Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (also known as Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker) is a 2019 American epic space-opera film produced, co-written, and directed by J. J. Abrams. It is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), and the final episode of the nine-part "Skywalker saga". It was produced by Lucasfilm and Abrams's production company Bad Robot Productions, and was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film's ensemble cast includes Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, and Billy Dee Williams.

After the new trilogy was announced following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, it was originally reported that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson would write the script for Episode IX. In August 2015, Colin Trevorrow was hired to direct the film while constant-collaborator Derek Connolly would co-write a new script (both would eventually receive story credit with Abrams and Chris Terrio). In September 2017, Trevorrow left the project following creative differences with producer Kathleen Kennedy, and a few days later, it was announced that Abrams had been hired to return. Principal photography began in August 2018 at Pinewood Studios in England, and wrapped in February 2019; post-production was completed on November 24, 2019.

The Rise of Skywalker had its world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 20, 2019. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising its celebration of the entire saga and others considering it unimaginative and derivative.

Plot
One year after the Battle of Crait, Kylo Ren obtains a Sith wayfinder device and travels to the planet Exegol. He discovers a physically impaired Palpatine, who reveals he created Snoke as a puppet to control the First Order and lure Kylo to the dark side. Palpatine unveils a secret armada of Star Destroyers and tells Kylo to find and kill Rey, who is continuing her Jedi training under General Leia Organa. Meanwhile, Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca retrieve information on Kylo's discovery originating from a First Order spy. After learning that Palpatine has returned, Rey discovers notes on a Sith artifact in the Jedi texts Luke Skywalker left behind. Rey, Poe, Finn, Chewbacca, BB-8, and C-3PO leave for Passanna to seek a contact Luke knew, while R2-D2 stays behind with Leia.

On Passanna, they encounter Lando Calrissian, who leads them to the artifact's last known location in the desert. Kylo learns where Rey is through their Force bond and travels to Passanna with the Knights of Ren. Rey and the others discover the remains of a Sith assassin, his ship, and a dagger inscribed with Sith text, which C-3PO's programming forbids him from interpreting. Sensing that Kylo is nearby, Rey goes to confront him. The First Order captures the Millennium Falcon, Chewbacca, and the dagger; Rey, attempting to save Chewbacca, accidentally destroys a First Order transport with Force lightning. The group escapes on the assassin's ship, presuming Chewbacca was killed in the explosion.

Poe suggests that they head to Kijimi to have the Sith text extracted from C-3PO's memory. Rey senses that Chewbacca is alive, and the group mount a rescue mission. While Kylo searches for Rey, the group infiltrate his Star Destroyer with the help of Zorii Bliss, an old friend of Poe's. Through the Force, Kylo tells Rey that she is Palpatine's granddaughter; Palpatine had ordered her death as a child, fearing her power. Rey recovers the dagger and has visions of the assassin using it to kill her parents. General Hux discovers the group and reveals himself to be the spy. He allows them to escape on the Falcon, but is executed for treason. The Star Destroyer destroys Kijimi using a superlaser cannon.

The group follow the coordinates to Kef Bir and a wayfinder device revealing Palpatine's location. A woman named Jannah leads them to the remains of the second Death Star near Endor. Rey uses the dagger to locate the wayfinder and envisions herself as a Sith upon contacting it. Kylo, having tracked the group to Kef Bir, destroys the Wayfinder and duels Rey. A dying Leia calls to Kylo through the Force, but Rey impales him. Sensing Leia's death, Rey heals Kylo and takes his ship to exile herself to Ahch-To, shaken by her Sith lineage. Luke's Force spirit appears and encourages Rey to face Palpatine as he faced Darth Vader, giving her Leia's lightsaber and his old X-wing. Rey leaves for Exegol, using the wayfinder on Kylo's ship. On Kef Bir, Kylo converses with a vision of his father and throws away his lightsaber, reclaiming his identity as Ben Solo.

