Star Wars luminaries kick off Empire’s BIG SCREEN weekend

Stormtroopers were patrolling London's O2. Photo: Seenit.co.uk
This weekend’s celebration of film and television got underway with a Star Wars Q&A and the world premiere of the trailer for the franchise’s Blu-ray release.

The session opened Empire’s BIG SCREEN weekend which is taking place at London’s O2.

Producers LucasFIlm have teamed up with home entertainment giant Panasonic to offer customers who buy one of 12 Panasonic Blu-ray products a copy of the original trilogy.

Panasonic’s David Preece described the arrival of Star Wars on Blu-ray as “very important, a turning point in the Blu-ray format.”

Actors Anthony Daniel and Jeremy Bulloch were joined for the Q&A by associate producer Robert Watts and stunt co-ordinator Nick Gillard.

Daniels, who played C3PO in all six films, said the franchise was “part of our culture: and described himself as ‘very proud to be a part of it”.

Bulloch, the man behind bounty hunter Boba Fett said “not a day goes by without the films being mentioned” to him.

Robert Watts told fans, some of whom had flown in from as far as Australia especially for the event, he wished 20th Century Fox had “the foresight to see what they had and give us more time” on the first film.

The first Star Wars film – episode 4 in the six-part series – premiered in 1977.

Asked about the future success of the Star Wars brand, Daniels noted that animated spin-off Clone Wars “appeals to children who have  never seen Star Wars” and predicted the films’ allure would hold strong “for a fourth generation” of fans.

Star Wars is released on Blu-ray next month. Pre-order your copy today.

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