Rogue One Bits: New Posters, New TV Spots, An MPAA Rating, And A Star Wars Branded Automobile
In this edition of Rogue One Bits:
Look, the days of movies getting one or two posters are long gone. These days, you need a teaser poster and a first poster and a second poster and then a collection of character posters and then an IMAX poster and then the specialty poster that you can only get at select screenings and then the expensive screen print created by Mondo or Bottleneck Gallery. So toss this one on the stack: a Rogue One poster advertising AMC's Dolby Cinema.
Rebellions are built on hope – learn more about the upcoming #RogueOne: A Star Wars Story in this new featurette pic.twitter.com/qWWJ9u5vFC
— Star Wars UK (@StarWarsUK) November 17, 2016
Speaking of very specific marketing, the official UK Star Wars Twitter feed has shared a new Rogue One featurette, offering new pieces of footage with commentary from director Gareth Edwards, and stars Diego Luna and Felicity Jones. While there's not much new information here, it's the kind of video that Lucasfilm and Disney need to plant in front of as many regular people as possible because it explains exactly what Rogue One is and when it takes place better than any of the actual trailers.
A new TV spot for Rogue One has arrived online and there's not too much in the way of new footage to see here (although I do like the shot of the massive swarm of TIE Fighters flying into battle). However, I do like how the marketing is doubling down on this being a hopeful movie. A lot people, myself included, need that right about now.
And here's another new TV spot, which features a few extra snippets of footage from that big space battle.
If you're in the market for a Nissan Rogue (My wife drives one! It's a good car!), know that a limited edition, Star Wars-branded edition of this vehicle is on the way. Naturally, it was revealed as part of a bombastic auto show event that utilized fog and projection screens and lasers and spotlights and live Stormtroopers. It's all a little silly, but you have to admire the showmanship. You can find more information on the Nissan Rogue: Rogue One Star Wars Limited Edition over here, should this be a thing you want to own.
A few new Japanese TV spots for Rogue One have arrived online and if you're obsessive enough to seek out every single piece of adverting looking for new snippets of footage...welcome. Enjoy.
And here's the second Japanese spot, which is similar to the first one but contains some additional dialogue from Diego Luna's Cassian Andor.
And finally, our journey into the world of Japanese Star Wars marketing concludes with these six character posters, with Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, K-2SO, Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Imwe, and Baze Malbus all getting awkwardly photoshopped against the same background.
In news that shouldn't surprise anyone, the MPAA has officially rated Rogue One PG-13 for "Extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action," which sounds about right. Thanks to Star Wars News Net for brining this one to our attention.
This should be taken with a grain of salt, but Star Wars News Net is reporting that the world premiere of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be held on December 10, with early U.K. screenings beginning on December 13. This comes our way via a Twitter account with no obvious connection with the film, so trust this as much as you care to.
Rogue One director Gareth Edwards recently spoke with Disney Rewards (hooray for corporate synergy?), where he revealed which character, in his humble opinion, steals the movie:
Alan had to wear this rather silly-looking outfit with dots on it while we were filming, and he always felt like the uncool guy on the set surrounded by actors in super cool costumes. I would tell him, 'Alan, don't worry. You're going to steal every scene you're in.' And I was right. Once we put the robot overlay in, he was fantastic. He brings a lot of humor to the film.
Look, it should come as news to anyone that Alan Tudyk walks away with any film that has the good taste to cast him, even when he's playing a CGI robot.
The new Star Wars Galactic Atlas won't be available in the United States until after Rogue One's release, but it is already available in Europe and Star Wars News Net managed to snag some pictures of the pages dedicated to Jedha, a key Rogue One location. You can follow that link to check out the images for yourself (the art alone makes this look like a book worth owning), but there are two key takeaways. We already knew that this small desert moon was a holy site for believers in the Force, but these pages confirm that the Empire has been using Jedha to mine kyber crystals (the source of power in Jedi's lightsaber). It is also revealed that Saw Gerrera, the Rebel extremist played by Forest Whitaker, has set up shop in ancient tomb, where he is surrounded by the literal remains of the dead.
We've known that Rogue One DLC was coming to Star Wars Battlefront for a little while now, but now we know exactly when. Season pass holders will get to re-enact the Battle of Scarif on December 6, 2016, with players battling on the grounds of the Empire's top secret construction yard and in the skies above. Those fighting on the side of the Rebels will have the chance to play as Jyn Erso while those fighting the Empire will be able to control Orson Krennic.
A new batch of Rogue One-themed stickers have been added to Apple's app store and for the low cost of $1.99, you can now start communicating entirely in cute little animated stickers depicting characters like Jyn and Krennic and K-2SO.
The official novelization of Rogue One from Del Rey and author Alexander Freed was originally set to arrive in ebook form on December 16, 2016, the same day as the film hits theaters, with hardcover copies not hitting stores until January 3, 2017. However, there's been a change of plans: the ebook will still arrive with the movie, but the hardcover will now be available on December 20, 2016, just four days later. It's not clear why this change was made, but if you're a luddite like me who still clings to his physical books because actually holding an object and flipping through paper pages is something you continue to value, this is good news.
A little while back, we learned the name of that Mon Calamari commander glimpsed in snippets of Rogue One footage: Admiral Raddus. And if you took a look at him and wondered if he looked a bit like a certain iconic world leader, Neal Scanlan (film's creature effects supervisor) says you're right on target:
In Rogue One, we'll see other military leaders from this species, including the black-hued figure above – Admiral Raddus. His inspiration was the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom during World War II. The British Bulldog himself.
"We always tried to find a real world example of who these creatures may be, and in this case we used Churchill," says Neal Scanlan, creature effects supervisor for the Star Wars franchise. "Admiral Raddus is a very strong figure. We would use [Churchill] not only as visual reference for his physical features, but also when it came to performing him and expressing him through the actor."
Empire Magazine has revealed its exclusive subscribers-only Rogue One cover, which eschews familiar images of the characters in favor of a look at what actually drives the film's plot: those top secret Death Star plans. The issue (which will have a different cover on newsstands and in stores) will be available on November 24.
Although George Lucas didn't have a creative role in Rogue One, he did visit the design department and his opinions were valued by everyone there. As Gareth Edwards noted to Total Film:
It was clear from the beginning to Edwards that "whatever [Lucas] liked was pretty much guaranteed to be in the film," as you would expect when the creator of a franchise which has gripped the imaginations of millions takes a tour around the Rogue One design department.
Edwards says that sitting in the department was "a helmet we loved but didn't know where to put it; there wasn't really an opportunity to use it." But when Lucas was given a tour of the design department, the father of Star Wars "walked past it and went 'That's cool, I like that.'"
Gareth Edwards and his niece Ella are the subjects of a new video in support of ASSERT (Angelman Syndrome Support Education & Research Trust), a UK-based organization dedicated to supporting the families of children with Angelman disorder. The video is sweet and informative and you should watch it just because you're a good person. However, it also features a lot of behind-the-scenes footage, including glimpses of Admiral Raddus, Bistan (AKA, the "space monkey"), and two Rebel pilots who look an awful lot like Biggs and Porkins.
I'm currently reading Star Wars: Catalyst and working on my own article about the novel and what it reveals about the characters who will soon debut in Rogue One, but if you want to know more right now and don't want to pick up the book for yourself, Star Wars Explained has got you covered.
And if you require additional information, Star Wars Explained has an additional video detailing 51 facts pulled from the book.