SWNZ News Digest – 01 March 2018
Welcome to the SWNZ News Digest, where we keep you up to date with all the recent official Star Wars news headlines and links, in case you missed them, or because they are exciting enough to re-visit.
Galaxy’s Edge X-Wing and Falcon Taking Shape
Official photo of one of the sequel-era T-70 X-Wing Starfighters (in Poe Dameron’s black squadron colours) and the Millennium Falcon that will be on show at Disney Park’s Galaxy’s Edge, have been shared. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the large Star Wars “Land”, currently under construction, that will open at both Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 2019. These pics come to us via WDWMagic.com, and WDW News Today.
New Star Wars Resort Concept Art
The official Disney Parks Blog has teased a couple more images of the planned Star Wars Resort being planned for construction at Walt Disney World. The hotel will feature a continuous, immersive Star Wars experience – the new published concept images tease a glimpses of that.
Read more at the official Disney Parks Blog.
Star Wars Expansion in Disneyland Paris
The Star Wars additions to the US Disney parks are due to open next year. In the last week, Bob Iger has confirmed that Disneyland Paris will also get a significant Star Wars expansion, although it won’t begin rolling out until 2021.
Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company Robert A. Iger announced plans for a 2 billion euro, multi-year expansion for Disneyland Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palais de l’Elysée in Paris. The new development will include a transformation of the Walt Disney Studios Park, adding three new areas that are based on Marvel, Frozen and Star Wars, along with multiple new attractions and live entertainment experiences.
Read the full article at DisneylandParis-News.com.
In the meantime though, Disneyland Paris has recently completed installation of five fan-made life-size Star Wars vehicles as part of its Season of the Force event. Read the details at the Disney Parks Blog, and check out a behind-the-scenes teaser video here.
More ILM Visual FX Videos
As part of the build up to the Oscars, ILM has released a couple more short vids showing of their spectacular visual effects from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The clips are a great watch, demonstrating the many layers and complexity of the Star Wars visual effects, often surprising us as to what is real and what is generated.
- Behind the Magic – Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Battle of Crait (56 sec)
- Behind the Magic – Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Creating Supreme Leader Snoke (1 min 39 sec)
Hasbro Pulse App
The Hasbro Pulse app is a new, official app from Hasbro that lets you organise your modern Star Wars collection. It is available through the Google Play Store, and iTunes.
- Use the in-app scan feature to scan your Hasbro product’s barcode to add it to your collection!
- Search a wide variety of products through the database search function
- Filter and sort product by brands and segments
- See the latest products and get notified when new products become available for purchase
- Purchase products through the app
- Organize and customize your collection
- Create a wishlist of existing and new products that you’d like to eventually own
The Star Wars Show
The latest installment of The Star Wars Show takes a look at the Star Wars: The Last Jedi DVD and Blu-Ray releases, the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story books and comics, talks to Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren) about the final episodes of Star Wars Rebels, checks out the Star Wars toy reveals from Toy Fair 2018, and more!
Watch the episode on the official Star Wars YouTube channel here.
Dark Empire Comic Retrospective
Just over 25 years ago, the Dark Empire comic series, from Dark Horse Comics, was released. It followed the release of Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire, and together, those two expanded universe series were instrumental in reviving the Star Wars franchise.
StarWars.com has interviews Tom Veitch (writer) and Dave Dorman (cover artist) about the inception and production of Dark Empire, and talks about its significance and persistent influence. Read the interview and article here.
