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  • SWCE: Currently No Plans for ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Season 2

    SWCE: Currently No Plans for ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Season 2

    Obi-Wan Kenobi was a unique entry in Star Wars’ Disney+ saga, as it moved away from the show that kicked off the long-form storytelling era of Lucasfilm, but also refocused on a major character from the original Prequel trilogy. Ewan McGregor returned to the role and explored what happened to the former Jedi Master after the Empire started emerging from the ashes of his own failures.

    In an interview with Kathleen Kennedy, the CEO of Lucasfilm, she revealed that while McGregor is quite eager to do another season of Obi-Wan Kenobi, they currently have no real plans to move forward. It was originally imagined as a limited series by showrunner Deborah Chow, there’s also no necessity to move forward as the initial story was wrapped up in the original vision of the series.

    That is not an active development. But I never say never, because there’s always the possibility. That show was so well-received and [director] Deborah Chow did such a spectacular job. Ewan McGregor really wants to do another. Everybody’s all hands on deck with what we’re doing right now, as you can see by what we showed everybody [at the Celebration]. We’ll turn our attention to that again maybe down the road.

    Kathleen Kennedy

    It’s definitely interesting that they are keeping the door open to potentially explore more within this corner of the galaxy, but it does seem like there’s no real necessity. The quiet reunion between the padawan and his former master adds a nice little bow to Kenobi’s story that pushes him forward even with the uncertainty of the future. It would be exciting to know what he was up to after protecting the Skywalkers but perhaps it’s best to leave that to our imagination.

    Source: Variety

  • SWCE: ‘Tales of the Jedi’ Will Return for Season 2

    SWCE: ‘Tales of the Jedi’ Will Return for Season 2

    Star Wars Celebration is the event that keeps on giving, as another piece of news has arrived that Tales of the Jedi is set to receive a second season. The announcement came from its creator Dave Filoni, who has slowly taken over a larger and larger role in supervising the future of the franchise. Not only is he set to direct a film that’ll culminate all the series that spun out of The Mandalorian, but generally continues his work on the animated entries of the franchise.

    He jokingly only stated that the animated anthology series “was so fun the first time, I decided to do some more” during the panel on the 15th anniversary of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. There are no details on what the next season will focus on, as the first one consisted of six episodes that split the story between Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku’s early days.

    There’s a chance we might get to spend some more time with familiar Jedi from the franchise’s past, but it does seem his focus remains with those from The Clone Wars era. It would be great if they use this anthology series to potentially add some depth to our favorites from the sequel era, especially now that Daisy Ridley is set to return in the near future with a new sequel to the sequel trilogy.

    Source: Twitter, Star Wars

  • ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ to Dehtrone ‘Frozen 2’ as the Biggest Animated Opening Ever

    ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ to Dehtrone ‘Frozen 2’ as the Biggest Animated Opening Ever

    After that initial critical reception, it seems audiences do not care at all how people viewed The Super Mario Bros. Movie as it is on its path to becoming the biggest animated opening weekend ever. Going by now, its projection is pushing the film towards an impressive $195M domestic opening but what will truly make it the biggest release yet is that it’ll probably end its global bow over a 5-day weekend at $368M.

    The title was previously held by Frozen 2, which opened globally to $358M. It’s an impressive feat for the latest Illumination film that also made quite a bang last year with its Minions sequel almost making a billion and becoming one of the year’s biggest releases. The studio’s approach to animation may not be welcomed by critics, but it certainly works for audiences.

    There’s a lot of discussion surrounding the latest performances by Disney’s animation projects with Super Mario Bros. Movie and recently Puss in Boots: The Last Wish pulling some incredible performances at the box office. While many might go the Internet’s usual route of taking information out of context, there’s a lot at play here that to some degree is Disney’s own fault.

    Dreamworks and Illumination don’t have a “streaming home” per see, which means that there’s no expectation that their projects will eventually be available. Disney, however, spent almost three years building a “streaming first” strategy which has shot their staying power at the box office with even more frontloaded box office performance and even negative critical reception having a bigger impact due to “can always watch it later.”

    Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is one of Marvel Studios’ weakest releases at $467M, which is still a number most would hope to have on their resume. With a weak Chinese market, which elevated its previous entries, and the previous streaming strategy, Disney took away any real need for its core audience, families, to watch it while it is in theaters. Same as we saw with its animated fair that does incredible numbers on Disney+. With the announcement of a digital and physical release ahead of Disney+, we’re seeing the first attempts to make up for that very issue.

