline]

current cast as of Jan 20, 2016 (lets see how much this changes )

from IMDB

Daisy Ridley     ...     Rey
Adam Driver     ...     Kylo Ren
OOscar Isaac     ...     Poe Dameron
Domhnall Gleeson     ... General Hux
Mark Hamill     ...     Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher     ...     Leia
Harrison Ford     ...     Han Solo (likely a flashback)
Gwendoline Christie     ...     Captain Phasma
John Boyega     ...     Finn
Benicio Del Toro     ???
Peter Mayhew     ...     Chewbacca
Lupita Nyong'o     ...     Maz Kanata
Anthony Daniels     ...     C-3PO
Andy Serkis     ...     Supreme Leader Snoke
Jimmy Vee     ...     R2-D2

[fossilrock]

Must be tough writing a script rehashing the Empire Strikes Back.

[Darth_Raichu]

8 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

Must be tough writing a script rehashing the Empire Strikes Back.

How did you know they were not trying to rehash ep1-3?

[Alpinemaps]

Star Wars Episode 8 has begun filming.

 

[Darth_Raichu]

22 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

Star Wars Episode 8 has begun filming.

 

Quote

Iger said the company had a simple strategy for the future of Star Wars: don’t lose sight of what sold all those tickets and merchandise.

Yay, there will be tons and tons of screens to choose from for watching these.  I hate waiting in line 

[exciter1]

from jaisonline..

http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-viii-now-filming

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-Wars-8-Filming-Watch-Luke-Rey-Together-Again-Now-112317.html

-----------------

 

Begun, filming for "Episode VIII" has.

 

Edited February 15, 2016 by jaisonline
edited post and moved it.

[jaisonline]

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/star-wars-episode-viii-benicio-del-toro-laura-dern-join-cast-1201706401/

REX Shutterstock

February 15, 2016 | 06:41AM PT

Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro have joined the cast of “Star Wars: Episode VIII,” Disney confirmed on Monday.

The studio also announced that newcomer Kelly Marie Tran will have an unspecified role in the latest installment of the space opera.

Dern scored Oscar nominations for her work in “Rambling Rose” and “Wild,” and effectively ducked velociraptors and T-rexes in “Jurassic Park.” Upcoming projects include Jennifer Fox’s “The Tale” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women.”

Del Toro scored an Oscar playing a morally conflicted cop in “Traffic,” earned another nomination for “21 Grams,” and headlined the likes of “Sicario” and “Savages.” He next reprises his role as the Collector in “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.” An earlier Variety report said that Del Toro will play the villain role in the new “Star Wars.”

Principal photography on “Star Wars: Episode VIII” begins Monday at Pinewood Studios in London. The film hits theaters on December 15, 2017, when it should mint money.

[Alpinemaps]

Argh! Let the hype begin.

[Sauromosis]

Get hype!

 

[emazers]

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/star-wars-teases-opening-shot-episode-viii-production-144911104.html

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Let's hope it's not a rehash of EP5 was like EP7 was to EP4. A totally new storyline has to evolve if the franchise is to flourish and I sincerely hope it does!

Edited February 15, 2016 by TabbyBoy

[zskid00]

Was that actually new footage?  I feel like I saw all that from a different angle at the end of Episode 7.    

[thoroakenfelder]

I think it's new stuff, they went to that site to do some filming before the script was finalized.

[nolanfan34]

Hamill posted a recent pic on Twitter with his family where he's rocking the beard, so he must be back at it as well. Woo hoo!

[jaisonline]

week 2 of production has began.  i also found this on twitter.

 

[exciter1]

Oh noooo!  Another remake!
http://epicstream.com/news/Landspeeder-Spotted-on-Star-Wars-Episode-VIII-Set

[jaisonline]

good news folks.  i just saw this on Michael French's (retroblasting) page.

"If you've seen the photos of the Royals visiting the set of Episode VIII, then you've seen the return of a beloved Rebel fighter "

which means... we just might get an UCS A-wing after all.

[fossilrock]

There is an A-wing set on brickset that has the number 75143, which is one number below 75144 UCS Snowspeeder.  I have presumed this was a mistake, but could there be a UCS A-wing in the works?  Seems possible, although, we still haven't seen anything about the new UCS Snowspeeder that is rumored.

[exciter1]

Those were cool pics posted on Facebook earlier today.

[exciter1]

OK, if you click and read this, you cannot blame me.  I'm a fan of spoilers, plot leaks, speculation, and set photos, so this is your warning.  This is a possible outline and plot synopsis for Episode VIII.  Nothing is guaranteed, I don't endorse it, but boy I enjoy the reading.  Follow at your own risk.  Let me know if you would like to continue this type of discussion and we can create another thread that is invitation only.

Spoiler

The following are pure rumors at this point, but still entertaining to read and think, what if?
 

• Working title is "Echoes of the Dark Side"
   
• It's divided into three equally important plot threads that don't converge until the third act: Rey's, Finn's, and Kylo's.
   
• There's not nearly as much action as TFA in the first two acts, but the third act goes full-on crazy.
   
• The broad structure isn't as similar to ESB as TFA was to ANH, but the parallels are still present. Rey is training in the ways of the Force with an old Jedi master (Luke) on a wild planet while Finn and Poe are in a beautiful city that has a shady, sinister underpinning. Finn and Poe are betrayed and captured by Kylo Ren who uses them as bait to draw Rey out of hiding so Kylo and Rey can have a duel in an industrial portion of the city.
   