Rey arrives on Exegol and transmits her location to the Resistance. She confronts Palpatine, who demands that she kill him to transfer his spirit into Rey. The Resistance engages in battle with Palpatine's fleet. Ben overpowers the Knights of Ren and arrives to help Rey. Palpatine rejuvenates himself by absorbing the life essence of Rey and Ben, and then attacks the Resistance fleet with Force lightning. A weakened Rey hears voices of past Jedi lending their strength; Palpatine attacks her with lightning, but Rey deflects it using the two lightsabers, killing him. Rey dies from the attack, but Ben sacrifices himself by using the Force to resurrect her; the two kiss before Ben becomes one with the Force. Lando leads the Resistance, now backed by reinforcements, to destroy the remainder of Palpatine's armada.

As the galaxy celebrates, Rey visits the Lars homestead on Tatooine, where she buries the Skywalker lightsabers, having built her own. A local asks her name; as the spirits of Luke and Leia look on, she replies, "Rey Skywalker".

Cast

 * Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, the Force-sensitive leading general of the Resistance, widow of Han Solo, mother to Ben Solo, Luke Skywalker's twin sister and Darth Vader / Anakin Skywalker's daughter. Fisher, who died in late 2016, appears through the use of re-purposed unreleased footage from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
 * Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi Master, Leia Organa's twin brother, Darth Vader / Anakin Skywalker's son and maternal uncle of Kylo Ren who became one with the Force in The Last Jedi.
 * Adam Driver as Ben Solo / Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Born as Ben Solo, he is the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, the nephew of Luke Skywalker and grandson of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader.
 * Daisy Ridley as Rey Palpatine Skywalker, a scavenger from Jakku, the granddaughter of Emperor Sheev Palpatine and a member of the Resistance. She is the last Jedi and apprentice of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.
 * Cailey Fleming and Josefine Irrera Jackson as Young Rey.
 * John Boyega as Finn, a member of the Resistance and a former stormtrooper (FN-2187) who defected from the First Order.
 * Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, a high-ranking X-wing fighter pilot and commander of the Resistance.
 * Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, a humanoid protocol droid in the service of General Leia Organa. Daniels is the only actor to have appeared in all of the episodic films in the series.
 * Naomi Ackie as Jannah, an ally of the Resistance.
 * Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, the First Order's second-in-command.
 * Richard E. Grant as Allegiant General Pryde, a high-ranking general in the First Order.
 * Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata, a former space pirate and ally of the Resistance.
 * Keri Russell as Zorri Bliss, a "criminal and old friend of Poe's".
 * Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, a Wookiee and first mate of the Millennium Falcon and longtime friend of Han Solo.
 * Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, a mechanic in the Resistance who befriended Finn and joined him and his allies in The Last Jedi.
 * Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine / Darth Sidious, the dark lord of the Sith and former emperor of the galaxy as well as Rey's grandfather who was thought to have been killed by the redeemed Darth Vader / Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi.
 * Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, a veteran of the Rebel Alliance, the original owner of the Millennium Falcon and an old friend of Chewbacca, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Williams returns to the Star Wars franchise onscreen for the first time since Return of the Jedi.

Additionally, Dominic Monaghan portrays Beaumont Kin, a Resistance trooper, and Shirley Henderson portrays a Resistance member; Dave Chapman and Brian Herring return as the puppeteers of BB-8; and Billie Lourd, Jimmy Vee, Greg Grunberg, and Harrison Ford reprise their roles as Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix, R2-D2, Temmin "Snap" Wexley, and Han Solo, respectively. Nick Kellington returns as the creature performance of Klaud. Martin Wilde, Anton Simpson-Tidy, Lukaz Leong, Tom Rodgers, Joe Kennard, and Ashley Beck appear as the Knights of Ren, respectively.

