While you're all coming down off the high of the Rogue One trailer and the recent news that Ben Affleck is bringing you a new Batman movie, how about checking out movies you've got memorized?  The 1997 cuts of the Star Wars Trilogy - that is, the Special Editions - are coming to theaters, briefly, for the May the Fourth Be With You campaign at Alamo Draft House theaters.  I'm not quite sure of the date, it would be handy if they included such things in the name of the promotion.  Click here for dates and deets.

While we don't normally post movie-related dirt here, this blurb has been going around and was just too good to not share.   Michael Jackson has had his eye on a lot of things, one of which was apparently the role of Jar Jar Binks.   (So says Ahmed Best.)  This video on Vice has a bit about it, and apparently - assuming this is not an elaborate joke - the singer wanted to do it as practical effects.   It certainly sounds like it's trying to troll fans, but there were so many bizarre stories, true or otherwise, out of the prequels that it's certainly worth contemplating the possibility.

In what feels like an increasingly implausible thing to say, another Star Wars movie was announced today!  This one has no final title yet, but will be released May 25, 2018.  According to StarWars.com the new film will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller - scribes of The LEGO Movie and the spectacular Fox TV series, The Last Man on Earth.   The writing will be done by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan.  And the focus of this new Star Wars anthology film?  A young Han Solo.

Someone you don't know exited a movie you don't know anything about.  According to a report on StarWars.com, director Josh Trank is no longer associated with the upcoming Star Wars side-movie.   Josh Trank is also associated with this year's Fantastic Four movie.  Coincidence?

The 20th Century Fox fanfare by one Alfred Newman is an identifiable part of the Star Wars experience.  Much like the lightsaber, the Force, and the big floaty yellow space words this quick clip of music opened the entire saga over the course of the previous three decades and change as both a throwback and as a signal to the future that something really exciting was coming.  But history movies forward, legends change, and corporations must make decisions between being good stewards of our culture and the needs of a good branding opportunity.

StarWars.com updated today with The Star Wars Digital Movie Collection Coming April 10.  While no pricing was listed, Amazon is asking $99.99 when I started writing this, but dropped it to $89.99 a few minutes later.   iTunes has theirs for $19.99 per movie with no visible bundle at press time.

Also, new and legacy (old) special features will be included in this digital HD format.  It's also notable that, like albums, "digital bonus offerings may vary by retailer" meaning you will need to see which version you need to buy, or your friend needs to buy, or gets uploaded to YouTube for 30 seconds so you can scope it out there.

The Gareth Edwards stand-alone movie has a title: Star Wars: Rogue One.   What's it about?  Well, it's probably about two hours long and it should be in theaters for December 16, 2016.  As your attorney, I advise you to start making room for the new toys one new movie per year are sure to bring you.

While erronneously reported as a sequel to Frozen, Strange Magic is a new fantasy musical from George Lucas and Disney.   Due out in January, the CG-animated movie boasts quite an impressive voice cast as well as animation from some of the Rango people.  And now we've got a look at the trailer for a movie that could also probably be called Shrek Minus Shrek.  It's worth checking out, so do so after the break.

Reported everywhere including the official site, Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters) will direct the 2016 Star Wars movie.  What is about?  Well, nobody knows.  But we do know Gary Whitta will write it, and he has worked on The Book of Eli as well as The Walking Dead video games.

I really don't need to say much more than paste in the headline.   Total Film posted J.J. Abrams apologises for over-using lens flare, which, well, yeah. There you go.  The future Star Wars director received gentle ribbing and total ripping over his love of the camera effect,

A screening of Black Angel, a George Lucas-funded short 25-minute film tied to The Empire Strikes Back in some overseas markets, is getting a screening next month after being lost since 1980.  It's an Arthurian legend-inspired piece and Ars Technica has a 3-page story on this Lucasfilm-adjacent project.

While the director is all about a film's vision, the Director of Photography is a role that helps provide the film's personality.  Cameras, film stock, angles, and a keen eye do wonders for the look of a movie and for our next Star Wars film, for Episode VII Lucasfilm and J.J. Abrams have selected...

Why yes, the original Star Wars will be making an appearance on the big screen this year! In case you missed it: the original 1977 movie is getting dubbed into the Navajo language!   From one of the articles: "The movie, "Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope," will be the first major motion picture to be translated into the Navajo language, and actors lined up to read the roles of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in the American Indian language."

There's more!

At CinemaCon, according to Variety, release dates for the next three Star Wars flicks were listed.  Oh joyous day!   Chief of Disney Studios Alan Horn was talking about the upcoming Disney slate which is jam-packed full of sequels, movies with Johnny Depp, and other "safe" blockbusters the likes of which will astound modern man that this is the same company that put out Wall-E in just a few years.  But where was I?  Right, dates.