Star Wars: The Force Awakens' broke several movie records

If you suspected that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would smash box office records when you saw the lengthy queues at your local theater, you made a pretty good guess. Disney expects the adventures of Finn, Poe and Rey to set an all-time domestic debut record with an estimated $238 million haul. The previous best, this summer's Jurassic World, "only" pulled in $208.8 million. On top of that, TFA also broke several other records which includes :

* The biggest single-day gross in the United States ($120.5 million)

* Biggest Thursday preview in the United States ($57 million)

* Best December debut and multiple IMAX records.

* biggest opening weekends in Australia ($18.9 million), Germany ($27.3 million), Russia ($12.3 million and the UK ($48.9 million).

* Worldwide, it's estimated to rake in $517 million over its first five days

Source:Engadget 

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Facebook will let you add a lightsaber to your profile picture this week

The only force more unstoppable than the Force is Star Wars' marketing machine, which, like the universe itself, is continually expanding to places beyond our comprehension. Star Wars is rightfully everywhere this week, and that includes on Facebook, which will now let you add a lightsaber overtop of your profile picture to get you in the mood for the new movie. You can choose between totally-evil red and obviously Luke's blue. Facebook's tool lets you position the lightsaber in different places around your photo, but as you can see in my quick attempt above, finding the right photo is not as easy as it sounds.

Facebook started testing the ability to temporarily change your profile picture in September, and has since rolled the feature out widely. Though it had originally been discussed as a way to show support for causes that were big at a given moment, the addition of temporary lightsabers today makes it clear that this could be a big advertising tool for Facebook, too. In addition to causes, Facebook also has permanent options for putting sports team logos over your picture. It's not stated whether the Star Wars promos will stick around, but it'd make sense: hype for The Force Awakens may be gone in a few weeks, but there'll always be another Star Wars next year.


Source :The Verge

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Google made a Star Wars game that turns your phone into a lightsaber

If you're really excited about the imminent release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but you don't feel like you've been sufficientlyimmersed in it yet, Google has a new interactive web game you might enjoy. It's called Lightsaber Escape, but it should maybe more accurately be called Escape with Lightsaber, because that's what you'll be doing. The experience is a collaborative project between Google, Disney, Lucasfilm, and Industrial Light & Magic.

Players must first go to the Lightsaber Escape website on a desktop, where they'll be given a link to visit on mobile. To set up, you'll be told to "calibrate your phone," which basically involves holding it vertically, like a lightsaber. Then, your desktop screen will show you standing in a Star Destroyer, ready to fight off a rowdy group of stormtroopers. As you move your phone, the lightsaber will move as well. The only way to escape is by waving your phone wildly at your computer. Ah, the future.

Source :Google 

Via :The Verge 

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Google has hidden a spectacular Star Wars Easter egg to celebrate The Force Awakens

Following on from yesterday’s ‘Jedi or Dark Side’ browser tool kit, Google has come up with another celebration of Star Wars' return in the form of one of its ‘type this into Google’ Easter eggs, and this one’s particularly slick.

Search for ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far far away’, and the phrase displays as rolling yellow-on-black text in deep space, mimicking the classic intro to every Star Wars movie.

Hit the sound button and you’ll even get a blast of John Williams’ infamous score.

Admittedly it makes the results a little hard to click on, but I doubt there’ll be any complaints.

The Force Awakens is finally in the can, just weeks before its due for release. Director JJ Abrams had to pull an all-nighter, staying up till almost 3am working on the edit ahead of an interview this week.

Source :The Independent 

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Google new Star Wars site urges you to choose a side

One downside of being a billion-dollar movie studio that owns one of history's most popular film series is that it's hard getting the word out about new releases. Take Disney, which is struggling to inform the population that there's a seventh episode of the Star Wars saga coming out in a few weeks. Thankfully, the folks at Google have noticed the studio's plight, and decided to help out by offering customized themes for everyone's favorite internet services.

Head over to google.com/StarWars and you'll be able to pick from the light or dark sides of the force and watch as the firm's products are instantly seeded with tons of themed easter eggs. Chrome tabs, for instance, will show you pictures of crashed Star Destroyers, while the Street View marker in Maps gets re-clothed as a Rebel Alliance pilot or as a Stormtrooper. Even fan-favorite, the lovable yet scruffy-lookin' rogue known as YouTube gets a lightsaber-colored playback bar depending on which side you pick.

Of course, it's also Doctor Who's 52nd birthday today, but Google even forgot to send a card, so they're clearly too busy craving excitement and adventure.

Source :Engadget 

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