Rogue One: a different type of Star Wars movie is already using the Force at the box office

AS Star Wars spreads its X-wings with its first spin-off movie, Rogue One, dig into where the franchise is headed and why the fans are hooked.

O December 15, Star Wars flies an X-wing into uncharted territory with the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars story.

While last year’s Episode VII — The Force Awakens rebooted the core Star Wars saga (catching up with Luke, Leia and Han and introducing the next generation) to the tune of $93.8 million at the Aussie box office, Rogue One is the first of what Star Wars HQ is calling “stand-alone” or “anthology” films.

It is intended to be a one-off, not spawning its own branch of sequels, according to the head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy.

“That’s what makes it exciting,” she told Empire magazine. “You can just drop into Rogue One and not feel like you’re being pulled into something you need to make a commitment to.”

Yet Rogue One is clearly constructed of Star Wars DNA (or should that be midi-chlorians?), with a story that falls between Episode III — Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV — A New Hope on the galactic timeline.

As a new breed of Star Wars film, Rogue One introduces a new breed of baddie in the shape of the Death Troopers. Picture: Disney

Fans aren’t drawing too much of a distinction.

Tickets for Rogue One went on sale on Monday at 8am, sparking a pre-sale frenzy.

In the first 10 minutes, Event Cinemas (which has locations in NSW, QLD, ACT and NT) sold 8000 tickets.

By midafternoon, 15,500 tickets had been sold across Event locations. Within 24 hours, pre-sales had passed 20,000 — by far the biggest advance sales for any film at the chain this year.

IMAX Melbourne will show Rogue One for 24 hours non-stop from 12.01am on opening day. Tickets for the first session sold out in four minutes on Monday morning; by the end of the day, 4000 tickets had been sold.

In comparison, 6000 tickets were sold on IMAX’s first day of pre-sales for The Force Awakens last year.

Fans dressed as Star Wars characters clutch their tickets for opening day sessions of Rogue One after advance ticket sales were launched with a "mannequin challenge" at Event Cinemas George St in Sydney on Monday. Picture: Supplied

“Our initial hopes for Rogue One were that it would draw in about half of the business of The Force Awakens, but the number of pre-sale tickets sold has been higher than expected,” IMAX Melbourne General Manager Richard Morrison said.

Morrison added that advance sales for Rogue One are “head and shoulders above any other 2016 title”. Within 24 hours, the Star Wars spin-off had “already exceeded the total advance sales we had for Batman V Superman back in March,” he said.

Given studio Disney’s success with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s no surprise that they’re aping the formula with their expansion of the Star Wars galaxy.

To frame it in Marvel terms, Episode VII, VIII and so on are The Avengers, while Rogue One and other “stand-alone” stories from a corner of the galaxy far, far away are Doctor Strange and Ant-Man.

Rebel with a cause? Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). Picture: Lucasfilm

Rogue One follows a young woman called Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones) as she teams with a ragtag bunch of Rebel Alliance fighters to steal the blueprints for the Death Star before Darth Vader can build the Empire’s ultimate weapon.

(These are the plans smuggled into R2-D2 by Princess Leia and discovered by Luke Skywalker in A New Hope).

Lucasfilm’s Kennedy has described it as a World War II-style adventure.

Director Gareth Edwards has acknowledged that Jyn’s storyline echoes that of Luke — a child redeeming the sins of the father — but it will not “unfold how you think. It’s not the same path as Star Wars”.

Darth Vader directs some heavy breathing in Orson Krennic’s (Ben Mendelsohn) direction in Rogue One. Picture: Disney

The return of the Death Star, of course, means the return of Darth Vader. And Darth’s position as the ultimate baddie is under threat from Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn as Imperial Officer Orson Krennic.

The Force is only going to spread in more directions from here.

Episode VIII — the sequel proper to The Force Awakens — wrapped principal filming in July and is set for release on December 14, 2017.

The core cast (well, those that didn’t get bumped off in The Force Awakens) all return, with Mark Hamill’s Skywalker guaranteed to play a much bigger part in proceedings. Benicio Del Toro is a high-profile addition to the team as an unspecified villain.

The as-yet untitled stand-alone “young Han Solo movie” — potentially showing how Han met Chewbacca and won the Millennium Falcon in a card game — will follow in May 2018.

Alden Ehrenreich has been cast as the “young” Han Solo in a stand-alone Star Wars film. Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The “old” Han Solo in The Force Awakens (no offence, Harrison!) Picture: Disney

To be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street), this stand-alone instalment has cast Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!) as the young Han, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian and Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke as an as-yet unnamed character.

Kennedy described the film to Variety as having “a heist or western type feel”.

Then it’ll be back to the core saga with Episode IX pencilled in for May 2019, directed by Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World), while a stand-alone Boba Fett movie is rumoured for 2020.

In September, Disney President Bob Iger revealed he and Kennedy had already discussed plans for “2021 and beyond”. May the Force be with them.

Originally published as Rogue One: a different type of Star Wars movie is already using the Force at the box office