Jodie Comer and Billy Howle briefly appear as Rey's mother and father, respectively. Mike Quinn and Kipsang Rotich return as the performer and voice of Nien Nunb, respectively. Denis Lawson makes a brief appearance as Wedge Antilles, a veteran of the Rebel Alliance; and Warwick Davis makes a brief appearance as Wicket W. Warrick, the leader of the Ewoks. Composer John Williams cameos as a Kijimi bartender, and Lin-Manuel Miranda cameos as a Resistance trooper. Jeff Garlin and Kevin Smith have roles in the film. Actors making vocal cameos include Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, and the voices of Jedi Past with Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, Olivia d'Abo as Luminara Unduli, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Jennifer Hale as Aayla Secura, Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Ewan McGregor and Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Frank Oz as Yoda, Angelique Perrin as Adi Gallia, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus and Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn.

Development


In October 2012, Star Wars creator George Lucas sold his production company Lucasfilm, and with it the Star Wars franchise, to The Walt Disney Company. Disney subsequently announced the Star Wars sequel trilogy. In June 2014, it was announced that Rian Johnson, writer and director of The Last Jedi, would write a story treatment for Episode IX. In August 2015, Colin Trevorrow was announced as the director of the film; he was to write the script with frequent collaborator Derek Connolly. In April 2017, Johnson stated that he was not involved in writing the film. In February 2016, Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger confirmed that pre-production on Episode IX had begun. In late April 2017, Disney announced that the film would be released on May 24, 2019. A month later, filming was expected to begin in January 2018, but this was later pushed back to August.

In August 2017, it was announced that Jack Thorne would rewrite the script. On September 5, 2017, Lucasfilm stated that Trevorrow had left the production following creative differences. The Hollywood Reporter reported that his working relationship with Kathleen Kennedy had become unmanageable after failing to deliver a satisfactory script, despite writing several drafts. Johnson was rumored as the top choice to replace Trevorrow as director, but stated "it was never in the plan for me to direct Episode IX." The next day, it was announced that J. J. Abrams, the director of The Force Awakens, would return to direct the film, and that the film's release date would be moved to December 20, 2019. The story team met with George Lucas before writing the new script, which Abrams co-wrote with Chris Terrio; Trevorrow and Connolly retain story credits. The story was rewritten to some extent before filming was completed. The film is being produced by Abrams's company Bad Robot Productions, Kathleen Kennedy, and Michelle Rejwan.

Before filming, Episode IX was initially given the working title Black Diamond, which was then changed to TrIXie, most likely to insert the roman numeral "IX" within the working title. The title, The Rise of Skywalker, was announced at April 2019's Star Wars Celebration in Chicago.

Casting


Carrie Fisher, who played Leia Organa, died on December 27, 2016. Variety and Reuters reported that she had been planned for a key role in The Rise of Skywalker. In January 2017, Lucasfilm stated that there were no plans to digitally generate Fisher's performance as they had for Rogue One. The following April, Fisher's brother Todd revealed that Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, had granted Disney the rights to use recent footage of Fisher. However, a week later, Kathleen Kennedy stated that Fisher would not appear in the film. In July 2018, J. J. Abrams announced that unused footage of Fisher from The Force Awakens would be used to help complete the story. According to Todd Fisher,"There's a lot of minutes of footage. I don't mean just outtakes. This is unused, new content that could be woven into the storyline. ... It's going to look like it was meant to be. Like it was shot yesterday."

In July 2018, Keri Russell was in talks to play a part with some "action-heavy fight scenes", and it was confirmed that Billy Dee Williams would return as Lando Calrissian, onscreen for the first time since 1983's Return of the Jedi—marking one of the longest intervals between portrayals of a character by the same actor in American film history. At the end of July, Russell was confirmed to have been cast, and there was an announcement of returning and additional new cast members. In late August, Deadline Hollywood announced that Dominic Monaghan and Matt Smith had been cast in unspecified roles, but Smith later denied his involvement. In April 2019, Disney's British website also listed Smith as being in the film, but removed his and Monaghan's name the following month. Jimmy Vee and Greg Grunberg reprise their roles as R2-D2 and Temmin "Snap" Wexley, respectively. Brian Herring returns to puppeteer BB-8.

