"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the seventh episode in the legendary movie series, and we can't wait to see it. Here's everything we know about "The Force Awakens"before it hits theaters December 18.
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"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the seventh episode in the legendary movie series, and we can't wait to see it. Here's everything we know about "The Force Awakens"before it hits theaters December 18.
Produced by Will Wei
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The adventures you see in "Star Wars" may happen in a galaxy far, far away, but it turns out that it's not all that difficult to visit the sites where the movies were filmed.
With "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" set to premiere this week, online travel site Cyplon Holidays has created an infographic showing all of the movies' real-life filming locations. To put the data together, they reviewed film locations listed on the Star Wars website and in The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations.
The results span the globe, from canyons and deserts in the US to mountains and palaces in Europe.
To embark on your own "Star Wars" adventure, check out the full infographic below.
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Count former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush among the fans and critics who think that director J.J. Abrams made the right move by leaning on "old-school" filmmaking techniques while making "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
In an interview with Business Insider, Bush said that he's looking forward to seeing how Abrams attempted to recreate the aesthetic feel of the original films by shunning computer graphics whenever possible and shooting on film instead of digitally.
"I want to see the subtlety," Bush said. "They could've made massive technological advances, cause now, the technologies that are available to transform 'Star Wars' into something — you know, another futuristic movie. But it looks to me that they, with great subtlety, have made small advances. I want to see how that plays out, and how people respond to it. I think that'll be fascinating."
Abrams has repeatedly emphasized in interviews that a major part of winning over fans of the original series involved ensuring that the new films had the same aesthetic stamp, which Abrams hoped to achieve by using elaborate sets and detailed puppets instead of computer graphics.
"The big thing for me was, I was nervous about CG being the master we were serving,"Abrams said in an interview with Stephen Colbert in November. "On this movie, we knew, OK, it's 'Star Wars.' There are going to be a lot of ships flying, there will a lot of things we couldn't possibly ever do, of course, physically. But we knew that there needed to be a standard that those shots were adhering to and we'd try to match. So, it was really important to me to shoot on film."
Bush paid tribute to the series earlier this year with a GIF that incorporated a lightsaber into his official campaign logo.
But don't expect to find the former camped out in front of any theaters on the campaign trail this week. Asked if he'd be seeing the film, Bush admitted that he had failed to secure tickets for opening night.
"I will, but it won't be, obviously, soon, since I haven't pre-purchased my tickets. So it'll probably be in March, which is pretty extraordinary," Bush said.
But Bush did attempt to maintain some Star Wars fanboy credibility.
Asked by Business Insider if he liked the prequel trilogy, Episodes I through III, which were released in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bush shook his head.
"No, I like the first ones. The prequels — the last three? Not as big a fan," Bush said.
"Sorry, George," he added, referring to George Lucas, the creator of the franchise.
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Saturday Night Live's latest sketch on "Star Wars" nailed some of the older fanboys of the beloved franchise.
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After a town hall meeting in Milford, New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush sat down with Business Insider to discuss a range of topics, including the highly anticipated release of the new "Star Wars" movie.
Bush revealed that he is, indeed, a "Star Wars" fan. He also didn't mince words when asked about his opinion of the "prequel" trilogy.
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"The Force Awakens" is the first "Star Wars" movie in over a decade, and a direct sequel to the beloved original trilogy. But that's not the only reason that it is a big deal: it is also adding a bunch of female characters to its mostly male-dominated universe.
"Star Wars" created Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), one of the most iconic characters in cinematic history, but now some new female characters will get to accompany her. Daisy Ridley (Rey), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), and Lupita Nyong'o (Maz Kanata) all hope to make a mark in "The Force Awakens," as both heroes and villains.
In making a more diverse "Star Wars" universe, director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy wanted to make a galaxy far, far away look a lot more like the one we know.
"The Force Awakens" will be out in theaters on December 18th.
Story by Ian Phillips and editing by Chelsea Pineda
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James Haggerty is a New York-based artist with a flair for the unique. His mosaic "Star Wars" series in particular has set him apart for its creative use of an every day office product: Staples.
Blending a love for both "Star Wars" and Impressionism, Haggerty's mosaic project requires thousands of colored staples and a high level of patience.
Tech Insider recently gathered a list of some of the world's biggest "Star Wars" fans, and Haggerty was featured along with several other creative types.
