2017 and beyond will be a busy time for Star Wars. In March/April ‘Rogue One‘ is hitting DVD/blu-ray and filming has begun on the stand-alone ‘Young Han Solo‘ production…
Rogue One, the first new feature in the post-Lucas saga did the expected strong business when it opened at the end of 2016 and it also met with generally positive to excellent reviews from critics and audiences alike. So it was clear that the DVD and blu-ray release would not be delayed longer than needed. Disney have announced that the DVD version of the film will be available in just over a month – 24th March to be precise – with a blu-ray version following on 4th April. This will be just a couple of weeks before the Star Wars Celebration opens its doors for the annual pilgrimage of fans and, most likely, a first teaser trailer for The Last Jedi (the film will arrive in cinemas 17th December).
As expected, there should be a lot of extra and bonus materials on the home-theatre releases and these are expected to include:
A Rogue Idea – How ILM’s John Knoll conceived the movie’s concept – and why it was the right film to launch the Star Wars stand-alone films.
Jyn: The Rebel – Felicity Jones on how she brought her rebel to life.
Cassian: The Spy – Diego Luna shares insights into his complex, driven character.
K-2SO: The Droid – The Imperial droid’s arc from pitch to character to design to the wry Alan Tudyk.
Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills – Clip will delve deeper into the relationship between these two characters, with Chinese superstars Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.
Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary – Forest Whitaker and Riz Ahmed reflect on Saw Gerrera, the broken Rebel leader, and Bodhi Rook, the Imperial pilot who defects.
The Empire – A look at the legendary evil org and its prince of darkness, Lord Vader.
Visions of Hope: The Look of Rogue One – The filmmakers describe the challenges and thrills of developing a bold new look for the movie that can fit within the world of the original trilogy.
The Princess & The Governor – How Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia returned virtually to the screen.
Epilogue: The Story Continues – Filmmakers and cast celebrate Rogue One’s premiere and look forward into the future, to the Star Wars stories yet to be told.
Rogue Connections – Easter eggs and film facts hidden throughout the movie that connect Rogue One to the greater Star Wars universe.
Perhaps disappointingly, those extras appear not to include any deleted scenes. Given that some of the key scenes in the trailers for the film failed to make it to the final cut, it’s also somewhat surprising that not a single frame of those will be seen, even if they belong to a story that was reworked in reshoots. Perhaps inevitable further releases down the line might still do that…
In other news, the first promotional image for the as-yet-untitled young Han Solo movie has been released and shows the main cast posing in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as filming commences. Left to right we have: Woody Harrelson, Chris Miller, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Alden Ehrenreich (as Solo), Emilia Clarke, Joonas Suotamo (taking the role of Chewbacca), Phil Lord and Donald Glover. We’re still not sure the nature and names of the supporting characters as yet, but it’s still interesting to see the pieces fall into place over a year ahead o the May 2018 release.
