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With less than a year to go before The Force Awakens lands in cinemas, the top brass at Disney has given a few teasers as to what we can expect from its forthcoming ‘Star Wars’ theme park plans.

In an investors call on Tuesday with Wall Street analysts, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger stated: “a fair amount of design and development (taking place by the company’s Imagineers) to greatly increase ‘Star Wars’’ presence in multiple locations around the world.”

Plans for 'Star Wars' theme park attractions at Disney locations will be unveiled "soon"

Continue reading: Disney Teases Plans For 'Star Wars' Theme Park Features

As the hotly anticipated J.J. Abrams-directed sequel 'Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens' prepares to hit theatres later this year, the sci-fi film franchise's original creator George Lucas recently admitted he initially wanted to make the next instalment.

Lucas has amditted he was planning a 'Star Wars: Episode VII' before Disney's acquisition 

The retired filmmaker has revealed to USA Today that he originally planned to shoot 'Episode VII' for a May 2015 release, prior to Disney acquiring LucasFilm and the rights to 'Star Wars' in 2012 for $4 billion.

Continue reading: George Lucas Admits He Wanted To Direct 'Star Wars: Episode VII'

Set to captivate audiences of all ages, 'Strange Magic' is the enchanting animated comedy from George Lucas, who may have taken a step back from the big budget adventure blockbusters of 'Indiana Jones' and 'Star Wars', but certainly still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

With a hilarious cast featuring Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming, 'Strange Magic' sees a fairytale land divided into the magical and the mysterious, with the twain never meeting until one fateful day. Suddenly, there seems to be an impending all out war, with both cultures disturbed by the sight of each other and unwilling to accept each other's differences (doesn't sound like such a fantasy land after all, right?). 

Continue reading: Fairies And Goblins Come To Life In George Lucas Animation 'Strange Magic' [Trailer + Pictures]

Only one day ago it was confirmed that the creator 'Star Wars,' George Lucas, picked the city of Chicago as the site for his forthcoming museum.

On Wednesday (June 25th) the City Council met to make an official vote on the proposed site that the new facility will be built on, which is a large market space between Soldier Field and McCormick Place.

One issue that was to be resolved was the independent advocacy group 'Friends of the Parks' that are opposing the location, claiming the new museum will infringe on prime, public lakefront space.

Continue reading: George Lucas's Proposed Museum In Chicago Is On "Solid Legal Ground," Says The City's Mayor

Unlucky California!

The creator of the famed sci-fi franchise 'Star Wars,' George Lucas, has chosen the city of Chicago as the site for his forthcoming museum, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, which will house the 70 year-old’s own artwork and movie memorabilia, was also looking at the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles as a potential home.

Continue reading: 'Star Wars' Creator George Lucas Chooses Chicago As Home Of Museum

Once upon a time there was a chance Han Solo wouldn't be returning to the big screen.

George Lucas, the creator of the famed 'Star Wars franchise, recently revealed that Harrison Ford wanted his character to be killed off in 1980's 'Empire Strikes Back.'

The 70 year-old writer recalled Ford asking several times for Han Solo to die during the scene when he was frozen, sealed in carbonite and delivered to Jabba the Hutt, in the 5th instalment.

Continue reading: George Lucas Recalls Harrison Ford's Desire To Be Killed Off In 'Empire Strikes Back'

It may come as a bit of a surprise to hear that Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back has been voted Empire Magazine's greatest movie of all time. The new poll, which included 250,000 film fans, saw the second Star Wars movie, or the fifth, depending on whether you take chronology or date into account, beat The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. Traditionally, all three films tend to rank higher than The Empire Strikes Back, in movie polls taken by film fans.

Is The Empire Strikes Back truly the greatest movie of all time?

Empire Magazine’s list is compiled of 301 films, which also includes two other Star Wars movies, Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. This surely bodes well for the franchise, which is currently working on Star Wars Episode VII, which is due for release in 2015.

Continue reading: Is 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' Truly The Greatest Film Of All Time?

