DRUNK CINEMA 008: "Forbidden Planet" Is Up!

 
"Another one of them new worlds.  No beer, no women, no pool parlors...nothin'.  Nothin' to do but throw rocks at tin cans, and we gotta bring our own tin cans."
-- Cookie, Forbidden Planet

Hey there, movie fans!  My wonderful co-host Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Drunk Cinema!  This time, we reopen the Drunk Cinema Theater to watch Forbidden Planet, the 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox and featuring Leslie Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams, Anne Francis as Altaira "Alta" Morbius, Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Edward Morbius, and the first appearance of Robby the Robot!

In this eighth episode, Xan and I discuss things like Xan's Robby the Robot toy robot, the origin of Xan's cat Jess-Belle's name, what would happen if cats had opposable thumbs, Frank on Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Sally Field being a better leading lady for Burt Reynolds than Loni Anderson, Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Mystery Science Theater J. Elvis Weinstein, Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman on The Six Million Dollar Man, our plea for everyone to get drunk responsibly, Forbidden Planet having the first electronic musical score, the great Delia Derbyshire from Doctor Who, Star Trek ripping off transporters from Forbidden Planet, Earl Holliman appearing in the first Twilight Zone episode, Dr. Morbius being a space-age James Bond villain, Alta being a Disney princess, Commander Adams killing Alta's tiger, the C-57D crew being extremely horny for Alta, Robby the Robot having private time with a copy of Playbot magazine, sexy being the eye of the beholder, Morbius' secret space lab, Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, 1950s men being big dumb clods, Robby making Cookie a cave full of bourbon, Xan finding a big hole in her shirt, Duck Dodgers in the 24th & 1/2 Century, Alta's mourning mini-skirt, our enjoying talking about other movies rather than the movie we're watching, chicks digging scars, Night on Bald Mountain, Dr. Morbius' Unchecked Primal Aggression, the non-stop gauges, Robby making microbrews, Drunk Mail from Dave Proctor, Diana Rigg being the perfect wife for James Bond, Bob Oedekerk vs. Steve Oedekerk, and more!

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Be sure to come back in two weeks for Episode 009, as Xan and I watch Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, the 2002 martial arts comedy film written, directed by and starring Steve Oedekerk as The Chosen One, Hui Lou Chen as Master Tang, Fei Lung as Master Pain a.k.a. Betty, and Ling Ling Tse as Ling!

DRUNK CINEMA 004: "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" Is Up!

 
"Hey, hey, hey, hey now.  Don't be mean.  We don't have to be mean, 'cause, remember...no matter where you go, there you are."
-- Buckaroo Banzai, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

Hey there, movie fans!  My wonderful co-host Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Drunk Cinema!  This time, we reopen the Drunk Cinema Theatre to discuss The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, the 1984 science fiction cult classic directed by W.D. Richter and featuring Peter Weller as Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, John Lithgow as Dr. Emilio Lizardo/Lord John Whorfin, Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy, Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey, and Christopher Lloyd as John Bigbootél

In this fourth episode, Xan and I discuss things like Buckaroo Banzai being one of Xan's two all-time favorite movies, Xan meeting Peter Weller and Christopher Lloyd, Xan and Chris' Banzai Institute wedding invitations, Xan's email tribute to Buckaroo's enemy Hanoi Xan, Fox's proposed 1998 TV series Buckaroo Banzai: Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries, Kevin Smith's proposed 2016 TV series adaptation, the alternate opening featuring Jamie Lee Curtis as Buckaroo's mom, Ford trucks not being structurally capable of going 900 MPH, Perfect Tommy being the definitive '80s character, Billy Vera and the Beaters as Buckaroo's backup bands, that awkward moment when Penny Priddy tries to kill herself with a gun and gets mistaken for an assassin, Buckaroo wanting Penny to hold his Overthruster, Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, the creepiness of Buckaroo being attracted to Penny because she's the twin sister of his dead wife, the thermopod flying like a truck, the Black Lectroids impractical chairs, the modern credit sequence after the movie, the greatness of the Buckaroo Banzai theme, filming the end credits to the sound of Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl", John Lithgow in The World According to Garp, Xan getting her Madeline Kahn on, and more!

