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WIRE Buzz: Rise of Skywalker home video release; Portable Door opens on cast; more
Your Babu Frik withdrawal is about to end, because Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is hitting digital platforms on March 17, Disney announced today. The film won't arrive on Blu-ray until March 31, but it'll be chock-full of extra goodies you never knew you needed.
Leading the pack of bonus features is The Skywalker Legacy, a feature-length documentary that provides an extensive overview on how Episode IX came together in the first place. You've also got content like, per the official announcement:
- Pasaana Pursuit: Creating the Speeder Chase – Dive into the making of the movie’s epic landspeeder chase and discover how this spectacular sequence was brought to the screen.
- Aliens in the Desert – See what it took to create the Pasaana desert scenes, from the sheer scale and complexity of the shoot to its colorful details.
- D-O: Key to the Past – Explore the ship that connects Rey to the mystery of her missing parents and get to know the galaxy’s newest, irresistible droid.
- Warwick & Son – Warwick Davis, who played Wicket in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, dons the Ewok costume once more; this time joined by his son Harrison.
- Cast of Creatures – The team behind the film’s memorable creatures reveal the puppetry, makeup, prosthetics, and digital magic that bring them to life.
Only digital copies of the movie will contain The Maestro’s Finale, a featurette in which composer John Williams shares insights on his long-running musical history with the Star Wars franchise.
The Blu-ray release comes in two forms: a combo of Blu-ray and a digital download code, or a combo of 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and digital download code.
Disney is also releasing eight previous Star Wars flicks on 4K Ultra HD for the first time on March 31. Every live-action entry in the franchise (except Solo, for some reason) is getting this treatment. A deluxe nine-movie collection from Best Buy (it'll run you $249.99) is on the way as well, although no release date has been announced yet.
You can check out all the box artwork and displays below:
Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams (returning from The Force Awakens), The Rise of Skywalker takes place a year after the events of The Last Jedi. With the Resistance in shambles and on the brink of collapse, Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), and BB-8 set off on an epic quest to find Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) on the Sith planet of Exogol and end the First Order once and for all.
Despite so-so reviews, Rise of Skywalker still managed to break $1 billion at the global box office.
Christoph Waltz (Alita: Battle Angel) and Guy Pearce (Bloodshot) have found their next genre project in The Portable Door from ArcLight Films, The Jim Henson Company, and Story Bridge Films, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed today.
Based on the six fantasy novels by Tom Holt, the movie will center on Paul Carpenter (Tolkien's Patrick Gibson), a new intern at the enigmatic London firm known as J.W. Wells & Co. Paul soon learns that the company's CEO, Humphrey Wells (Waltz, playing a villain once again), is throwing the world of magic all out of whack "by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices," writes THR. Pearce is set to play Dennis Tanner, a "shape-shifting goblin trapped in the organization’s middle management."
"We were especially drawn to the crowd-pleasing franchise potential of The Portable Door, with its relatable, gritty humor made popular in shows like The Office, and its rich, Harry Potter-like, high-fantasy setting,” said producer Lisa Henson in a statement to THR.
Jeffrey Walker (Ali’s Wedding, Lambs of God) is directing the project from an adapted screenplay by Leon Ford (Griff the Invisible).
ArcLight is looking for buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin.
Disney's upcoming remake of Mulan will make history by being the studio's first live-action reimagining to be rated PG-13. According to FilmRatings.com, the Nikki Caro-directed film received this rating due to "sequences of violence." It's not hard to see why, as the plot is mostly about a brutal war between imperial China and the Huns.
Liu Yifei stars in the titular role of Hua Mulan, a young woman who pretends to be a man, so as to take her father's place in the army. Beyond that, however, the remake is very different from the 1998 animated original. There is no wisecracking dragon and the main villains are Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and his powerful witch accomplice, Xian Lang (Gong Li).
Tzi Ma, Yoson An, Donnie Yen, Rosalind Chao, Jimmy Wong, Doua Moua, Ron Yuan, and Jet Li co-star.
Mulan hits theaters on March 27. The script was penned by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek, and Elizabeth Martin.