At Star Wars Celebration in April 2019, it was revealed that Ian McDiarmid would return to portray Palpatine. Since the event was held after principal photography wrapped, Abrams was thrilled that news of McDiarmid on the set never leaked.

Filming
Principal photography began on August 1, 2018, at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. Filming also took place in Wadi Rum, Jordan. Oscar Isaac stated that Abrams was allowing more improvised acting than in the previous two films. Due to the tight schedule, some editing took place on set. Principal photography wrapped on February 15, 2019. Footage from the film was shown at The Walt Disney Company's annual shareholders meeting on March 7, 2019. Reshoots took place at Bad Robot Productions between late September and mid-October.

Post-production
The visual effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic and supervised by Roger Guyett. The film finished post-production on November 25, 2019. After Boyega accidentally left a copy of the script in their hotel room, it was listed on eBay for around £65. A Disney employee identified the script as authentic and purchased it from the seller for an undisclosed sum.

Music
On January 10, 2018, it was confirmed that John Williams would return to compose and conduct The Rise of Skywalker. The next month, Williams announced that it would be the last Star Wars film for which he would compose the score. In August 2019, it was revealed that Williams had written about 35 of an expected 135 minutes of music for the film, which according to Williams's brother Don, will incorporate all of the major themes of the Skywalker saga. Scoring began in June 2019 with Williams and William Ross conducting and orchestrating the sessions over the course of six months. Walt Disney Records released the soundtrack album digitally on December 18, 2019, with a physical release following on December 20.

Marketing
Though Abrams has stayed silent about many details of the film, he has expressed his hopes that audiences will be "satisfied." He headed a panel dedicated to the film on April 12, 2019, during Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, Illinois, where the film's title was revealed via the first trailer, and new images were shown. The trailer was viewed 111 million times in the first 24 hours of its release, which was 20 million more views than the teaser for The Last Jedi and more than double that of The Force Awakens.

A publishing campaign titled "Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" was announced on May 4, 2019 (Star Wars Day). It includes the novel Resistance Reborn, set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, and various other titles. Additionally, the story events of the Disneyland themed area Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge precede the film, including the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run motion simulator, which features Chewbacca. On August 24, a new poster and "sizzle reel" was released at D23; the latter was released to the public two days later. The footage includes a montage of the Skywalker saga so far, as well as several new shots from the film. The final trailer was released on October 21, 2019 during Monday Night Football.

In December 2019, the video game Fortnite Battle Royale released a downloadable content pack featuring character skins for Rey, Finn, and a crimson Sith Trooper, along with a TIE Fighter glider skin, an emote, and a banner. On December 14, Fortnite publisher Epic Games released a preview of the film on an in-game theater screen, as a live event.

Release
The film was originally planned to be released on May 24, 2019, in the United States before being pushed back to December 20. It had its world premiere in Los Angeles on December 16, and December 18 in France. Unlike most studio films, Disney did not hold test screenings for The Rise of Skywalker, instead only showing it to Abrams' friends and family, as well as a terminally ill fan.

The film will be released on Disney+ in 2020.