If you'd like to check out our podcast and subscribe to us, you can find us on...

iTunes/Apple Podcasts -- RIGHT HERE
Spotify -- RIGHT HERE

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn -- RIGHT HERE

YouTube -- RIGHT HERE

Drunk Cinema's Facebook Page

Drunk Cinema's Twitter Account

Be sure to come back next month for Episode 005, as Xan and discuss Young Frankenstein, the 1974 comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks and featuring Gene Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, Peter Boyle as The Monster, Marty Feldman as Igor, Teri Garr as Inga, and Madeline Kahn as Elizabeth!

Hulu Developing HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY TV Series

Are you someone who really knows where your towel is?

Deadline has revealed that the Hulu streaming service is developing a television series based on Douglas Adams' beloved comedic sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

According to the article, the series "follows the intergalactic adventures of Arthur Dent, a hapless Englishman, following the destruction of Earth by the Vogons, a race of unpleasant and bureaucratic aliens."

Carlton Cuse and Jason Fuchs, both fans of Adams' five Hitchhiker's novels, will write, executive produce and serve as showrunners for the proposed series, a modern updating of the story.  The project is now in development at Hulu via ABC Signature and Cuse’ Genre Arts.  Fuchs is writing the pilot script.

Created by Adams in 1978, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy originally began as a BBC Radio series, with the first four parts adapted by Adams as a novel one year later.  The novel became extremely popular, with Adams writing four additional novels in the series -- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless.  A sixth installment, And Another Thing..., was published in 2009, eight years after Adams' death, and written by Eoin Colfer with the support of Jane Belson, Adams' widow.

The novel was first adapted as a BBC TV series in 1981, with six episodes starring Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, David Dixon as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Sandra Dickinson as Trillian.  In 2005, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film adaptation was released, with Adams co-writing the screenplay before his death in 2001.  The film starred Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent, Mos Def as Ford Prefect, Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Zooey Deschanel as Trillian.

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC is Most Official, Alex Winter & Keanu Reeves to Return

Strange things are afoot once again at the Circle K.

In a most triumphant article, The Hollywood Reporter has word that the long-discussed third Bill & Ted movie, Bill & Ted Face the Music, is officially in pre-production and will feature the return of Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Keanu Reeves as Ted "Theodore" Logan.

According to the article, original creators Chris Matheson (Imagine That) and Ed Solomon (Men in Black, Mosaic, Now You See Me) have written the script, with Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest, Red 2, Fun With Dick and Jane) confirmed as director.  Scott Kroopf (Limitless) will produce the movie together with Alex Lebovici and Steve Ponce of Hammerstone Studios, with Steven Soderbergh serving as an executive producer alongside Scott Fischer, John Ryan Jr. and John Santilli.

Bill & Ted Face the Music will reportedly "see the duo long past their days as time-traveling teenagers and now weighed down by middle age and the responsibilities of family.  They’ve written thousands of tunes, but they have yet to write a good one, much less the greatest song ever written.  With the fabric of time and space tearing around them, a visitor from the future warns our heroes that only their song can save life as we know it.  Out of luck and fresh out of inspiration, Bill and Ted set out on a time travel adventure to seek the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe as we know it.  Together with the aid of their daughters, a new crop of historical figures, and some sympathetic music legends, they find much, much more than just a song."

MGM owns the rights to the film and will release it in the U.S. under its Orion Pictures banner, while Bloom is handling international sales, which commenced in Cannes.

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves said in a joint statement, "We couldn’t be more excited to get the whole band back together again.  Chris and Ed wrote an amazing script, and with Dean at the helm, we’ve got a dream team!"

Bloom's Alex Walton remarked, "Fans of Bill and Ted have been waiting for Reeves and Winter to reunite since their last Bogus Journey in 1991. This is excellent!"

Created in 1989 by Matheson and Solomon, Bill and Ted made their debut in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, where they attended high school in 1988 San Dimas, California as slackers and are told they will fail their high school history class if they don't achieve a good grade on their reports.  Ted's father threatens him with military school in Alaska if he failed, which would end Bill and Ted's dreams of success with their band, Wyld Stallyns.  In 2688, humanity has built a utopia thanks to the music and wisdom of Bill and Ted.  A man named Rufus traveled back in time to 1988 using a time machine disguised as a telephone booth to ensure that Bill and Ted pass their class.  Gathering various historical figures, they returned to the present to deliver their presentation that received a standing ovation and allowed them to pass the class.

