‘Rogue One’ Surpasses ‘Suicide Squad’ in Weekly Social Buzz
But Warner Bros. title remains overall social media champ, according to comScore’s PreAct results
Meriah Doty | July 18, 2016 @ 4:09 PM
Last Updated: July 18, 2016 @ 4:48 PM
Lucasfilm
There’s no doubt the new preview for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” lit the internet on fire. And now we have the numbers to prove it.
With all the news about “Rogue One” that dropped during Star Wars Celebration Europe late last week, the upcoming Lucasfilm movie has now surpassed Warner Bros.’ “Suicide Squad” in total volume of social media chatter, according to comScore’s PreAct measurement tool.
“Suicide Squad” held the top spot for two weeks in a row prior to “Rogue One” unseating the comic book anti-hero movie, which inspired 160,393 new conversations on social media last week (July 11–17). The “Squad” conversation count was at 112,572.
But when it comes to total number of conversations, the movie featuring Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto remains the reigning champ at 1.6 million conversations. “Rogue One” has yet to crack a million with a total of 928,764 conversations so far.
But hey, the Lucasfilm movie has plenty of more time — 152 days to be exact — to keep fans buzzing, whereas “Suicide Squad” enters theaters in a mere 19 days.
Other titles that have people talking are Paramount’s “Star Trek Beyond,” out this weekend, and Universal’s “Jason Bourne” (see chart below).
Aside from new footage and a poster for “Rogue One,” factors that moved the needle last week include the fact that “Bourne” was in the news for multiple reasons: Matt Damon said he’d rather play that character than “misogynistic” James Bond; Lena Dunham publicly protested the guns in the movie’s posters; Damon said there may be a fifth “Bourne” movie; and a new teaser trailer and poster dropped on the 13th.
Here are three more things, according to comScore, that got people tweeting, sharing, and posting last week:
- Tyler Perry‘s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” released a new trailer on July 15 and a movie poster on July 13.
– “Power Rangers” published its official movie image and character posters on July 14.
– “Wonder Woman” released exclusive photos of Gal Gadot in character on July 15. It was also announced on July 11 that “Wonder Woman” will part of the Warner Bros. presentation at Comic-Con.
'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story': Everything We Know So Far (Photos)
As we bask in the glow of new footage for "Rogue One" from Star Wars Celebration Europe, it can be easy to lose track of the big picture. So let's take a step back and rundown the basics of what we know of the standalone flick from director Gareth Edwards.
"Rogue One" is the first ever standalone film in the "Star Wars" universe -- with the seven previous live-action movies being part of the numbered saga of episodes, and the animated "Clone Wars" movie kicking off a TV show. These standalone films will all carry the subtitle "A Star Wars Story."
It's set just before the events of "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope," and will lead right up to that start of that film. In fact, the movie was inspired by the opening crawl on "A New Hope," which describes rebel spies stealing the Death Star plans during the Rebellion's first major victory against the Empire.
It's about a ragtag group of soldiers sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance who are commissioned to steal the plans for the original Death Star. They're led by Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), pictured.
Many of the protagonist characters aren't traditional "Star Wars" hero types, as befits a Dirty Dozen-style band of outlaws. Riz Ahmed's Bodhi Rook is defector from the Empire. Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrara is a bitter and angry rebel. Wen Jiang's Baze Malbus has a really big gun and loves to shoot it. And Alan Tudyk is playing a mean droid (pictured).
There are no Bothan spies in "Rogue One" because they stole the plans to the second Death Star, the one from "Return of the Jedi," not this one.
Darth Vader is gonna be in it, and he will once again be voiced by James Earl Jones. We still haven't seen him, as far as we know, in widely available footage, though at Star Wars Celebration Europe, attendees of the "Rogue One" presentation were treated to exclusive footage that did show the Sith Lord.
There will be other sights and characters from the original "Star Wars" trilogy -- Rebel leader Mon Mothma, the base at Yavin IV and the inside of the Death Star.
And plenty of unfamiliar sights, as well. For one thing, Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) leads a specialized group of stormtroopers known as death troopers.
We also get some scenery that's completely different from any we've seen in "Star Wars" on the planet Scarif. Shot in the Maldives. The stormtroopers in the scenes on Scarif are mostly played by members of the Maldives army, none of whom knew anything about "Star Wars."
It's more of a regular war movie, with a more gritty and grounded visual style and tone, than the rest of the "Star Wars" movies, which have traditionally had more of an adventure feel.
The visual style in particular is completely distinct from the previous "Star Wars" films. The boots-on-the-ground sort of look of his films is one reason Kathleen Kennedy wanted to hire director Gareth Edwards for the job -- he shoots his movies very differently than directors have shot "Star Wars" in the past.
The Rebel Alliance has not yet fully formed yet in this movie -- Forest Whitaker's character, Saw Gerrara, leads one of several disparate rebel groups that are coming together to form this alliance.
"Rogue One" will also be the first "Star Wars" movie not scored by John Williams, as Alexandre Desplat is composing the music this time out.
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We already have a pretty good look at the big picture, thanks in part to Friday’s presentation at Star Wars Celebration
As we bask in the glow of new footage for "Rogue One" from Star Wars Celebration Europe, it can be easy to lose track of the big picture. So let's take a step back and rundown the basics of what we know of the standalone flick from director Gareth Edwards.