Box office
Pre-sale tickets went on sale on October 21, 2019 and the film sold more tickets in their first hour of availability on Atom Tickets than the previous record-holder for ticket sales, Avengers: Endgame. It became Atom Tickets' second-best first-day seller of all-time behind Endgame, selling more than twice the number of tickets than The Last Jedi sold in that same timeframe, while Fandango reported it outsold all previous Star Wars films. Box office tracking has The Rise of Skywalker grossing around $205 million in its opening weekend, though some firms predict a debut closer to $175 million. The film made $40 million from Thursday night previews, the fifth-highest total of all-time behind Avengers: Endgame, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Worldwide the film is projected to gross around $450 million in its opening weekend, including $250 million from international territories. It made $59.1 million from its first day of international release in 46 countries. The biggest markets were the United Kingdom ($8.3 million), Germany ($7.2 million), France ($5.3 million) and Australia ($4.3 million). In China, where Star Wars has notably never been a big draw and each Disney installment has opened to diminishing amounts, the film made just $1.6 million (RMB11.6 million) through its first day, for a debut estimate of just $17.8 million.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 58% based on 306 reviews, with an average rating of 6.26/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination, but concludes this beloved saga with fan-focused devotion." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 54 out of 100 based on 57 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the visual aspects, but criticized the storytelling, writing, "A plot like this, featuring so many characters, locations and story dynamics, can by nature be confusing; so relentless is the pileup of incident that, at a certain point, one can be excused for checking out on the particulars of what's going on at a given moment and why in favor of just going along for the amusement park ride." For The A.V. Club, A. A. Dowd gave the film a C+, writing that the film "is so freighted with obligation that it almost groans under the weight, flashing a weak smile as it vaguely approximates the appearance of a zippy good time". The BBC's Nicholas Barber wrote that "the film is well acted, it looks so good that there is bound to be a fabulous tie-in coffee-table book of concept art, and it has a positive message about never giving up hope. But the main feeling it instils in the viewer is a renewed respect for the imagination of Lucas. The Rise of Skywalker has been lovingly crafted by a host of talented people, and yet the best they can do is pay tribute to everything he did several decades ago."

Richard Roeper, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film three stars out of four, stating, "The Rise of Skywalker rarely comes close to touching greatness, but it's a solid, visually dazzling and warmhearted victory for the Force of quality filmmaking." Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised the film as "the most elegant, emotionally rounded, and gratifying Star Wars adventure since the glory days of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back", but added that "given the last eight films, the bar isn't that high". Michael Phillips for Chicago Tribune wrote that "The Rise of Skywalker does the job. It wraps up the trio of trilogies begun in 1977 in a confident, soothingly predictable way, doing all that is cinematically possible to avoid poking the bear otherwise known as tradition-minded quadrants of the Star Wars fan base."

Scott Mendelson for Forbes described the film as "possibly worse than any prior Star Wars 'episode'. It ends a legendary franchise with a thud while denying this new trilogy its artistic reason for existence." He said the main problem "isn't just that it absolutely walks back a number of potent reveals and plot threads from the last movie, but rather that the 142-minute movie spends almost its entire running time retconning its predecessor and adding painfully conventional 'plot twists' and patronizing reversals in the name of mollifying the fans who merely want to be reminded of the first three movies." Similarly, Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times felt the film "nakedly offers itself up in the spirit of a Last Jedi corrective, a return to storytelling basics, a nearly 2½-hour compendium of everything that made you fall in love with Star Wars in the first place. The more accurate way to describe it, I think, is as an epic failure of nerve. This Rise feels more like a retreat, a return to a zone of emotional and thematic safety from a filmmaker with a gift for packaging nostalgia as subversion."

Audience response
Months prior to the film's trailer release, the film was review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes to the point where the "Want to See" percentage went down as far as 5% within a day, with many of them focusing on lingering negativity towards The Last Jedi. Similar bombing with Captain Marvel caused Rotten Tomatoes to completely remove the Want to See feature after temporarily changing it to a number.

According to PostTrak, American audiences gave the film an average 4.5 out of 5 stars, with 76% saying they would definitely recommend it. Parents and children under 12 years old (who made up 16% of opening night audience) gave it a full five out of five stars. In China, audiences gave Rise of Skywalker a 7.7 out of 10 on Maoyan (compared to 8.2 for Force Awakens and 7.9 for Last Jedi) and 6.8 on Douban (compared to 7.3 for the previous two installments).