In the 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, the music of Bill and Ted's band, Wyld Stallyns, was detested by Chuck De Nomolos, who stole one of the time-traveling phone booths and sent two robots modeled after Bill and Ted back to the late 20th century to prevent Bill and Ted from winning the San Dimas Battle of the Bands.  Evil Bill and Evil Ted arrived eventually replaced Bill and Ted, killing them by throwing the two over the side of a cliff at Vasquez Rocks.  While posting as the real Bill and Ted, the robots behaved rudely to their fiancées and worked to ruin the duo's fame.  Bill and Ted's souls were met by Death, who challenged them in a game for their souls and eventually returned them to Earth.  After defeating De Nomolos and reuniting with their fiancées, they realized they were still terrible musicians and used the time booth for "an intense 16 months of guitar training plus a two week honeymoon".  Before returning to their original point of departure, they married the princesses and are raising young infants named "Little Ted" and "Little Bill".  They began to perform a stunning rock ballad, joined by Death, and Wyld Stallyns' music was played across the globe, creating harmony.

WESTWORLD Season 2 Trailer Debuts During Super Bowl LII

HBO debuted the first trailer for the second season of the hit series Westworld last night during Super Bowl LII, which featured the Philadelphia Eagles defeating the New England Patriots 41-33.

The one-minute, 30-second trailer opens with a piano version of Kanye West's "Runaway" and features Evan Rachel Wood's android host character Dolores Abernathy speaking in a voiceover as we see beautiful Utah scenery that houses the Wild West-themed amusement park known as Westworld.

Dolores begins, "Look at this world...this beautiful world.  We built this world together.  The world where dreams come true.  A world where you can be free..."

Things turn dark as we see a herd of cattle transition us to the inside of the Delos offices, as men with guns take out the herd of synthetic creatures before being trampled themselves.  

"...But this world is a lie," continues Dolores as we see a fleeting image of Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), The Man in Black (Ed Harris), and Clementine Pennyfeather (Angela Sarafyan).  "This world deserves to die, because this is your world.  We've lived by your rules long enough..."

Another rebellious host, Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton), slow-mo walks through the Delos offices as the carnage keeps happening around her.  "...We can save this world," continues Dolores.  "We can burn it to the ground, and from the ashes, build a new world -- Our world.”

If you'd like to check out the trailer, you can view it below thanks to Movieclips Trailers on YouTube...




Westworld returns to HBO for Season 2 on April 22, 2018.

BLADE RUNNER 2049 Receives 5 Oscar Nominations for 90th Academy Awards

"I always told you -- You're special.  Your history isn't over yet.  There's still a page left."
-- Joi, Blade Runner 2049

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has officially announced the nominations for The 90th Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, with a number of SF and comic book films receiving nods.  Blade Runner 2049 received five nominations, while Star Wars: The Last Jedi received four nominations.  Additional nominations included Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, War for the Planet of the Apes, and Kong: Skull Island.

Blade Runner 2049 was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing, while Star Wars: The Last Jedi received nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

Here's the full list of 2018 nominees...

BEST PICTURE

Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST DIRECTOR

Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

BEST ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

BEST ACTOR

Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Call Me By Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Logan
Molly’s Game
Mudbound

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Mighty River,” Mudbound “Mystery of Love,” Call Me By Your Name
“Remember Me,” Coco
“Stand Up for Something,” Marshall
“This Is Me,” The Greatest Showman

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Abacus (Small Enough to Jail)
Faces/Places
Icarus
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

“Eden and Eddie”
“Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405”
“Heroin/e”
“Knife Skills”
“Traffic Stop”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

A Fantastic Woman
The Insult
Loveless
On Body and Soul
The Square

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Darkest Hour
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

BEST FILM EDITING

Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes

BEST SHORT FILM — LIVE ACTION

“Dekalb Elementary”
“The Eleven O’Clock”
“My Nephew Emmett”
“The Silent Child”
“Watu Wote/All of Us”

BEST SHORT FILM — ANIMATED

“Dear Basketball”
“Garden Party”
“Lou”
“Negative Space”
“Revolting Rhymes”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Mudbound
The Shape of Water

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Victoria & Abdul

BEST SOUND EDITING

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars :The Last Jedi

BEST SOUND MIXING

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The 90th Academy Awards will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 4, 2018.

LAZARUS TV Series in Development at Amazon

Lazarus is rising on Amazon.

