Pictures in the Gallery. Star Wars Weekends 2006 jumped to lightspeed this weekend at the Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida. This year’s celebrity
host, Warwick Davis, was joined by everyone’s favorite Wookiee, the actor behind Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew, and everyone’s favorite producer, Rick
McCallum.
The event kicked off each day with a celebrity motorcade ably led by the most impressive 501st Stormtrooper Legion fan group.
New this year, guests who compete in the first “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, Play It! Star Wars Edition” show of the day, receive the assistance of Warwick Davis in their quest for the million points. Warwick actually sits next to them throughout the game and they can ask him for assistance with any or all of the questions. As Warwick is a pretty big fan of the series, he’s actually a great resource for the players.
Warwick also wrote and hosts the celebrity talk shows this year. The show is full of surprises this year — in the first weekend alone we got to see Peter Mayhew shoot at stormtroopers with a bowcaster and Rick McCallum in an Indiana Jones fedora race across the stage in front of a rolling “boulder”!
Some other tidbits from Rick about the future of Lucasfilm and Star Wars:
- Indy IV is ready to go!
- George is currently writing “Red Tails”, the movie about African-American fighter pilots in World War II.
- Star Wars Live Action TV should be good to go whenever George gets started writing it. To the question, “Is Boba Fett in it and will Daniel Logan play him?” Rick responded, “Yes to one of those.”
- All six Star Wars films will be in 3D. That should be complete around the time the critical mass of digital 3D theater in the US is reached (2500 – 3000), which they expect to be in the next two years or so.
- On Celebration IV — Rick doesn’t know when or where exactly, since he’s not directly involved, but he’s “working on film for it” and he expects it will be sometime next year.
I got to get an autograph signed by Rick and I have to say he really is a great guy, just as open and personable as he seems on the DVDs!
Each Star Wars Weekends day closes with the “Hyperspace Hoopla”, which is a huge music and character event in front of Star Tours. There’s a hilarious stage show featuring the Star Wars characters and the Studios House Band, “Mulch, Sweat, and Shears”. The Star Wars characters are also all over in the crowd, posing for photos, signing autographs, and just generally dancing and having fun. If you’ve ever wanted to “Do the Yoda” with a Wookiee, this is the event to attend!
More next week, for now…May the Force, Be With You! And remember to come visit for Star Wars Weekends!!!! =)
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