“STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI” FIRST SCREENINGS ON DEC 13

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS 

“STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI” FIRST SCREENINGS ON DEC 13 TO START AT 5PM

MANILA, Dec. 11, 2017 – Opening three days earlier than in the US, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi begins its roll-out in Philippine cinemas on Wednesday, Dec. 13 with screenings starting at 5 in the afternoon.

Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios

Fans are encouraged to buy their tickets in now at their favorite theaters to avoid missing out to be one of the first in the world to watch the eagerly anticipated sequel to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The Last Jedi recently held its Tokyo and Los Angeles premieres to incredible audience response.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm has released two featurettes to let fans in on the secrets behind the production.

The featurette “The World of The Last Jedi” explores the real-world locations behind the new planets in the story, and may be viewed athttp://youtu.be/zIauywtvcjI.

The second featurette, “Training Montage” shows how the cast prepared for their very physical roles. Watch at http://youtu.be/-py2awmME8s.

In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.

The film stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman. J.J. Abrams, Tom Karnowski and Jason McGatlin are the executive producers.

In Philippine cinemas Dec. 13, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is distributed by the Walt Disney Company (Philippines).

CONVERTING AN EPIC FRANCHISE INTO 3D: “STAR WARS EPISODE 1 THE PHANTOM MENACE”

Anakin's podracer

The epic adventure “Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace,” from visionary filmmaker George Lucas, captivated global audiences when it first came out in 1999.  The Force is back. But this time in 3D giving the film an immersive dimension and turning it into an altogether richer cinematic experience.

        

It’s an experience that will inevitably be thrilling: watching “Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace” 3D on the big screen. The first Star Wars movie to be presented in spectacular 3D, all the exciting elements of the original remain, with  added dimension and nuance.

George Lucas, the pioneering and brilliant filmmaker behind Star Wars, has overseen the process with his renowned attention to detail. John Knoll, the visual effects supervisor for Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) was responsible for the actual conversion. He served as visual effects  supervisor on all three of the Star Wars prequels.  The remaining five Star Wars films will be converted to 3D over the coming years.

“I think 3D makes the film more immersive,” says John Knoll. “The extra dimension makes the audience feel like they are more present in the Star Wars universe. I wanted to make sure that we were not turning this into a gimmick. It's something that should feel natural and not cause eye-strain or cheapen the product so I was not looking for places to poke stuff out of the camera. I went for naturalistic stereo as though the movie had actually been shot in stereo. I think the film looks better than it ever looked before.”

“Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace” was released in 1999.  The movie starred Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Ewan McGregor as his apprentice Obi-Wan-Kenobi, a determined young Jedi Knight. Natalie Portman played Queen Amidala. Jake Lloyd starred as Anakin Skywalker. It is a fantastically exciting adventure set 32 years before the events of the original.  The film follows Anakin’s journey as he pursues his dreams and confronts his fears in the midst of a galaxy in turmoil.

            In between the production of Episode II (2002) and Episode III (2005), director George Lucas first began exploring the idea of presenting the entire Star Wars saga as 3D theatrical releases. Active 3D conversion work on “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” began in 2010. ““I'm really excited about the new big screen release of the film.  We’ve worked very hard to get the best quality 3D we could. The big screen experience is so much better than watching it on television. It was designed to put you in the environment and surround you with the sound and the picture. There is   nothing like it. I'm so glad that we were able to bring this whole experience to the next generation. This will be the third generation that will be able to see it on the big screen and when you're young, it’s an overwhelming and powerful event,” relates Lucas on the 3D conversion of the movie.

Lucas recalls that “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” underwent a painstaking frame-by-frame conversion from a 2D film to a 3D experience thanks to the efforts of Prime Focus, a global visual entertainment services company, and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the preeminent visual effects company that has produced the visuals for all the Star Wars movies. 

“Originally I was not a big fan of 3D. I really thought 3D was a gimmick. Then later on I was trying to get digital projectors into the theaters. I was doing a presentation in Las Vegas. Bob Zemeckis and Jim Cameron came up to me  and said: ‘We want to get 3D into the theaters. Would you join us in showing the theater owners that you can do 3D?’   And I said: ‘That’d be good because in order to do 3D you have to have digital theaters. So it would promote my idea of digital theaters.’ Then when I saw the test that we did of Star Wars in 3D, I realized how great it was and how great it looked.  I became  fascinated with the idea of converting STAR WARS into 3D, which was  easier said than done.  It took us a long time to develop a structure in which we could actually do a really good conversion of a 2D film into a 3D film,” further shares Lucas.

   

“Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace” (3D) opens February 9 in  cinemas from 20^th Century Fox  to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace 3D

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

Story: Episode 1 of the Star Wars Prequels. The origin of Anakin Skywalker before he became one of the iconic antagonists in Sci-Fi history.

Review: It's been twelve years since Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace. Ever since the first trilogy especially Episode 4: A New Hope, fans are already wondering what happened during the Clone Wars? What was it like before the Empire? What was it like being a Jedi in the Old Republic?

These questions are answered part by part in the prequels. Episode 1 The Phantom Menace also reintroduced characters from the first trilogy such as the young Jedi apprentice Obiwan Kenobi, R2D2, a bare C3PO without the gold plates, Yoda and Jabba the Hutt plus cameo of some Wookies and Tusken Raiders. Look for the not-yet-popular Keira Knightley in the movie. She plays a significant character in Episode 1 The Phantom Menace.

The movie also focuses that before the Empire, as Obiwan said to Luke in Episode 4, that the Jedis are the guardians in the Old Republic. The Jedi lifestyle can be compared to Shaolin monks. Religious as well as trained fighters. When George Lucas first came up with Star Wars in Episode 4, the idea of Star Wars was influenced  by Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. So you can imagine why Jedis dressed like wearing Japanese robes and fight like samurais holding a Japanese katana. Speaking of fight scenes, the fight between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jin/Obiwan Kenobi was unlike any Jedi duels ever. Ray Park who played Darth Maul displayed martial arts moves and just as menacing as Darth Vader and his double lightsaber really kick butt.

The vehicles in the movie like the design of Naboo Starfighters are similar to World War II fighter planes that could look like older than the original trilogy's vehicles. The pod racers and the race itself was similar to Roman chariot races.but way much cooler. Unlike the first trilogy which focuses on Luke, Anakin shared equal status with Obiwan and and his master

Watching it again will be worthwhile because there will be scenes not shown back in 1999. The 3D is only applicable to specific scenes in the movie but nevertheless, it made the fans nostalgic with matching cheers and applause when John Williams and band started playing the Star Wars original theme while the title sequence and introduction scrolled in the screen during the advance screening at Megamall. Star Wars is really meant to watch in cinemas. I look forward to Episode 2 Attack Of The Clones in 3D next time. Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace 3D is released and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox and will be shown in the Philippine cinemas on February 9, 2012.