Star Wars fans and collectors will be able to purchase a new line of toys based on the upcoming movie, “Rogue One,” at Toys ‘R’ stores in the United States beginning Sept. 30. Like last year’s Force Friday, Toys ‘R’ Us stores across the United States will open at 12:01 a.m. EST that night and transform into Destination Star Wars: Rebel Base. In addition to shopping opportunities, the stores will host exclusive events for participants. Night owls will enjoy giveaways including a poster and T-shirt (while supplies last) and will be the first to shop “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" merchandise, including Star Wars figures, construction sets, accessories and more. beginning at 12 a.m. EST. For Star Wars fans visiting Walt Disney World, the closest Toys ‘R’ Us stores in Central Florida are at Florida Mall, 1631 Florida Mall Ave., and Orlando Outlets, 8200 Vineland Ave. Some of the new “Rogue One” toys are available now for pre-order: Star Wars Force Band by Sphero, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story The Black Series Sergeant Jyn Erso from Hasbro, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Rebel U-Wing Fighter Drone from Hasbro and Star Wars The Black Series Imperial Stormtrooper Electronic Voice Changer Helmet from Hasbro.
In addition, on Sept. 30, Star Wars fans are invited to share their own short stories or skits set in a galaxy far, far away. For both contests, participants have until Oct. 21 to submit a 2-minute video for a chance to see to win a trip to LucasFilm in San Francisco and attend a screening of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and see their video on the big screen. Videos should be an original story, an original parody or documentary pertaining to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Music or scene background images can only be selected from those provided in the asset pack. Winning entries will be chosen by a panel including "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" director Gareth Edwards. Entries will be judged on the following criteria: ** A clear grasp of animation and/or filmmaking as an art form (20%) ** Quality of storytelling (20%) ** Character development and character design (20%) ** Overall entertainment value (20%) Three grand-prize winners will be chosen; limit one entry per person.
//MyRogueStory for the respective contests. To reveal the new “Rogue One” toy collection and contests, a team of superfans created animated shorts that have launched on the Star Wars YouTube channel. As part of a competition in collaboration with creative network Tongal, a team was assembled to write, direct and produce original, fan-made stop-motion shorts starring key toys from the new line to kick off the contest that asks fans to share their own "Rogue Stories." The stories follow the adventures of "Rogue One" toys from Hasbro, LEGO, FUNKO, JAKKS Pacific, Mattel and Disney Store as they try to track down the building instructions to the LEGO Star Wars Death Star set which have been misplaced by the Empire. "These fan-created shorts are a tribute to the incredible content that the Star Wars community posts online every day," said Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. When Star Wars news breaks, many fans worldwide react by sharing their own videos online.
According to a press release, fans posted over 838,000 pieces of Star Wars-related content on YouTube in the past year alone, which is more than 2,296 per day and nearly 96 per hour. Star Wars fan-generated content is also incredibly popular, accruing more than 16.3 billion views in the last year – equivalent to everyone in the world viewing at least two fan-created videos.Sure, director Chris McKay has been at the helm of such irreverent shows as "Robot Chicken," where there are no limits to the skewering of pop culture icons in stop-motion animation glory. Still, when it came to handing the keys of its monolithic superhero brand over to McKay for "The LEGO Batman Movie," Warner Bros. and DC Comics had nothing but trust in McKay to use LEGO's bricks to help build a wonderful story about the Dark Knight and several other DC superheroes -- even though it parodies them. "I think in some ways they knew I would be OK because I have a giant Catwoman tattoo on my arm," McKay said with a laugh Tuesday in a phone conversation from Los Angeles.
"Plus, I've expressed my love for DC comic books and some Warner Bros. movies in general, like Richard Donner's "Superman" and Tim Burton's "Batman," as movies that made an impression on me as a kid. "Yes, the companies want to be very careful in how they present these characters and under what circumstances, but fortunately, they do have a lot of trust and faith in me," McKay added. "I've been really lucky that let me do the things I've been able to do with this movie. Yes, we make jokes, but they are loving, affectionate jokes involving these characters." McKay is no stranger to the DC/LEGO universe, having served as an editor and animation supervisor on the 2014 blockbuster "The LEGO Movie." Of course, that film featured LEGO Batman (voiced by Will Arnett), who now -- along with his alter-ego Bruce Wayne -- gets his own adventure in Gotham City, where he takes on such nefarious criminals as the Joker (Zack Galifianakis) and Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate). The film, opening in theaters and on IMAX screens nationwide on Friday, also stars Rosario Dawson as the voice of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Michael Cera as Dick Grayson/Robin and Ralph Fiennes as Wayne's loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
Behind-the-scenes footage from the film shows several of the actors in front their microphones, recording dialogue with their LEGO counterparts in hand, and McKay said they weren't the only ones who used the tiny characters to glean some inspiration. "We had bowls of bricks in the conference rooms so people could play with stuff when we were having meetings, and if you look at the animators' desks, you'll see stuff they started collecting from the first movie that they used to work out animation or design problems, or just to have fun," McKay said. "I tried to promote that sense of play as much as possible and try to get LEGO to give us as many things as possible to do stuff. On the first movie, I had people doing building exercises with teams. We got a Death Star, Millennium Falcon and Star Destroyer, and split people up into teams to build stuff together. It was fun to see people get nerdy about all the details and geek out about it." Much like "The LEGO Movie," "The LEGO Batman Movie" has a distinct, stop-motion animated feel to it, And while the animation in both films is completely computer-generated, McKay - whose credits in addition to "Robot Chicken" include "Moral Orel" and "Titan Maximum" -- would love to somehow implement stop-motion into future LEGO movie projects.