Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising?
This week we revisit a directorial master of the 70’s, go back to school with Donnie Yen, wonder how Nazis suddenly have been given a voice, hit up a friend to help make a baby, and sit on the edge of our seat as we watch a victim confront a murderer. Read More »
The casting process for Disney’s live-action Mulan remake is picking up steam. After recent news that Donnie Yen has joined the film, word comes that Gong Li and Jet Li have joined the cast as well.
Read More »
The coolness factor of Disney’s live-action Mulan has just increased considerably. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor Donnie Yen has joined the live-action Mulan cast as a mentor to Mulan.
Read More »
It only took everyone a few decades, but Hollywood filmmakers finally seem to be embracing Donnie Yen. The Chinese superstar won hearts all over the world as blind warrior Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and he stole scenes in xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Now, someone outside of China is finally ready to put him center stage. That someone is producer Neal Moritz, who has cast Yen in the film adaptation of the video game Sleeping Dogs.
Read More »
Earlier this week, we learned that Jyn Erso’s backstory would be explored in a new YA novel. And today we have yet another bit of Rogue One prequel news. Lucasfilm has announced that Chirut Imwe and Baze Malbus (played by Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen respectively in the film) will be getting their own standalone prequel novel titled Guardians of the Whills. Learn more after the jump.
Read More »
Over 14 years after the release of the original xXx, is Xander Cage a character audiences remain interested in? We’ll soon find out when Vin Diesel returns to the role next month in the D.J. Caruso-directed sequel, which co-stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Toni Collette, and Donnie Yen. So far we’ve seen Cage pull off plenty of wonderfully ridiculous feats in the trailers for the film, and the newest xXx: Return of Xander Cage clip gets, as fans probably hope for, ridiculous real fast.
Below, watch the xXx Return of Xander Cage clip.
Read More »
Last night, the world premiere of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hit Los Angeles, and even though the embargo on full reviews won’t be lifted until December 13th, the first reactions from those attending the star-studded debut of the movie (including our own Peter Sciretta) have hit the web. The result is tons of praise, many saying that it exceeded their already high expectations with incredible action and some brand new memorable characters that Star Wars fans are going to fall in love with.
Check out all the Rogue One early buzz after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2016 by Angie Han
At a time when the Chinese box office is powerful enough to prop up even films that do terribly at home (see: Warcraft), studios have gone to all sorts of lengths to attract that audience. In the case of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it definitely helps that they’ve cast two of the country’s biggest stars, Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen, in key roles. Naturally, then, those two are getting a lot of attention in the run-up to the film’s release in China.
Yen and Jiang, who play Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus in the movie, get a good chunk of screentime in the new Rogue One Chinese trailer, which also announces the film’s Chinese release date. The Force Awakens faced an uphill climb in the country earlier this year, but with these guys on board, maybe Rogue One will have better luck. Watch the Rogue One Chinese trailer below.
Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2016 by Jacob Hall
The morning after watching 28 minutes of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, I joined the rest of the gathered press as we reconvened at Lucasfilm for a full day of interviews (which you can read right over here). But before that, we assembled for the group press conference, moderated by StarWars.com’s Andi Gutierrez. In attendance were Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, director Gareth Edwards, visual effects supervisor (and story creator) John Knoll, and actors Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, and Riz Ahmed.
The result was a sprawling morning that covered everything from the genesis of the film’s unique look, to George Lucas’ reaction to the final cut, to Kathleen Kennedy addressing her previous comments about women directing Star Wars movies…to Alan Tudyk’s very, very tight motion capture jumpsuit. Here’s everything you need to know.
Read More »
Cool Posts From Around the Web:
Posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2016 by Angie Han
As we saw last year with The Force Awakens, the Star Wars marketing team knows how to reveal tons of imagery, footage, and juicy detail without giving away much at all. Now, as Rogue One enters the final weeks of its promotional campaign, it seems to be sticking to a similar formula of intense secrecy combined with total ubiquity. You can’t throw a rock these days without hitting yet another new Rogue One TV spot or specialty poster or cast interview, and yet I’m feeling pretty confident that we can trust Disney not to “spoil” anything significant. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Which brings us to Disney’s latest volley in their relentless campaign for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The studio’s unveiled a whole bunch of hi-res Rogue One images, some of which are just higher-quality versions of photos we’ve already seen and others of which appear to be completely new. Either way, you can probably rest assured you’re in good hands with Disney. At least unless you’re the kind of spoilerphobe who’s sworn off all Rogue One marketing already, in which case you’ve probably already scrolled past this post. See the new Rogue One images below. Read More »