Let's take a closer look at the impressive artwork in Haggerty's collection.
With "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" days away from its US premiere, many fans are marathoning the entire series in preparation. One fan has already condensed the original saga into a 90-second clip, but there's an even more ridiculous video circulating the web. YouTuber Michael McNulty edited all the "Star Wars" movies into a single video with six frames — each showing a different movie simultaneously.
The top comment on YouTube sums up the watching experience perfectly:
"I'm going to watch star wars today!"
Person: "Which one?"
"Yes"
The video provides a fun side-by-side comparison of different events and sequences across all six movies.
The intro shows how the original "Star Wars: A New Hope" movie (in the middle-right frame) had a smaller logo than its descendants.
The video has made an appearance on Reddit, where one commenter noticed something else interesting. "At the same time Natalie Portman gets her credit at the end of Episode I, we get our last glance of her character during the funeral procession in Episode III," user fathervice noted.
Here's that shot (watch the top two frames on the left side):
Though actually watching all six movies at the same time would be impossibly confusing, it's fun to scroll through and see the timing of other events. Again, "A New Hope" stands out as the shortest film, with credits rolling while the other five movies are still in their climactic moments.
And as also pointed out by a Redditor, the audio in the beginning is worth a listen for its comedic lack of synchronicity. When the iconic "Star Wars" score begins to play, the six movies aren't quite matched up right. The resulting noise sounds like an amateur grade school band desperately trying to nail John Williams' classic theme song — and failing miserably.
You can watch the whole video on YouTube.
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It's Star Wars Day!
At least, Star Wars World Premiere Day, that is.
The much-anticipated "The Force Awakens" opens Friday, Dec. 18 with some US theaters showing at 7pm on Thursday, Dec. 17. But in Hollywood, the big red carpet premiere of the film kicks off on Monday, Dec. 14.
Tech Insider took a look around the site and got a sense for the high security, energy, and production behind a premiere some are saying is "bigger than the Oscars."
Today's the day! "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" had its worldwide premiere in Los Angeles.
All of Hollywood Boulevard is shut down and has been decorated for the big event at not one, but three theaters in LA.
The movie's stars and other celebrities arrived on the red carpet starting at 5:30 p.m. PST.
Keep reading to see who attended "The Force Awakens" premiere.
The big night is finally here.
Monday night in Los Angeles was the world premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Not many movie premieres have been this anticipated in a long time, or ever. And everyone wanted to be there.
Let's check the stars of the movie on the red carpet along with the lucky regular folks who got the coveted tickets.
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"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"premiered in Los Angeles Monday evening and those in attendance are starting to share their first thoughts on the new film.
The verdict?
Positive!
From Buzzfeed reporter Adam B. Vary:
Rest easy: #TheForceAwakens is 100% #StarWars, and something new. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac: welcome.
— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) December 15, 2015
LA Times film writer Rebecca Keegan:
Story, characters, design, humor -- #StarWars fans, this is the movie you're looking for.
— Rebecca Keegan (@ThatRebecca) December 15, 2015
The Hollywood Reporter's Matthew Belloni refrained from saying much, but noted everyone's expressions as they left the theater.
Star Wars premiere just letting out now. A LOT of smiling faces. #StarWarsForceAwakens
— Matthew Belloni (@THRMattBelloni) December 15, 2015
"The Office" actor Rainn Wilson, who showed up in costume with his son, loved it.
1st Star Wars review: it was epic, awesome & perfect. The cast was stellar. JJ killed it!
— RainnWilson (@rainnwilson) December 15, 2015
Director Brett Morgan knows exactly how he feels.
#ForceAwakens might be the best blockbuster since the original.
— Brett Morgen (@brettmorgen) December 15, 2015
Mashable Entertainment Editor Josh Lincoln Dickey thinks its one of the best in the franchise.
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is a strong, promising kickoff. As a standalone, I'd rank it #3 in the series.
— Josh Lincoln Dickey (@JLDlite) December 15, 2015
Three? ABC's "The Goldbergs" creator ranks it a little bit higher.
Ranking: 1. Empire Strikes Back. 2. Force Awakens. 3. A New Hope. 4. Return of the Jedi. 5 - 8 Prequels. Thank you JJ. #TheForceAwakens
— Adam F. Goldberg (@adamfgoldberg) December 15, 2015
EW's resident "Star Wars" expert Anthony Breznican says it's funnier than you'd think. (I don't remember laughing much at any "Star Wars" picture.)
