Free Republic

John Boyega has slammed Disney for 'sidelining' his Star Wars character and giving 'all the nuance' to his white co-stars Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley. The actor, 28, portrayed the franchise's first black Stormtrooper, in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker and told how he thinks Disney marketed his character as being 'much more important' than he actually was. Speaking in an interview with the October issue of British GQ magazine, he said: 'You get yourself involved in projects and you're not necessarily going to like everything.

George Lucas “felt betrayed” by Disney‘s initial plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger. Iger has recalled the early meetings that Disney held with the creator of the acclaimed sci-fi franchise ahead of the making of The Force Awakens, which hit cinemas in 2015 as the first part of the sequel trilogy. •Read more: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – what we know so far about the final film in the trilogy In Iger’s new memoir The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company,...

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s opening weekend will land south of both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, according to domestic box office estimates Disney sent out this morning. The Rise of Skywalker’s first weekend pulled in $175.5 million in North America, $90 million of that from the Thursday night early-bird showings and then Friday’s full premiere. Though it’s an estimated total, $175 million is still short of the top 10 among domestic opening weekends all time, behind 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. It’s also not in the same tax bracket as Skywalker’s trilogy predecessors — The Force...

[snip] This brings me to the absolute worst thing about The Rise of Skywalker, which can easily ruin the original movies as well. Disney chose to go with Palpatine as the villain, without even making the tiniest effort to explain the logic of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to entertain the idea that a powerful dark master of the Force can’t be killed as quickly as you’d think. Well, unless you’re Rey, in which case it’s apparently quite easy. But Palpatine was able to survive in the shadows for years? He wields such immense power that he can...

Star of the upcoming film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Daisy Ridley asserted that "everyone has an issue with Trump — every sane person anyway." Speaking with The Guardian in an interview published over the weekend, the English actress took aim at both President Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. When asked if she finds it difficult to speak out about politics given that the Star Wars franchise is owned by family-friendly Disney, Ridley said, "No. I don’t feel I have to edit what I say — the things that make me angry are the things that make...

Aw yeah, it's ya boi Supreme Leader Ren, taking a break from kicking ass to give his thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker. Is this the future? Is it the past? How is Kylo even seeing this stuff? Is Snoke helping him? Paplatine?! Jar Jar???

The marketing for Star Wars 9 is due to begin at this week's Star Wars Celebration in a dedicated panel on Friday, April 12 at 9.00am-10.00am PT (12.00pm-1.00pm ET, 5.00pm-6.00pm GMT). It's here we're expected to get the title and first trailer for Episode IX, likely at the end of the hour if the approach taken with Star Wars: The Last Jedi is anything to go by. The Star Wars 9 Celebration panel, as with all major Star Wars events over the weekend, will be live-streamed on the official Star Wars YouTube channel and also on StarWars.com..