Empire Magazine has named Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as the best movie of all time after 250,000 avid film fans adopted their democratic right to vote.

Of course, the conspiracy theorists amongst you will question the timing of this ‘poll’; smack bang in the middle of the Star Wars: Episode VII. Some might say a cynical marketing ploy is afoot, and the completely insane ones might even suggest Empire Magazine naming The Empire Strikes back is no coincidence. 

Continue reading: The Empire Strikes Back: Movie Magazine Names Star Wars V The Best Film Ever

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back has topped a poll conducted by Empire magazine to find 'the greatest movie of all time', as voted for by film fans. The second instalment of George Lucas’s mammoth sci-fi franchise knocked Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather into second place while The Dark Knight rounded off the top three.

Star Wars creator George Lucas

Speaking to the magazine, Star Wars creator George Lucas said it was a “privilege” to see the film come out on top. “It's soulful, but in a different way from Episode IV. It's a little bit more adult." he said. Adding that he’d “never really planned" Star Wars to be three separate films but when it became so, "it had an interesting effect of each film having its own personality, caused by the plot.”

Continue reading: It's Official 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' Is The Greatest Movie Of All Time

Since Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was released back in 1983 fans have been left to speculate about what life had left in store for Luke, Leia and Han. Director George Lucas teased Star Wars fans by releasing Episodes 1, 2 and 3 between 1999 and 2005, which focused on the lives of Luke and Leia’s parents, Anakin Skywalker and Padme as well as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the much loved original characters were only seen as newborn babies at the very end of Episode 3.

It's rumoured Mark Hamill will reprise his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode VII

30 years have now passed since the release of Return of the Jedi and by the end of 2015 the much anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII will finally be released. George Lucas has always been secretive about his plans for the plot of the final three Star Wars movies, although he has been known to occasionally give away the odd indication of what may have happened since that party, where we see that Obi-Wan and Anakin have finally made (spiritual) peace with one another.

Continue reading: Star Wars Detectives: What Do Production Meeting Images Tell Us About Episode VII?

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...Oh OK, not too long ago, on a catwalk in New York City.Rodarte fashion designer duo, Kate and Laura Mulleavy presented their new collection on Tuesday at New York Fashion, and the grand finale pieces were absolutely out of this world! The Mulleavy sisters founded their fashion line in 2005 and Rodarte has since gone from strength to strength, with celebrity clients including Cate Blanchett and Keira Knightley; however, their Fall 2014 collection is by far their most inventive and show-stopping collection yet.

The Rodarte sisters were fans of the Star Wars franchise as children

Closing the show, crowds were taken aback to see five fabulous and floaty finale gowns. That’s not so unusual, right? Well, each of the five romantic and silky gowns were printed with images from George Lucas’ super franchise, Star Wars! The stunning gowns wouldn’t have looked out of place on a red carpet or at a stylish do, had each of them not been sporting an image from the iconic sci-fi film. Printed on the sweeping skirts were movie stills of Luke Skywalker, chatterbox C-3PO, Jedi master Yoda and lovable droid, R2-D2. Somehow, the images don’t detract at all from the elegance of the gowns and the colour palette seems perfectly picked in order to compliment the stills. Incidentally, the show came on the same day that casting was confirmed as complete on Star Wars Episode VII, with the intention to shoot in London's Pinewood studios from May till September. 

Continue reading: You Luke Beautiful: Rodarte’s NYFW Star Wars Inspired Dresses

Today the world of cinema mourns the death of Tom Sherak, studio executive and former Academy president. On Tuesday it was announced that Sherak had succumb to a long battle with prostate cancer and died at his Calabasas, Calif. home.

Sherak died as one of the most respected men in Hollywood.

Sherak had a long and fruitful career at 20th Century Fox, followed by a few years at Revolution Studios. However, his career peaked when he was elected President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences in 2009, for two consecutive terms. On September 26, 2013, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Tom Sherak as director of the newly created Mayor's Entertainment Industry and Production Office.

