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Star Wars News & Features

News and information from a Galaxy Far Far Away, and sometimes a little closer to home.

    Pinewood Studios has announced it is to double it's capacity as it has received £135 million ($200 million) in funding from a commercial banking syndicate led by Lloyds Commercial Banking.

    Pinewood Studios, which has seen the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and will also reportedly host the shooting of Star Wars Episode VIII, has revealed the expansion plans have been made possible due to major motion picture productions such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Skyfall.

    The new development will include five new large stages, ten workshops, two production offices, as well as necessary infrastructure to support the facility, and is expected to create over 3,000 jobs once fully operational.

    Chris Naisby, finance director of Pinewood Group, which runs the studios, said "For almost 80 years our studios have been home to some of the most iconic films and TV shows ever made. We are looking to remain at the forefront of the industry by expanding our facilities to meet demand."

    The plans were initially put forward several years ago, but were rejected by the government in 2012. It was redrafted and submitted again in 2013 but was rejected by the local council, but Pinewood won an appeal to the planning committee and was given the green light last year.

    Nick Hughes from Lloyds Bank’s strategic finance also added, “Pinewood is a truly international brand that drives investment into the UK, and this new development will only reinforce its importance as a global centre of production for the screen industries.”
    Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions is the latest mobile gaming offering from Disney Interactive. The game, developed by Gigataur, is a paid app available for Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone, and takes the form of a side-scrolling action platformer based on the hit Disney XD show.

    The app is free to download with the first four missions featuring Ezra Bridger available to play, with over 50 levels available in the paid version. Players can also customise their own rebel haven and interact with other characters from the television show.


    Tatooine sets safe from ISIS

    By Andy, in General News,

    Tunisian officials have assured the public that the sets used for locations on the desert planet of Tatooine are safe from Isis fighters. The original report from CNN stating that the sets had been taken over by terrorists entering Libya appear to have been inaccurate.

    Tourism officials from the nearby city of Tozeur insisted that the information "does not reflect the reality", while Colonel Mokhtar Hammami of the National Guard said that “without a shadow of a doubt that all is normal", and added that they had in fact seen an increase of tourists who were being kept safe by 1,500 troops patrolling the area.

    Tataouine, had exaggeratedly been dubbed a "terrorist way-station" after three men heading to Libya to join the terrorists were arrested there earlier in the year. Despite this, the actual sets are far from the town in an area that has so far not seen any trouble.
    New rumors have surfaced suggesting that the Star Wars live action television show is not yet dead. Details are still absent from these new rumors, but it is believed that Disney intend to produce a series to keep fans occupied in between movies, in a similar manner to Marvel's Agents of SHEILD.

    According to these latest rumours, the show would feature previously established characters from outside the main movies of the Star Wars saga, and would likely be produced for Disney's ABC television network.

    It's best to take this information with a gargantuan serving of salt, as it has now been a full ten years since we were originally teased by George Lucas about the show being in the works in 2005. Last year it was reported that the show had entered the casting phase, but a lack of further casting rumors since then seem to indicate that this was not the case.
    Tourists are being warned to stay away from popular Star Wars sites in Tunisia as the terrorist organisation known as Islamic State, commonly referred to as ISIS, has begun using the area as a waystation for recruitment.

    Tataouine, which lent it's name to the home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, is roughly 60 miles from the Libyan border and several reports have emerged detailing Jihadist activity in the area. ISIS have recently been in the news for the destruction of historically significant archaeological sites, such as the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, so it is unknown what the ultimate fate of the Tunisian Star Wars sets of locations like Mos Espa may be.

    England Rugby feels the Force

    By Andy, in General News,

    England Rugby has teamed up with Disney to deliver a new advertising campaign featuring Darth Vader and other Star Wars characters alongside members of the England Sevens squad.

    The 30-second video spot will be accompanied by a print and social media campaign centred around the 2015 theme, which is 'galactic', in the run up to rugby's Marriott London Sevens, an annual event held at Twickenham Stadium in London. For the past few years, the Marriott London Sevens has also been the final part of the HSBC Seven World Series on 16 and 17 May.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1t9ktAQUSE
    EA has revealed that the upcoming Battlefront reboot from DICE will be only be available on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One, in a move that may leave owners of the previous generation of consoles out in the cold. Developers say that dropping the older consoles will allow them to make full use of the Frostbite 3 engine upon which the game is built.

    More details about the game are due to be shared at Star Wars Celebration next month, where fans hope to see an official trailer for the game and see some of the gameplay.

    The new Battlefront is said to be a reboot of the franchise rather than a continuation, is scheduled for release at the end of 2015 to coincide with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

    Star Wars: Aftermath will be part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens series, and will explore the events following the destruction of the second Death Star, it has been revealed.

    Aftermath, as the title suggests, will pick up immediately following Return of the Jedi, and delve into the events occurring after the Battle of Endor. It has also been revealed that critically-acclaimed author Chuck Wendig is writing the novel.

    The novel will also form part of a trilogy and will introduce a new cast of characters along with familiar faces. It has also been hinted that some characters and locations referred to in the novel will pop up or have relevance to The Force Awakens.

    As a life-long Star Wars fan himself, Wendig has said that he feels privileged to have been given the opportunity to work within the Star Wars universe on the novel, which is due for release in September 2015.

    If you want to learn more about the author, you can visit his personal website, terribleminds.com.
    It has been revealed that Alexandre Desplat has been commissioned to score the soundtrack for upcoming Gareth Edwards spin-off film, Star Wars: Rogue One. The composer previously worked with Edwards on 2014's Godzilla reboot.

    This makes Rogue One the first big screen Star Wars movie to be scored by a composer other than John Williams, and is not the first time that Desplat has contributed film scores to a franchise originally assigned to Williams, having scored the final two movies of the Harry Potter series.

    Fans may be dismayed at the news that John Williams will not score the movie, but Alexandre Desplat also has an impressive track record, and has been nominated for several awards over the years, including winning an Oscar for best soundtrack on The Grand Budapest Hotel at the 87th Academy Awards earlier this year.


    Do you think Rogue One is in safe hands? Let us know in the comments below.

    Marvel has revealed Star Wars: Shattered Empire, part of the recently announced Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens collection.

    Shattered Empire will explore the period of time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and the teaser image released by Marvel suggests that the story will pick up immediately after the Battle of Endor.

    Keen readers of the former expanded universe will remember that this moment in time was previously covered by Kathy Tyres Truce at Bakura. Nothing about the storyline of Shattered Empire has been revealed as yet, but it is not expected to bear any resemblance to the previous timeline for this era of galactic history.

    The new comic series will be Marvel's first entry into Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and is scheduled for release in September 2015.

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