A cavalcade of showbiz news hit the wire from Star Wars Celebration and more, and it’s time for a round-up!
Super Mario Bros (see “’Super Mario Bros’ Trailer“) set a five-day U.S./Canada box office record of $204.6 million, making it the #1 five-day opening in history, according to Deadline. With international grosses included, the film took in $377.2 million since opening last Wednesday.
At Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced that three new Star Wars movies, directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, are in the works. The Mangold movie will be set 25,000 years prior to any of the Star Wars timelines and stories, which puts it prior to even Dark Horse Comics’ Tales of Jedi series that told the tale of the Great Sith War (which happened prior to 3,996 BBY).
Dave Filoni’s movie will entail a climactic event for the Star Wars series happening in the New Republic era, as explored in The Mandalorian (see “‘The Mandalorian’“) and The Book of Boba Fett (see “‘Book of Boba Fett’“).
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s new Star Wars movie involved a second special announcement, the return of Daisy Ridley to the Star Wars franchise as Rey Skywalker. Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will take place after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (see “‘Star Wars Episode IX’ Teaser Drops“), when Rey will attempt to rebuild the Jedi order after the fall of the First Order.
Lucasfilm also dropped a new poster, trailer, and a release date for Ahsoka (trailer below). The new trailer surely delighted Star Wars Rebels fans (see “‘Star Wars Rebels’“), as it revealed New Republic live-action versions of Sabine Wren played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Ezra Bridgers played by Eman Esfandi, Hera Syndulla played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Grand Admiral Thrawn played by Lars Mikkelson. Ahsoka will stream on Disney+ in August 2023.
Additionally, Lucasfilm released an official trailer and poster for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (see below), with new glimpses of Harrison Ford in action as the legendary archaeologist as well as footage showing the actor de-aged (see “Harrison Ford Gets Younger for ‘Indy 5’“). This movie hits theaters on June 30, 2023.
HBO Max is planning yet another new Game of Thrones spinoff, according to Variety. The spinoff will be a prequel about Aegon I’s conquest of Westeros, but does not yet have a title and hasn’t gone into official development as of this time. This spinoff joins multiple other spinoffs in early stages of development including the Snow series (see “Jon Snow“), The Sea Snake (see “‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff“), and Tales of Dunk & Egg (see “Thrones’ Prequel“).
Warners did some shuffling of their release calendar, according to Deadline. Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom will now hit theaters on December 20, 2023 instead of Christmas Day (see “Best in Shows — 2023“). Also, the Minecraft movie now has an April 4, 2025 release date and the studio reserved December 19, 2025 for a future movie release (see “Best in Shows — 2025“).
For more information on geek movie releases, check out ICv2’s Best in Shows Geek Movie Calendar. Currently, our calendars show releases running through 2027.
Source: ICv2
