Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

"A rebellion built on hope."

- Tagline

Rogue One, also known as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is a 2016 film directed by Gareth Edwards and produced by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, amongst many others. The screenplay, written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, is based on a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta. The film's score is composed by Michael Giacchino, marking the first live-action film in the official Star Wars canon to not be scored by John Williams. It is the first film in the Star Wars Anthology Series.

Rogue One stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, and Alan Tudyk. Genevieve O'Reilly reprises her role as Mon Mothma, the leader of the Rebel Alliance; O'Reilly portrayed the character for 2005's Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, but her scenes were cut. The film also features the return of Darth Vader.

The film, which began production in August 2015, is set between Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. It is set closer to the latter film and focuses on the formation of the Rebel Alliance and their efforts to steal the plans to the Death Star, an event that was referenced in the opening crawl of A New Hope. Jyn Erso, played by Jones, and a group of other characters band together to steal the plans from the Galactic Empire. Edwards has described the film as a grounded, war-based movie, one in which normal people have to come together to fight the Empire as opposed to relying on the Jedi or the Force.

Official description
"'A New Hope' is the story of a boy who grows up in a tranquil home and dreams of joining a war. What if we have the story of a girl who grows up in a war and dreams of returning to the tranquillity of home?"

- Gareth Edwards

''From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. In theaters December 2016.''

Development
"I started thinking about which story would I like to see told? I informally pitched it around...One of the people I pitched it to was Pablo, and he was pretty enthusiastic about it as well...I made an appointment with Kathy and Kiri, pitched the 20-minute version of this, and got a pretty good response."

- John Knoll

John Knoll, a visual effects supervisor and the chief creative officer at ILM, began developing the idea for Rogue One in the mid-2000s, after learning that George Lucas was developing a Star Wars live-action TV series. However, Knoll put aside the idea once he realized that it would not fit within the show's concept. The series was eventually put on indefinite hold due to budget constraints, and Lucas decided to retire from filmmaking, hiring Kathleen Kennedy as the new head of Lucasfilm. According to Kennedy, Lucas was "really interested in exploring all the stories that existed inside the universe." (Lucas had long considered making films outside of the saga, dating back to development of the original Star Wars film. ) Lucasfilm settled on calling these non-episodic adventures the Star Wars Anthology Series. At the urging of his colleagues, Knoll pitched his idea to various people within Lucasfilm, including Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo, who was enthusiastic about the idea. This led to a meeting with Kennedy and Kiri Hart, a member of the Story Group and Lucasfilm's vice president of development. Kennedy, who said she was president "for about 20 minutes" when she had the discussion with Knoll, thought it was a great idea and that "there was no way" she could say no to the idea. Like Kennedy, Hart was "immediately excited about" the film. It was then chosen as the first stand-alone film to be produced, due to the involvement of plot elements that general audiences would be familiar with.

Gareth Edwards, who had directed Monsters and was directing Godzilla at the time, was hired to direct the film. He was brought on early in the creative process. Gary Whitta, who had written The Book of Eli and After Earth, was hired to write the film's screenplay. The team decided to create a film that felt real, as if it was taking place in a real location; and one that was set within the gray areas of Star Wars, as opposed to the clear morality of the original Star Wars trilogy. The look of the film was inspired by the work of artist Frederic Remington, as well as footage of real-life wars. On March 12, 2015, it was announced that Chris Weitz would take over screenwriting duties from Whitta. It was further announced that the film would be titled Rogue One &mdash;a name coined by Whitta during the writing process &mdash;and that Felicity Jones, who had been nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in The Theory of Everything, had been cast in the film. Edwards used ILM's new developments in virtual reality to aid in pre-visualizing the film. The film began principal photography in London in August 2015. This was announced during the D23 Expo that same month. Additionally, a StarWars.com blog post revealed the full cast for the film: alongside Felicity Jones would be starring: Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, and Riz Ahmed. At least two of the cast underwent special training for their roles: Jones in a style of martial arts and Luna in military training. Members of the British Armed Forces were also hired as extras.

Simon Crane and Tony Gilroy were brought on to assist with reshoots,  for which the latter was paid over $5 million. Initial plans for reshoots had already been made upon the film's conception. According to Gareth Edwards, "it was always part of the plan to do reshoots. We always knew we were coming back somewhere to do stuff. We just didn't know what it would be until we started sculpting the film in the edit." In June, 2016, it was announced that the film was to undergo reshoots. Almost immediately, numerous rumors surfaced online, with claims that over 40% of the film was to be re-shot, Scott Z. Burns and Christopher McQuarrie had written new drafts of the script (with the latter co-directing), and Disney executives had ordered the reshoots in an effort to "lighten" the film's tone. Numerous news articles have since disproven all such rumors. According to the EW, there have been no test screenings on Rogue One, nor are any likely to occur on a Star Wars movie. The dark and gritty tone had been preserved, and the reshoots had dealt more with with character development rather than the plotline. According to Kathleen Kennedy, "There's nothing about the story that's changing, with a few things that we're picking up in additional photography. I think that's the most important thing, to reassure fans that it's the movie we intended to make." Edwards attributed the lengthy reshoots to the spontaneous, cinéma vérité nature of the production.

The film's musical score was originally composed by Alexandre Desplat, although Michael Giacchino took over in post-production.