    It’ll be essential to ensure their animated projects have a strong showing as families simply aren’t there and Super Mario Bros. Movie has the advantage of nostalgia with boomers and Millenials at its side. Its performance is comparable to Avatar: The Way of Water and Star Wars: The Force Awakens which are both built strongly on nostalgia. Hell, even Top Gun Maverick got that extra boost for the same reason, and we’re seeing a much more noticeable trend that studios are likely going to abuse moving forward.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The Number

  • Tales of the Empire

    Tales of the Empire

    Premiere: May 4, 2024

    In April 2023, a second season of the animated streaming series, Tales of the Jedi, was revealed as part of Star Wars Celebration. According to Dave Filoni, the series “was so fun the first time, I decided to do some more.“

    The first season of the canonical animated series was set during the Fall of the Jedi era and was focused on the personal histories of Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano.

    As revealed in the first trailer for the series, the second season of “Tales” will be called Tales of the Empire. The new season will tell all-new stories about Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee.

    Star Wars: Tales of the Empire is a six-episode journey into the fearsome Galactic Empire through the eyes of two warriors on divergent paths, set during different eras. After losing everything, young Morgan Elsbeth navigates the expanding Imperial world toward a path of vengeance, while former Jedi Barriss Offee does what she must to survive a rapidly changing galaxy. The choices they make will define their destinies.

    Official Synopsis for Tales of the Empire

    Cast

    • Diana Lee Inosanto as Morgan Elsbeth
    • Meredith Salenger as Barriss Offee
    • Rya Kihlstedt as Lyn, aka Fourth Sister
    • Wing T. Chao as Wing
    • Lars Mikkelsen as Thrawn
    • Jason Isaacs as Grand Inquisitor
    • Matthew Wood as General Grievous
  • James Gunn Reveals When to Expect Season 2 of ‘Peacemaker’

    James Gunn Reveals When to Expect Season 2 of ‘Peacemaker’

    The HBO Max streaming series Peacemaker was one of the surprise hits of 2022. Spinning out of James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad, the series followed John Cena‘s titular character as he once again teamed up with Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S. to stop Project Butterfly. Even as Gunn took a new role as the co-chair of DC Studios and looks to start with a clean slate, a second season of Peacemaker remained on the slate though how it will transition into the new DCU continuity remains to be seen.

    Needless to say, Gunn is a very busy man these days. Not only is he helping Peter Safran to create and oversee the projects in Chapter 1 of the new DCU, titled Gods and Monsters but he’s also writing and directing Superman: Legacy, one of the most anticipated projects on the slate. With all that going on, fans have begun to question when Gunn will find time for the second season of Peacemaker. As is his way, Gunn took to Twitter to answer those questions.

    While talking about the upcoming Gods and Monsters slate, Gunn indicated that Season 2 of Peacemaker won’t be released until after Superman: Legacy. Interestingly enough, production on the second season of the streaming series was reported to be planned to take place after Gunn wrapped his press responsibilities for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which means it may sit in the can for quite some time before release.

  • Lucasfilm Head Reveals ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is the Longest Entry Yet

    Lucasfilm Head Reveals ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is the Longest Entry Yet

    Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the next entry in the franchise that hasn’t had a new entry since 2008. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull tried to revive the franchise with Shia LaBeouf set to take over the franchise, but it didn’t quite pick up the pace that many hoped it would and the latest addition is once again returning to its true main star, Harrison Ford.

    We’re finally not too far away from Dial of Destiny’s release and during Star Wars Celebration, Collider used the chance to ask Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to offer some insight into how long the next entry will be, and it seems that the film will be the longest yet.

    It’s around two hours and 22-23 minutes. I will say that the early movies were shorter. They were under two hours and 15 minutes. And we talked about that quite a bit… But as you know, with runtime, it’s all about how you feel, right? So, if you’re sitting in a movie, and it feels long… The reason this is interesting is because long-form storytelling is something that we like in the streaming space. So, I think it might be that it’s some kind of carry over from that. But God knows, this year there were so many three hour-plus movies that I felt I wasn’t getting any work done, trying to see them.

    Kathleen Kennedy

    Even Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was only slightly above two hours. So, if they stick to this length, James Mangold will have the longest entry in the Indiana Jones franchise. So, the next entry is going to have one of many firsts as we return to the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr. It also will introduce us to a new cast of characters and does open up the possibility of continuing the legacy of this story in a new and unexpected way.

    Source: Collider

  • SWCE: ‘Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels’ Composer Kevin Kiner to Score ‘Ahsoka’

    SWCE: ‘Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels’ Composer Kevin Kiner to Score ‘Ahsoka’

    Since 2008, composer Kevin Kiner has created the musical scores for nearly all of Star Wars animated projects. A veteran of The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi, Kiner’s original works have accompanied many of the franchise’s most beloved characters as they have made their way through the galaxy far, far away. It’s only fitting, then, that Kiner make the jump from animation to live-action with the crew of the Ghost in the upcoming streaming series Ahsoka.

