‘Rogue One’ trailer excites ‘Star Wars’ fans – ‘Bye Bye Man’ feeds on fear in new trailer

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LOS ANGELES, April 8, (Agencies): It is unlikely to make as big a splash as “The Force Awakens” but the first trailer for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” has at least caused a ripple in the Force.

The 100-second teaser released Thursday led to a frenzy of speculation over the similarity between female lead Felicity Jones, who plays the titular rogue, and “Awakens” heroine Rey, portrayed by Daisy Ridley.

People have been trying to work out Rey’s place in the “Star Wars” family tree since December — with fans speculating that she could be Luke Skywalker’s daughter or Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter — but many took to Twitter to claim Jones’ character Jyn Erso could be her mother.

“For dudes concerned abt keeping Rey & Jyn straight in your minds, use whatever flashcards/mnemonic devices that helped you figure Luke & Han,” LucasFilm creative Paul Hidalgo advised in a sardonic tweet.

Others debated whether or not a scene from the trailer showed a station on the London Underground’s Jubilee Line, while many welcomed the appearance of strong female leads in two consecutive “Star Wars” films.

Philadelphia-based film writer Scott Weinberg observed that “you could count the important women in the first six Star Wars movies on one hand — nice to see the pendulum swing the other way now.”

Rebecca Keegan, a film critic for the Los Angeles Times, pointed out that the trailer even passed the “Bechdel test” — which asks if two female characters in any given film have a conversation about something other than a man.

The first standalone “Star Wars” story, “Rogue One” is set just before “A New Hope” — the original film in the blockbuster series — and stars Jones alongside Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whitaker and Riz Ahmed, in a distinctly indie-flavored cast.

The 32-year-old British actress, who starred opposite Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything,” plays rebel Jyn Erso, who has been on her own since the age of 15 and has notched up a string of convictions including forgery, assault and theft.

She is sent on a mission to help investigate “a major weapons test” — better known as the Death Star in development — and find out how to destroy it.

The trailer also features a fan favorite — the Empire’s AT-AT military vehicles — as well as a smattering of Stormtroopers and a retread of John Williams’ familiar “Star Wars” score.

The music includes a snippet of the infamous “Imperial March,” used to signify the approach of Darth Vader — perhaps a hint that cinema’s ultimate villain will make an appearance in “Rogue One,” due for release on December 16.

In related news, the dust has barely settled from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” but audiences already have a new installment to get excited for.

The world got a glimpse of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” in a teaser trailer that debuted Thursday on “Good Morning America” and quickly became a top trending topic on Twitter. The movie looks back to the events before 1977’s “A New Hope,” introducing the ragtag rebels who unite to steal plans for the Death Star.

In the world of “Rogue One,” Edwards said at a fan event last year, the “absence of Jedi is omnipresent.”

“Cinderella” scribe Chis Weitz wrote the screenplay based on an idea from visual effects supervisor John Knoll.

It’s the first in a series of spinoff films set in the “Star Wars” universe, disconnected from the more chronological main trilogy that kicked off with “The Force Awakens” and will continue with Rian Johnson’s “Episode VIII,” which arrives in Dec. 2017.

Kiri Hart, vice president of development for Lucasfilm, said last year that the anthology films will vary in “scale and genre.”

“We wanted freedom to do some films that would be able to stand on their own and tell unique stories,” she said.

“They can still feel like ‘Star Wars’ and be ‘Star Wars.’”

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LOS ANGELES: A powerful supernatural entity has begun to dominate the lives of three college students in the new trailer for STX Entertainment’s new teaser trailer for its horror-thriller “The Bye Bye Man.”

The teaser starts with a series of violent crime scenes in a suburban area with a chilling voiceover that intones, “You hear the stories every day. Violent crimes. Countless victims. Unthinkable acts. You wonder what could possess a person to do such unthinkable things.”

The film recounts a series of terrifying events experienced by three Wisconsin college students, played by Douglas Smith, Cressida Bonas and Lucien Laviscount, who move into an old house off campus and unwittingly unleash a supernatural entity known as the Bye Bye Man — who comes to prey upon them once they discover his name.

The friends must try to save each other, all the while keeping the Bye Bye Man’s existence a secret to save others from the same deadly fate.

“The more scared you are, the more powerful he gets,” says one of the terrorized students in the trailer.

Carrie-Anne Moss and Faye Dunaway also star along with Douglas Jones as the title character. Stacy Title directed from Jonathan Penner’s script from the short story “The Bridge to Body Island” by Robert Damon Schneck.

Producers are Trevor Macy, Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman.

The movie opens on June 3.

LOS ANGELES: Universal’s new red-band trailer for “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” brings back Zac Efron’s Teddy as a secret weapon for Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne’s characters.

Rogen and Byrne’s characters are dealing with the nightmare of a wild sorority, led by Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz), moving in next door. They (understandably) fear that the bikini-clad collegians — far more of a headache than the frat boys in the first movie — will scare away prospective homebuyers as they finalize a deal on selling their house.

“We need someone who can relate to stupid young people,” Rogen laments. “They’re using their sexuality as a weapon.”

Enter Efron as the means to take the Kappa Nus down. Rogen and Byrne, whose character is pregnant with a second child, also enlist the sorority girls’ parents — including LL Cool J — and their friends Jimmy (Ike Barinholtz) and Paula (Carla Gallo).

The Kappa Nus move into the neighboring house after branching off from Phi Lambda Phi, led by the very snide Madison, played by Selena Gomez.

Nicholas Stoller directed both movies. The original grossed an impressive $270 million worldwide.

“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” arrives on May 20.

LOS ANGELES: Lionsgate is moving forward on a movie version of Steve Hamilton’s upcoming crime thriller “The Second Life 0f Nick Mason,” hiring “The Equalizer” writer Richard Wenk to adapt.

Wenk’s credits include the sequel to “The Equalizer,” “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” and “The Magnificent Seven.”

Lionsgate acquired the movie rights to Hamilton’s series starting with “The Second Life of Nick Mason” in July and set up the project with “Hunger Games” franchise producer Nina Jacobson through her Color Force production company and with Shane Salerno via his Story Factory.

Putnam will publish “Nick Mason” in May as the first in a series. The titular character is a career criminal who’s released early from prison and finds himself forced to commit increasingly dangerous felonies for a Chicago crime lord while pursued by the detective who put him behind bars.

Hamilton also wrote “The Lock Artist” and the Alex McKnight series.

The “Nick Mason” deal was the first major acquisition since Bobby Cohen joined Gillian Bohrer as Lionsgate’s co-president of motion picture production. Jacobson is producing “The Odyssey” for Lionsgate with Francis Lawrence directing and Hugh Jackman in talks to star.

Wenk is repped by Gersh, the Arlook Group and Schreck, Rose. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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