(Lucasfilm)
On Monday morning, Good Morning America surprised all of us by teasing a Star Wars announcement for April 11. Although it was big enough that both Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley were on the show, it turned out to be a new Force for Change charity campaign.
You can watch the announcement by clicking here.
Below is speculation of what the announcement could have been:
A ‘Last Jedi’ Teaser?
Mark Hamill in January 2017. (Getty)
Adding to the mystery is that we know it’s not supposed to be a full trailer for The Last Jedi because that is expected to debut at Star Wars Celebration in Orlando on Friday, April 14. The Last Jedi panel will include director Rian Johnson and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, plus “surprises and special guests.” In addition to the new trailer, new Star Wars Story movies are expected to be announced.
Disney could give us a teaser for the trailer. In April 2016, the studio used GMA to debut the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story teaser. If Disney really does unveil the Last Jedi trailer, the organizers for Celebration would probably be a little disappointed to have their thunder stolen.
Hamill will likely be asked about Todd Fisher‘s recent comments to the New York Daily News that Carrie Fisher will be included in Star Wars: Episode IX without the need of CGI. Fisher already filmed her scenes for The Last Jedi, but died in December 2016, long before work on IX started. Fisher played Princess Leia in the original trilogy and reprised the role in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
“Both of us were like, ‘Yes, how do you take her out of it?’ And the answer is you don’t,” Todd Fisher, Fisher’s brother, told the Daily News. “She’s as much a part of it as anything and I think her presence now is even more powerful than it was, like Obi Wan — when the saber cuts him down he becomes more powerful. I feel like that’s what’s happened with Carrie. I think the legacy should continue.”
Todd Fisher couldn’t give specifics of how his sister will be used, but he said he has faith in the Lucasfilm filmmakers to “do great things.”
The Original Version of ‘A New Hope’ on Blu-Ray?
In the teaser, GMA says it’s a Star Wars announcement “40 years in the making.” But would that mean an announcement that the original theatrical version of Star Wars: A New Hope is coming? That’s something you’d expect to hear at the 40 Years of Star Wars panel at Celebration, not on a morning show. (Hamill is attending that, but an appearance from Ridley would be a surprise.)
We do know that a 4K restoration of A New Hope exists because Rogue One director Gareth Edwards let that slip in a Little White Lies interview. Edwards explained:
On day one, we were in Lucasfilm in San Francisco with Industrial Light and Magic and John Knoll, our supervisor, he said that they’ve got a brand new 4K restoration print of A New Hope – it had literally just been finished. He suggested we sit and watch it. Obviously, I was up for that. Me, the writer, lots of the story people and John all sat down, we all had our little notepads, we were all ready for this. I’ll add that I’ve seen A New Hope hundreds of times. So I was sat there, ready to take notes and really delve under the surface of the film. You have the Fox fanfare, then scrolling text with ‘A long time ago…’, and then the main music begins. Next thing we knew it had ended, and we looked around to one another and just thought – shit, we didn’t take any notes. You can’t watch it without getting carried away. It’s really hard to get into an analytical filmmaker headspace with this film. It just turns you into a child.
In order for Disney to release the original version of A New Hope, the studio would have to make a special deal with 20th Century Fox. As Slash Film points out, Fox still has home video distribution rights for A New Hope. It’s also not clear if Edwards is referring to the original theatrical cut or just the 1997/2004/2011 editions. Although the film was released on Blu-Ray, there hasn’t been a public 4K release yet.
It Was A New Force For Change Charity Contest
Despite those options, it was actually an announcement for a new Force For Change charity contest to raise money for UNICEF and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. The GMA teaser told us that “You’ll want to be part of this Force.”
In the past, Force For Change has teamed up with Omaze for some fantastic contests to raise money. For example, in 2014, one person won a chance to be in The Force Awakens. Another contest gave someone the chance to be at the TFA premiere. The new contest’s grand prizes are a trip to Skywalker Ranch, a walk-on role in the Young Han Solo movie and a trip to the Last Jedi premiere.