I'll say this to non-spoiler about #StarWars#TheForceAwakens. You'll laugh more than you expect. And you'll be hit harder than you expect.
— Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) December 15, 2015
"Deadpool" creator Robert Liefeld has one word:
Awesome!!!!!!
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) December 15, 2015
iO9's Germain Lussier experienced all the feels.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoke to my every emotion. Most of them good, a few not, but overall it was an amazing, overwhelming experience
— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) December 15, 2015
Birth.Movies.Death founder Devin Faraci wasn't as thrilled.
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS is ok. I know it's poetry, I know it rhymes, but does every line have to rhyme with the last poem?
— devin faraci (@devincf) December 15, 2015
Fan service abounds. https://t.co/u6cbIQvDxW
— devin faraci (@devincf) December 15, 2015
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens in theaters Friday, December 18 and you can decide for yourself whether or not J.J. Abrams and Disney delivered a hit.
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We asked a bunch of "Star Wars" superfans at this year's New York Comic Con what they thought about Kylo Ren, the mysterious new villain in "The Force Awakens."
Video by Corey Protin. Reporting by Kim Renfro.
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A new research report out today from Goldman Sachs expects even higher returns for the new "Star Wars" than before.
Updating its forecast for the latest film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," out Friday, Goldman Sachs says it expects the film to take in approximately $8 billion in total sales.
The breakdown includes $1.95 billion in global box office (the previous prediction was $1.5 billion), with $750 million at the domestic box office and $1.2 billion abroad. The rest of the estimate comes from retail.
As Goldman points out, this would make "The Force Awakens""the third-highest-grossing film of all time, behind only 'Titanic' and 'Avatar.'"
The forecast suggests that the opening weekend may actually not be the best indicator, as the last two weekends of the year are historically big times for ticket sales due to the holidays.
Merchandising is at least as important to Disney as box office, and Goldman predicts consumer product sales for the film to total $6 billion.
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"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" premiered in Los Angeles on December 14, 2015 and the crowd was not left disappointed.
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There's a new way for you to show your excitement for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which opens in the US on Thursday.
You can add a lightsaber — either Finn's blue lightsaber or Kylo Ren’s red one — to your Facebook profile picture.
Adding a lightsaber to your Facebook profile is really easy and takes about a minute, whether you're using Facebook on a mobile device or on a PC.
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Once there, you'll see this post:
https://www.facebook.com//posts/1068138193237781:0
Post by: Star Wars
You can also do it at the "Star Wars Movies" Facebook page, where you'll see a picture of Finn.
You can change the size of your photo or move it to re-position it.
In a new report, Goldman Sachs predicts that the latest "Star Wars" film out this weekend, "The Force Awakens," will take in a total of about $8 billion in sales, with $1.95 billion in global box office and $6 billion in retail.
Of the box office, the report estimates sales of $750 million domestically and $1.2 billion abroad. Goldman Sachs also includes this chart below, showing how past "Star Wars" films have performed, including adjustments for inflation. If the forecast holds true, it would make "The Force Awakens" the best-performing film in the series, though when adjusted for inflation, it would still be behind the 1977 original film (over a billion dollars domestically when adjusted).
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Disney and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will get the widest December release in history when playing this weekend in more than 4,100 theaters.
That includes 3,300 3D locations, 392 Imax screens (a record number), 451 premium large-format screens and 146 D-Box locations.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (2012) is the current December record-holder (4,045 locations). The "Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which hit theaters in late June 2010, boasts the widest release of all time (4,468 theaters). December is a more crowded corridor, however, so "Force Awakens" was never expected to set an overall record. Also, drive-in and other seasonal theaters are closed.
"Force Awaken"'s box-office potential has become an intense guessing game. Tracking suggests it will open to $180 million to $220 million domestically, well north of the record $85 million debut of "Unexpected Journey" in December 2012.
The weekend before Christmas often sees many consumers distracted with travel, shopping and general holiday preparations; hence, the year-end holidays aren't known for big openings. Rather, movies that bow over the year-end holidays can see huge multiples, including the two top-grossing films of all time, 2009's "Avatar" ($2.8 billion) and 1997's "Titanic" ($2.2 billion).
This summer, "Jurassic World" set a new threshold in North America when opening to $208.8 million domestically. More bullish box-office observers believe "Force Awakens" could set a new mark.