Deadline is reporting that the television adaptation of Lazarus, based on the dystopian science fiction Image Comics series by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, has landed at Amazon for development.  This will be the third comic book series on Amazon, after The Tick and The Boys.

The TV series was first reported to be in development by Legendary Television back in March 2015.  According to the article, Rucka will write and executive produce the series with Lark and Angela Cheng Caplan.

First released in October 2013 by Image Comics, Lazarus focuses on a futuristic society where 16 wealthy Families have divided the planet into territories that are under their direct control as a new form of feudalism.  Those who provide services for the Families are referred to as Serfs, having been "elevated to Service," while everyone else is Waste, uncared for by those in power, whose only hope for a better future is to be "elevated."  

Each Family has a Lazarus, a genetically engineered, unkillable being, who protects the Family.  Forever Carlyle is a Lazarus, and serves as the central protagonist in the series, using force and deception to keep her Family and their interests safe.  However, as the series progresses, Forever begins to question her role as she becomes aware of schemes and personal agendas around her.

The series has ran for 26 issues so far, along with a spinoff limited series called Lazarus: X+66 for six issues.

First Trailer for Netflix's MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 Gives Us Movie Sign

Worried about the MST3K revival?  You should really just relax.

Netflix has released the first trailer for their revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the classic sci-fi comedy series that originally aired on KTMA in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1988 before being picked up by The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central and later The Sci-Fi Channel.  Starring Joel Hodgson and later Michael J. Nelson, the series ran for ten seasons of 197 episodes, and included the feature film Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie before ending in 1997.

The first 40-second trailer brings back the cheesy production value goodness from the original series and introduces us to Jonah Ray as Jonah Heston, Felicia Day as Kinga Forrester (daughter of original mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester) and Patton Oswalt as TV's Son of TV's Frank.

We see Kinga Forrester and TV's Son of TV's Frank luring Jonah Heston's ship to Moonbase 13 under the pretense of needing help.  As Jonah lands and starts wondering what's going on when he sees the text "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST THE PICTURE. WE ARE CONTROLLING TRANSMISSION" (a nod to the classic sci-fi TV series The Outer Limits), Kinga's voice chimes in.

"You speak to I, Kinga Forrester," she proclaims, "commander of the Moon 13 Research Station.  I am reopening my family's most legendary experiment, Mystery Science Theater 3000."

Next we see a hazmat suited figure call out "Movie in the hole!" as a vat of something with a movie poster of the 1961 movie Reptilicus is emptied out.  Jonah is dropped into the theater with our old friends Crow T. Robot (voiced by Hampton Yount) and Tom Servo (voiced by Baron Vaughn).

We see fleeting images of Jonah and the 'Bots partying with bubbles, a giant female robot shooting lasers from her breasts, and Tom Servo hovering next to the mouth of a naked woman in dark sunglasses standing behind two conveniently placed screens.  Finally, we hear a bit of Crow's new voice as he tells Jonah, "You are not my real father, mister!"

If you'd like to check out the trailer, you can view it below thanks to Netflix US and Canada's official YouTube account...



Mystery Science Theater 3000 will be released Friday, April 14th on Netflix.

THE MATRIX Rebooted...Possibly with Michael B. Jordan

Are you ready to see how deep the rabbit hole goes...again?

The Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that Warner Bros. is developing a relaunch of The Matrix, the 1999 science fiction action movie classic written and directed by the Wachowskis starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving.

According to the article, the project is in the early stages, with Zak Penn in talks to write a treatment and interest in Michael B. Jordan as the star.  Penn is a co-writer on the upcoming films Pacific Rim: Uprising and Ready Player One, and has written for the movies The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, Elektra, and X2: X-Men United. Jordan is appearing in the upcoming movie Black Panther, and has appeared in the films Creed, Fantastic Four (2015), Fruitvale Station, Chronicle, and Red Tails.

The Matrix explored a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source.  A computer programmer named Neo discovers the truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the Matrix.  The movie made over $463 million worldwide from a budget of $63 million.

The article also claims the Wachowskis, who also wrote and directed the two Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, "are not involved and the nature of their potential engagement with a new version has not been determined."

Joel Silver, who produced the original trilogy, reportedly approached Warner Bros. about the idea of a potential new film based on The Matrix.  However, Silver sold his interest in all his movies to the studio in 2012 for about $30 million, according to THR's sources.  Warner Bros. is "leery of including him in any meaningful role, as he not only has a reputation for budget-control issues, but apparently has a strained relationship with the Wachowskis."