    As part of the Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023, it was announced that Kiner did indeed create the musical score for Ahsoka, which streams this August. An argument could be made that outside of creator Dave Filoni, Kiner may know Ahsoka Tano the best, having created her theme and scoring over 200 episodes of shows in which she was often one of the main characters, including the recent Tales of the Jedi which told the origins of the character.

    Ahsoka will begin streaming on Disney Plus in August.

  • Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Seemingly Filming Again in South Africa

    Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Seemingly Filming Again in South Africa

    Sadly, there’s still no exact release date or footage of Netflix’s attempt at bringing One Piece into live-action but a post from Craig Fairbrass may have hinted that they are filming in South Africa again. For those getting worried, touch-ups or reshoots aren’t uncommon for modern productions and are just a way to take in feedback to make sure the final product is as great as it can be.

    Fairbrass, who plays the owner of the Baratie Zeff, took to Twitter to announce that he is on his way home. He confirms that he was back in Cape Town to film, but doesn’t give away how long he worked on the project. He also has his blond hair again which might be for his role. What stands out, however, is that this is seemingly his third trip there but in a past tweet, he revealed he had to leave for some time due to a COVID case on set.

    It’s unclear if they wrapped the reshoots with him involved but there’s a chance they might still be filming. Whatever their production time window looks like, it certainly is a sign that the project is closing in on its final version, and with Geeked Week a few months away, we might be nearing some more teases of the project.

    Source: Twitter

  • James Gunn Hints at Talks for a Marvel-DC Cinematic Crossover

    James Gunn Hints at Talks for a Marvel-DC Cinematic Crossover

    James Gunn is now the co-CEO of DC Studios and has the unimaginable task of righting the ship that was the DC Extended Universe. Now, simply pushing it forward as the DC Cinematic Universe, he aims to wrap up what was filmed before him while setting his sights on the future. Interestingly enough, it seems his friendship with Kevin Feige has led to some “light and fun” talks about a potential DC-Marvel crossover down the line.

    In an interview with Empire, he reveals that while his first priority is to ensure that he fully takes charge of the DCU after wrapping up work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But he seems quite open to potentially working on some kind of crossover; even if it likely would require a lot of legal work to make it happen.

    I’m certain that’s more likely now that I’m in charge [at DC], Who knows? That’s many years away, though. I think we have to establish what we’re doing [at DC] first. I would be lying to say that we haven’t discussed it. But all discussions have been very, very light and fun.

    James Gunn

    With Gunn at the charge, it definitely will change many of the restrictions that we saw in the past for the franchise. While some corners of the Internet have already cried out in terror, there’s a bright future ahead for a truly interconnected franchise. While juggling TV and video games in addition to films might sound quite a bit challenging, if anyone could make it work it’s definitely Gunn.

    Source: Empire

  • SWCE: Lucasilm Reveals the Directing Team Behind ‘Ahsoka’

    SWCE: Lucasilm Reveals the Directing Team Behind ‘Ahsoka’

    After being part of the Lucasfilm Showcase Panel on the opening day of Star Wars Celebration 2023, the upcoming Star Wars streaming series Ahsoka had its own panel on day two. While the panel included a good deal of information about the talent in front of the camera in Ahsoka, creator Dave Filoni also took the opportunity to unveil the talented team of directors behind it.

    As has been the case with all of Lucasfilm’s live-action Star Wars series, Ahsoka was a team effort…and it was quite a team. To no one’s surprise, Filoni directed at least one episode of the series along with Rick Famuyiwa, who has become a key member of the Mando-verse creative team. Joining them were Jennifer Getzinger, Steph Green, Geeta Patel and Peter Ramsey.

    While Getzinger is new to Star Wars, her resume includes over a half dozen high-profile series. Having directed Mad Men (10 episodes), Agent Carter (2 episodes), Daredevil (1 episode), Outlander (4 episodes), Jessica Jones (3 episodes) and Westworld (2 episodes), Getzinger has a nice mix of drama and action in her background that should serve her well on Ahsoka.

    After helming one episode of The Book of Boba Fett, Oscar and Primetime Emmy Award nominee Steph Green is back for her second Star Wars project. Green has directed episodes of The Americans, Luke Cage and HBO’s Watchmen, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special.

    Geeta Patel, who directed one episode of HBO’s House of the Dragon, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse director Peter Ramsey, who helmed Chapter 21 of The Mandalorian, The Pirate, round out the impressive team of directors on Ahsoka.

    Ahsoka will stream on Disney Plus this August!