By Jasmine Venegas
Staff Writer
Set to hit theaters tonight, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is the latest film from Lucasfilm’s and Walt Disney Animation Studio.
Taking place after the destruction of the Jedi order, this new “Star Wars” adventure tells the story of a group of unlikely heroes that venture out on a mission to retrieve the plans to the Death Star and save the Rebel alliance.
While on the mission to find the plans, the group fights in galactic battles against the Dark Side and even encounters a certain Sith Lord, Darth Vader.
“Rogue One” features no Jedi, which forces the characters to rely on the power of the unpredictable Force to save them in times of trouble.
Oscar-nominated “The Theory of Everything” star Felicity Jones plays as Jyn Erso, a troublemaker who is drawn to the Rebel Alliance and is recruited as part of the team, tasked with recovering the Death Star plans.
One of the villains that is set to appear, is Director Orson Krennic, played by Ben Mendelsohn, who is a determined Imperial officer that wants to tear down the Rebel team with his Deathtroopers.
According to Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, “the level of interest [for] Rogue One is as high as it was for Force Awakens [but] it would [never] do the level that Force Awakens did.”
The film highlights the events that happened in “Star Wars: A New Hope,” specifically the part where a hologram of Princess Leia speaks about the group of resistance fighters that endangered their lives in order to retrieve the plans to the Death Star.
“Rogue One takes place before the events of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the ‘Star Wars’ universe,” Lucasfilm president and producer, Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine.
“Rogue One” will also be the first Star Wars movie that will not be scored by series regular John Williams, instead Alexandre Desplat will compose the score. Desplat has been known for scoring two of the “Harry Potter” films, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, and many other films.
Unlike the other films in the “Star Wars” Trilogy, this story is the first standalone film, meaning that moviegoers do not need to watch the other moves in the series to fully enjoy and understand the movie.
The movie is expected to earn over $130 million on its opening weekend and $7 billion by the end of this year.