May the Fourth lives up to its name
Avengers? What Avengers? On Monday, aka May the Fourth (the unofficial “Star Wars” holiday), “The Force Awakens” again asserted itself as the blockbuster event of the year — helped by the unveiling of a June cover story in Vanity Fair that featured the first photo of Adam Driver’s villainous Kylo Ren, the black-clad bad guy seen in the teaser trailer for the upcoming Episode VII.
In the new image, one of several by Annie Leibovitz for the magazine, Driver’s character is described as commanding two Snowtroopers loyal to the evil First Order on the frozen plains of their secret base.
A second image showed Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o wearing motion capture tracking dots to turn her into Maz Kanata, a CGI creation described as a pirate. While Vanity Fair didn’t debut an image of Maz herself, it did reveal a rogues’ gallery of “galactic travelers, smugglers, and other assorted riffraff” who are seen filling “the main hall of pirate Maz Kanata’s castle.” Could Maz be the new Jabba the Hutt in “The Force Awakens”?
Although “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” won’t hit theaters until Dec. 18, merchandise for the franchise will begin rolling out from Sept. 4 as part of a “Force Friday” event.
Meanwhile Marvel’s Avengers — also a Disney film franchise property — can take heart from an upward revision of estimated box office sales for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” in its opening weekend: the North American tally now stands at $191.3 million, up from $187.7 million.