Continue reading: World Of Cinema Mourns The Death Of Academy President Tom Sherak

In a move that has terrified fans the world over, Disney have acquired the full rights to the INDIANA JONES movies series, meaning they are now free to film future Indie titles as and when they please. According to Deadline, Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures came to an agreement on Friday, 6 December, that secures marketing and distribution privileges for the Indiana Jones franchise.

Will Harrison Ford be appearing in another adventure?

The deal between the two picture houses comes a year after Disney took their first steps towards securing the rights to the Indiana Jones series, when the company purchased Lucasfilms in a multi-billion-dollar deal last October. The new deal gives Disney marketing and distribution rights to any future Indie films and also means that Lucasfilm retains the ownership rights to all the Indiana Jones films. Essentially, the deal means that Disney are now the sole owners of the Indiana Jones movie franchise and have full authority to do whatever they please with it.

Continue reading: Disney Secures Full Rights To 'Indiana Jones' - Future Movies Could Be On Their Way

Star Wars: Episode 7, is a phrase that either strike fear into the hearts of Star Wars fans the world over, or instil a sense of reluctant optimism in others. No matter how you feel about the rebooting of George Lucas' genre-defining sci-fi series, it is happening and there is nothing we can do about it. What we can do though is mull over every little rumor and tidbit that Disney have managed to let sneak on to the internet, and try to understand exactly where the movie's makers are in the filmmaking process.

Lucas is handing the baton over to Abrams

We do have some concrete facts about the movie so far; that Jj Abrams is directing it, or at least we're pretty sure that he still is anyway. During the summer there were rumors that the Lost creator was on the verge of stepping down from the project amidst creative differences with Disney. Having initially declined the invitation to direct the next instalment of the Star Wars franchise, his commitment to the project had always seemed somewhat in doubt, but as the months have gone by it does look as though he is committed to the job. Abrams is a pretty competent director and his involvement in the project is a promising one, providing that he doesn't go overboard with the lens flare like he did on Star Trek.

Continue reading: What Do We Know About 'Star Wars: Episode 7' So Far?

Whilst many of us are still sat on the fence over the acquisition of the Star Wars brand, Disney executive CFO Jay Rasulo revealed this week that we at least won't have to wait too long to see the films. Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference, the Disney chief was keen to discuss the studio's plans for the recently acquired franchise, discussing plans to release one Star Wars film per year starting in 2015, when the first film from the soon-to-be-launched franchise is released.

George Lucas sold his stake in Lucasfilms to Disney in January this year

The studio are planning on releasing both an originally-penned trilogy to follow on from George Lucas' beloved trilogy, picking up some time after the events of Return of the Jedi, and may also be planning on releasing a string of origin films to look at the backstory of some of the major and minor characters from the franchise, including Yoda, Boba Fett and Han Solo. Since the $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilms earlier this year, this is the only bit of information we've been given about the films, which has been a frustrating state of affairs for the ardent fans of the movie series. This all changed over the week as Rasulo spoke extensively about the plans Disney has for Star Wars, whilst a rival studio Warner Bros. discussed the studio's plans for the Superman/Batman movie as well as plans for more Harry Potter-related films at the same conference.

Continue reading: Disney Announce Plans To Release One Star Wars Film Each Year, Beginning In 2015

George Lucas has become a father for the fourth time, and for the first time with his new wife Mellody Hobson, with their daughter on was born on Friday 9 August. Everest Hobson Lucas was born via surrogate, the Skywalker Ranch confirmed to various news outlets on Monday (12 August), and the baby is said to be in a healthy condition.

Congratulations George Lucas and Mellody Hobson!

The newlyweds, who married in June this year, made no prior announcement that they were expecting a child, with the announcement from Lucas' representatives being the first word that a youngster was on it's way. Lucas also has two other daughters; Amanda, 32 and Katie, 25 as well as a 20-year-old son, Jett.

Continue reading: I Am Your Father: George Lucas And Wife Mellody Hobson Are Parents