• The backstory to Luke and his Jedi being wiped out is that Snoke seduced Kylo and a few of the other students to the dark side and tasked them with killing everyone. Luke and a few others survived, including a young Rey who was subsequently dumped on Jakku by Luke.
   
• Rey's mom died in the attack.
   
• Rey is pissed at Luke because she guesses that he was her father and is angry at him for abandoning her. Luke turns to her and says "No, you are my father".
  Yes, really.
   
• Rey is the reincarnation of Anakin Skywalker. Luke went to the first Jedi temple to better understand how the process works. He learned that the spirit of the chosen one is reincarnated by the Force every time the universe is thrown out of balance, which apparently happens on a semi-regular basis (Anakin was hardly the first time the chosen one reincarnated). This is why she's so crazy powerful with the Force (remember that Anakin blew up the Trade Federation donut ship by himself when he was like 8 years old).
  Rey was the product of a virgin birth, but midichlorians aren't mentioned (Luke says "you are a child of the Force").
   
• Luke is hesitant to train her because, according to Jedi history, the chosen one always struggles with staying on the light side of the Force because of the chaotic power running through them. He's afraid that she could become Vader 2.0. If he trains her to fight Kylo, and she turns dark, she would do way more damage to the galaxy than Kylo could ever dream of doing.
   
• He ultimately trains her anyway and leaves everything up to the Force. He makes this decision in a scene where he confers with the ghosts of Obi-Wan and Yoda (Ewan MacGregor and Frank Oz come back).
  Rey learns lightsaber skills, Force skills, and has a vision quest thing where she talks with Maz Kanata (unsure if it’s telepathy or just a dream) and Hayden Christenson. The latter tells her that she is him, but different, and there’s a quick scene where we see hundreds of other Force ghosts who are implied to be past chosen ones.
   
• Rey feels Finn's distress elsewhere in the galaxy and says she needs to go to him. Luke tells her about the time he felt his friends in distress and Yoda told him to stay and finish his training, and his disobedience led to pain. But then he says he isn't Yoda, and has his own way of doing things, and tags along with her to go help.
   
• Finn wakes up on a Resistance cruiser and is told by Poe that they're already en route to the makeshift Republic homeworld in the wake of the capital planet being blown up by Starkiller Base.
   
• Leia wants to lobby them to go to war.
   
• The Republic is being led by an interim dictator named Lord Vikram (Benicio Del Toro), who was quickly put into power by the few senators still around to maintain order.
   
• Starkiller's destruction of the Republic core worlds caused a galactic communications disruption because everything was routed through those worlds, so Vikram is trying to reestablish contact and ensure the Republic doesn't collapse into anarchy.
   
• Leia and Vikram butt heads. Vikram agrees that the Republic has to go to war with the First Order, but wants to wait for communications to come back online so they can muster up a sizable force (all they have right now is a single small fleet). Leia disagrees, and wants to take the war to the First Order now while Snoke is still reeling from Starkiller's destruction. She says both sides are in chaos, which makes this an opportune time to strike. Vikram counters by telling her she's letting her personal emotions over Han's death get in the way, and Leia throws it back at him by telling him he was always a little snake of a politician when they would argue back in her senate days, etc, etc, they have old bad blood or whatever.
   
• The Republic planet is safe because it's protected by a heavy duty shield that can repel any invasion or bombardment from the First Order.
   
• Finn and Poe are tasked by Leia to investigate the city because one of Leia's contacts informed her that the First Order have spies embedded in the Republic. Leia suspects Vikram.
   
• Finn quickly becomes enamored by Leia's contact, Chala (Kelly Marie Tran), who tags along with him and Poe through the underbelly of the city to gather information.
   
• Finn and Chala have a flirty romance subplot that involves a nighttime adventure through the rustic old city (this is the second entry in the trilogy after all, and poetry demands it).
   
• Finn, Poe and Chala all corner the culprit: Vikram's aide, who has evidence of contact between Vikram and the First Order. Leia and some Resistance fighters confront Vikram and throw him in jail for treason. He denies everything, and the rest of the Republic officials are horrified because Leia basically just coup-de-etat'd the **** out of their leadership. Leia assumes control of the planet's defenses and absentmindedly puts Finn in charge of the shield codes.
   
• Finn and Chala have a moment and Finn mentions his confusion about why Vikram didn't just lower the shields for the First Order. They walk into a room and Phasma is standing there and Chala draws a gun on Finn and forcibly takes the codes for disarming the shield from him. She says she planted the evidence, used Finn to get the codes, and basically that she thinks he's a dirty traitor to the First Order. In a moment of pure pottery, Phasma makes Finn lower the shields.
   
• The First Order fleet jumps out of hyperspace and invades the planet, quickly capturing Finn, Poe and Leia. Kylo starts to torture Finn using the Force, knowing that it will draw Rey out of hiding and into his trap.

 

Source:  Star Wars: Episode VIII - Return Of The Rumors

[fossilrock]

Exciter, you need flagged half the distance to the goal post for improper use of the spoiler tag!!!
 

Spoiler

(although thanks!  That would be an interesting story, but it sucks that Craptin Phasma is back in it).  She should have been incinerated when the starkillerbase planet was fused back into a sun.)