star wars

James Earl Jones will return to the Star Wars franchise as the voice of Darth Vader.

Way back in 2012 (or at least it feels way back), Netflix and Disney struck a deal for all of Disney’s movies — including Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm — to stream exclusively on Netflix Instant. According to the terms of their agreement, the deal wouldn’t kick in until 2016, which just so happens to be the year in which we are currently living. As announced today, Netflix will officially begin streaming Disney films in September, but that doesn’t mean the studio’s entire library will magically appear in your Instant browser.

A New York state man legally changed his name to Darth Vader

When you’re out promoting a movie, you’re often asked to do a lot of things, most of them pretty silly. With the amount of press the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was being asked to do, there were asked to do a lot of silly things, none perhaps as silly as going on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and singing a medley of Star Wars music a cappella. But the entire cast — including Harrison Ford! — actually commits, and it actually turns out to pretty fun.

Sure, there are lots of kids and teens buying Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys, but a long, long time ago in a galaxy that is actually this one, Star Wars belonged to another group of nerds — and those nerds are not going to let today’s kids take ownership of their fandom so easily, especially when these kids don’t know that action figures should STAY. IN. THE. BOX.

Back in October, Ashley Fleetwood, the wife of Daniel Fleetwood, a terminally ill Star Wars fan, started the #ForceForDaniel campaign to help her husband see Star Wars: The Force Awakens before he died. Daniel, a lifelong fan who camped out for tickets to see the prequel trilogy, was given only two months to live in July and both he and his wife knew he wasn’t going to be able to make it until opening day. On November 5, Disney, Lucasfilm and director J.J. Abrams made Daniel’s dying wish come true by bringing Star Wars: The Force Awakens to his home in Spring, Texas. Daniel Fleetwood died last night, just five days after his Star Wars screening, at the age of 32.

Has there ever been as much hype for one movie trailer as there is right now for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer? (Except maybe the last Star Wars trailer? And, maybe the Star Wars trailer before that?) Fan anticipation has been at a fever pitch for the last few days, but the waiting is finally over. Enough hype, it’s time for you to actually sit down, take a deep breath and watch official, final Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer in all its glory.

Back in 2012, Disney and Netflix struck a deal that would allow all of Disney’s films — including Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars properties — to stream exclusively on Netflix Instant, starting on January 1, 2016. As that date approaches, many have speculated openly about the Star Wars films finally coming to Netflix. There were even rumors recently that Netflix was prepping their database for the Star Wars movies, though Netflix denied those reports. While they have yet to comment specifically on the existing six films in the Star Wars library, Netflix did confirm that, as of now, they do not have the rights to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but are currently in negotiations to bring that title to their streaming library.

There were a lot of exciting toys announced yesterday during the epic 18-hour Star Wars Force Friday reveals, but none as exciting as the BB-8 toy from Sphero. We’ve been gushing about BB-8 since Star Wars Celebration and counting down the days until we could own one. And now that the day is here, it is perhaps even more fun than we imagined.

It's a Star Wars tradition to participate in a splashy Vanity Fair cover shoot by famed photographer Annie Liebowitz and Star Wars: Episode 7 is no different (although it almost was: rumors were that J.J. Abrams wanted to buck that tradition, but Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was able to talk him into it). The cast and crew of The Force Awakens are on the cover of the upcoming June issue and while even more photos will be revealed, we do get our first look at Adam Driver without his Kylo Ren mask and Lupita Nyong’o’s motion-capture character!