Directed by J.J. Abrams, "Force Awakens"— which stages its world premiere Monday night in Los Angeles — begins rolling out Thursday night before playing everywhere Friday.
The pic will bow in nearly every major market this week. The one exception is China, where it won't debut until Jan. 9.
The two other films daring to open opposite Star Wars this weekend are Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip" and Universal comedy "Sisters," starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Both are tracking to open in the mid-teen millions.
SEE ALSO: What the stars wore on the red carpet of the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" world premiere
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NOW WATCH: 'Star Wars’ fans react to seeing the new movie: 'Everything I've dreamed of’
The new "Star Wars" movie is only days away, and that means the leaks and spoilers are starting to seep into social media news feeds and websites everywhere.
At this point, there's two camps of Star Wars fans: Those who desire nothing more than to go into the theaters without the faintest idea of what they'll see, and those (like myself) who pour over the latest leaks and spoilers in an attempt to cobble together the movie's plot beforehand.
While spoiler fans argue much of the fun lies in seeing which leaks and spoilers turn out to be true (and which are just hogwash), most people would prefer to stay away — and now there's an easy way to block out Star Wars spoilers without avoiding the internet entirely.
It's called "Force Block," and it's a new web browser extension for Chrome that detects if the webpage you're visiting contains any mention of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." If the website does, Force Block will bar you from seeing the webpage, pointing out that it contains spoilers and asking if you still want to proceed.
As you can see in the screenshot above, Force Block did its job as advertised, blocking my view of the "Star Wars Leaks" subreddit when I visited. The Chrome extension can be turned off by clicking the extension's tiny lightsaber symbol in the top right-hand corner of your browser, and there's also the option to whitelist websites if you need to override Force Block's decision.
You can download Force Block for free over at the Chrome Web Store, just remember that you'll need to be using Google Chrome as your web browser for it to work.
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People can't help but share their thoughts.
As expected, there's been an awakening when it comes to spoilers, and everyone on social media is sure to feel it over the next few days.
Although there is a review embargo in place for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Wednesday at 12:01AM Pacific, if you were curious), the massive hunger for Star Wars content online is such that some people just couldn't quite keep their thoughts to themselves. Here are numerous reviews that don't ruin anything:
#ForceAwakens delivers on every level.
— Brett Morgen (@brettmorgen) December 15, 2015
From comedy to costumes, fights to fx to overall feel, J.J. Abrams has created a thoroughly old-fashioned movie #StarWarsForceAwakens
— Steven Zeitchik (@ZeitchikLAT) December 15, 2015
Star Wars premiere just letting out now. A LOT of smiling faces. #StarWarsForceAwakens
— Matthew Belloni (@THRMattBelloni) December 15, 2015
Just got the first #StarWarsForceAwakens review from Chris @Hardwick while exiting the theater... "It was ****ing incredible!"
— Kenny Holmes (@KHOLMESlive) December 15, 2015
1st Star Wars review: it was epic, awesome & perfect. The cast was stellar. JJ killed it!
— RainnWilson (@rainnwilson) December 15, 2015
It was awesome. @starwarspic.twitter.com/uCg1uUUKpU
— Rudy Mancuso (@rudymancuso) December 15, 2015
Not going to say much till I see it again but rest assured THE FORCE AWAKENS is the best STAR WARS since 1983...maybe 1980.
— Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) December 15, 2015
Well, I've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens. My prediction: #1 at the box office this week.
— Eric Stonestreet (@ericstonestreet) December 15, 2015
There's really no words to describe how amazing The Force Awakens was. Just..... Wow.... #StarWarsRedCarpetpic.twitter.com/Fq8un08Jf0
— !llmind (@illmindPRODUCER) December 15, 2015
Out of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This about sums it up: pic.twitter.com/BPECdYffYy
— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) December 15, 2015
There are many things that should be made illegal in response to Star Wars: The Force Awakens: any variation on the phrase "The Force is strong in this one," any attempt to say "Christmas came one week early for Star Wars fans," and anyone even thinking of describing the movie as "BB-Great." Let's add people who break embargoes and ruin the movie to that list.
After Thursday evening, however, those wanting to remain unspoiled should just switch off the Internet altogether until they've had a chance to see the movie for themselves. Too many Bothan spies would be sacrificed to keep spoilers hidden otherwise.
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