Second standalone ‘Star Wars’ film will need a new director

Aside from the new trilogy, there were plans of developing “anthology” films or a series of standalone movies for Star Wars. Rogue One is set to be released next year and Josh Trank was working on the second unnamed title. Or at least he was supposed to. Trank said in a post on StarWars.com: “After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I’m making a personal decision to move forward on a different path.”

Trank is working on the reboot of Fantastic Four. And there have been rumours that things aren’t going well on that front either. According to The Hollywood Reporter, writer-producer Simon Kinberg (who worked with Trank on Fantastic Four and the Star Wars project) was reluctant to work on another film with him. There is no word who’ll be replacing him yet but we’re sure we’ll be getting news soon enough.

Source: StarWars.com | Via: The Verge + The Hollywood Reporter

Abrams names one of the planets on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

It’s a good day to be a Star Wars fan. Aside from getting the new trailer, J.J. Abrams gave a small tidbit for fans. He’s named one of the desert-like planets that will play an important role here in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. People initially assumed in the first production shots that it was Tatooine. Apparently, the new arid planet is called Jakku. The shooting locatin was in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Abrams won’t say anything beyond that though. It doesn’t matter though. We’re still excited.

Source: Ubergizmo

Star Wars digital movie collection is now available

The entire pre-Disney Star Wars saga digital movie collection is now available through various online video services like iTunes, Google Play, Xbox Video, Amazon Prime, and Amazon Instant Video. 

The films in The Star Wars Digital Movie Collection, in order of their release, are:

• Star Wars (also known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), 1977.
• The Empire Strikes Back (also known as Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), 1980.
• Return of the Jedi (also known as Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi), 1983.
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1999.
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, 2002.
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, 2005.

Various extras and features are being made available as well but these would vary depending on which service you are purchasing from.

Use the force to power your smartphones with ‘Star Wars’ mobile power chargers

Mimoco is bringing more Star Wars into your mobile life with new mobile battery packs. The Boston-based company collaborated with Lucasfilm directly to create these officially licensed characters. The 5200mAh battery pack is first available in R2-D2 and Darth Vader forms. The charger works with DC 5V 1A input and DC 5V 2.1A output and has a 500-charge life-cycle. It comes with a USB charging cable and various converter tips, including microUSB, Apple 30-pin, Apple Lightning, and mini USB. It also has a carrying case. Charging time for the battery pack is somewhere between three and four hours. The Star Wars mimo PowerBot series is up for pre-order with a starting price of US$69.99. The initial price is $10 off though so you can get them now for $59.99.

Source: SlashGear