Release
A brief teaser trailer was shown for Celebration Anaheim attendees, depicting the Death Star far off in the distance on a jungle world. Lucasfilm was not able to promote the film anywhere outside of Celebration Anaheim, however, during the summer of 2015, due to the similarities between the titles of Rogue One and the then-upcoming film Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The title of Rogue Nation was registered with the Motion Picture Association of America prior to Rogue One, leading to the embargo on Rogue One promotion. On April 7, 2016, a teaser trailer debuted during the ABC television show Good Morning America. A ten-second preview of the teaser had been released online the day before. On July 15, there was a Rogue One panel at Celebration Europe featuring Gareth Edwards and Kathleen Kennedy; During the panel, a featurette and a new trailer were released. That featurette was aired that night during ABC's broadcast of Secrets of the Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey. A trailer aired during the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Beginning on September 20, TNT aired the first six Star Wars films. This was part of a deal in which Turner networks received exclusive rights to air eleven Star Wars films, including Rogue One in 2019. On October 12, it was revealed that a new trailer would be released the following day on October 13. ABC aired an additional preview of the film on November 24, as part of their "Magical Holiday Celebration." On December 2, Twitter hosted a livestream Q&A with Edwards and crew members; On the same day, members of the press were invited to Skywalker Ranch to view 28 minutes of footage from the film. Cast and crew made various media appearances, most prominently on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,  Good Morning America, Sirius XM and MTV News. The film had its Hollywood premiere on December 10.

Some of the cast and crew participated in UNICEF's Force for Change and Kid Power programs, creating Target-exclusive T-shirts, of which five dollars from each would contribute to the cause. Edwards also used the opportunity of making the film to promote the ASSERT charity. As with The Force Awakens, a terminally ill cancer patient&mdash;Neil Hanvey&mdash;was allowed to see the film early. Hanvey passed away two days after seeing the film.

Merchandising
The Rogue One merchandise line officially launched on September 30, 2016. A prequel comic miniseries of the film was set to be released in October and published by Marvel Comics, containing three issues and a one-shot, until it was revealed that the miniseries has been cancelled on May 17. On November 15, Del Rey published a prequel novel to the film, entitled Catalyst. Dorling Kindersley will release its ultimate visual guide to the film on December 16, the same day as the release of the film itself. An art book for the film will also be released on that date. A short story titled "Voices of the Empire" tying into the film will be featured in Star Wars Insider 170. A Rogue One-themed expansion was released for the video game Star Wars Battlefront.

In August 2016, Lucasfilm released a series of online images advertising Hasbro's Rogue One toy line, which debuted on September 30. The toys were also featured in Go Rogue, an officially-sponsored, fan-created online video series that will continue throughout September. The Black Series figure of Jyn Erso was released on October 15, 2016. By September 4, 2016, the figure had already skyrocketed to become the #1 Best Seller in Amazon's Action & Toy Figures category, based on hourly-updated figures. Verizon sponsored Rogue One: Recon, a 3D experience created by ILM Experience Lab. Nissan offered a Rogue One-themed Limited Edition of its 2017 Nissan Rogue. In October 2016, special Rogue One-inspired commercials aired for Duracell, Nissan and Gilette products.

Reception
In a December 2015 poll by Fandango, Rogue One was voted the most anticipated film of 2016. Early estimates predict a significant box office intake, though considerably less than The Force Awakens. Tickets went on sale on the midnight of November 28, followed by reports that Fandango had crashed due to high demand. The film had the second biggest day one pre-sales, following The Force Awakens.

During the lead up to release, writers Weitz and Witta were criticized for making political comparisons with the film, culminating in calls for a boycott from the alt-right.

As of the afternoon of Thursday, December 15, 2016, the film was listed as "Certified Fresh" at the movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Out of 208 reviews, 175 reviewers gave the film a score considered "Fresh," for an overall freshness level of 84% and an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's consensus stated that "Rogue One draws deep on Star Wars mythology while breaking new narrative and aesthetic ground -- and suggesting a bright blockbuster future for the franchise."

Continuity
"Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet."

- The opening crawl of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope

Rogue One is set between the films Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, during the Age of the Empire. The film revolves around a group of resistance fighters who unite to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's deep space mobile battle station that is capable of destroying entire planets. The theft of the plans was first referenced in the opening crawl of A New Hope, which described the event as the Rebel Alliance's "first victory against the evil Galactic Empire." The crawl further states that, "During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans" to the Death Star. The opening scenes of A New Hope deal with that battle's aftermath, with Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan fleeing from the Empire with the plans in order to deliver them to the Rebel Alliance. The Death Star is ultimately destroyed in A New Hope after the princess and her companions&mdash;Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO&mdash;deliver the plans to the Rebellion and a weakness in the station is discovered.

The title Rogue One refers to a callsign, but is also intended as a pun, as the film is the first canon live-action film that is not part of the saga and is therefore the "rogue" one. Unlike the previous live-action films, Rogue One does not revolve around the Jedi. Rather, the film is about a group of people who do not have the ability to use the Force and have to find a way to bring hope to a galaxy ruled by the Empire. Also unlike the original trilogy, which provided a black and white view of good and evil, Edwards stated at Celebration Anaheim that Rogue One "is gray" and that the film could be described as "Real...This is a real place that we're really in..." Regardless of how well the film performs, there are no plans for a sequel.