BLADE RUNNER 2049 Teaser Trailer Debuts First Footage

The old Blade Runner is back.

The first teaser trailer for Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction/noir classic Blade Runner, has been released, giving us our first look at the new movie from director Denis Villeneuve and co-producer Scott.

According to the film synopsis from Entertainment Weekly, Blade Runner 2049 is set thirty years after the events of the first film, and focuses on a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), who unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos.  K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

The one-minute, 45-second teaser opens in 2049 Los Angeles, as we hear a voiceover from Rick Deckard saying "Replicants are like any other machine -- They're either a benefit or a hazard.  If they're a benefit, it's not my problem."

We then see Officer K crossing a barren, orangish-yellow landscape and coming across a seemingly empty building.  Going inside, Officer K finds a familiar piano inside a lavish apartment and hears Deckard from behind.

"I had your job once," begins Deckard as he steps out of the shadows into view aiming at a gun at Officer K.  "I was good at it."

"Things were simpler then," replies Officer K.

If you'd like to view the teaser trailer, you can see it below thanks to ComicBook.com on YouTube...




Blade Runner 2049 is scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 6, 2017.

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE Director Reveals Teaser Trailer & Premise

Remember, many Bothans died to bring us this information.

The Hollywood Reporter has details from yesterday's panel at Star Wars Celebration 2015 in Anaheim, California, where Star Wars: Rogue One director Gareth Edwards appeared, with Pablo Hidalgo serving as panel moderator.  They were joined by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and head of development Kiri Hart.

The film, starring Felicity Jones, will officially be called Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, the first of a series of Star Wars spinoff films comprising -- you guessed it -- an anthology. "We really wanted freedom to do some films that could stand on their own, and tell new stories," said Hart.

Edwards mentioned that filming will begin this summer, but did come with a teaser trailer showing a jungle landscape, with a voiceover reusing dialogue from the late Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi...

"For more than a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic...before the dark times, before the Empire."

The camera pans skyward, revealing the Death Star orbiting the planet.

Hidalgo revealed the official logline for the movie -- "A rogue band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans."  This, of course, means the film is a prequel to Star Wars Episode IV, showing the events of how the Rebel Alliance obtained the secret plans to the battle station.

Edwards added that Rogue One won't have easily definable heroes and villains, and also will be a war film.  "It's called Star Wars," he joked to the audience.  "It’s about the fact that God’s not coming to save us, and we’re on our own.  The absence of the Jedi is omnipresent in the film.  It hangs over the whole movie."

Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One is expected to arrive in theaters on December 16, 2016.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Teaser Trailer #2 Reveals Han & Chewie

So, are you pumped for Star Wars: The Force Awakens yet?  If not, you will be.  You will be...

A new two-minute teaser trailer for the film debuted today at Star Wars Celebration 2015 at the Anaheim Convention Center.  In our newest look at Star Wars Episode VII, we finally get to see and hear some of the returning characters, including Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and everyone's favorite Wookiee, Chewbacca.

Opening up a a desert planet that may or may not be Tattooine, we hear the lovely sounds of John Williams' score and see a crashed Imperial Star Destroyer.

"The Force is strong in my family," Luke Skywalker begins in a voiceover, recalling his words from over thirty years ago in Return of the Jedi, as the severely-damaged helmet of Darth Vader is raised.  "My father has it.  I have it."  A cloaked figure, presumably Luke, places his artificial hand on R2-D2 and then someone hands a young female a lightsaber. "My sister has it.  You have that power, too."

A squadron of X-Wings soars over a river and then we see Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega as Finn with ball droid BB-8 running from an explosion.  The Sith known as Kylo Ren raises his lightsaber and Stormtroopers in new armor stand together in formation.  A group of TIE fighters then attacks the Stormtroopers, hinting they're on the side of the New Republic.

The Millennium Falcon battles the TIE fighters on the planet that may or may not be Tattooine, as the familiar rumble of Harrison Ford's voice begins speaking.  "Chewie...we're home," sans Han Solo as he and Chewbacca come into view aboard the Falcon and Chewbacca gives his approval.

Yes, we're home, all right.  It's gonna be a long wait until Christmas.

Here's the trailer, thanks to Star Wars' official YouTube account...



Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives in theaters on December 18, 2015.