World News for Students of English

21-08-2015 15:00

“Star Wars” is being transported from a galaxy far, far away to California and Florida after Disney announced plans to bring the celebrated film franchise to life at two of its theme parks. The announcement of “Star Wars” lands, made by Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger comes as fans gear up for the December release of “The Force Awakens”, the opening film in a new “Star Wars” trilogy.

The 14-acre lands at Anaheim and Orlando will introduce a new planet from the intergalactic film saga. The project will feature two new rides, including one where participants take control of the Millennium Falcon spaceship, as well as the Cantina, the infamous hub of rogue smugglers and traders in the films.

Speaking at the the Disney fan convention, D23 Expo, director of “The Force Awakens”, J.J. Abrams, said he couldn’t imagine a Star Wars land without the Millennium Falcon.

“Well, you know I think that Bob nailed it by having, by announcing a Millennium Falcon experience because as much as we could all name a bunch of things and places we’d like to go and things we’d like to see, the Falcon is, I think even more than the lightsaber, maybe the most iconic piece of hardware in the Star Wars universe, and so I think it would be hard to imagine a Star Wars land that didn’t have something that involved the flight of the Falcon.”

Construction of the “Star Wars” will begin at Disneyland in California in 2017, while a start date for Disney World in Florida hasn’t been set yet.

Disney didn’t comment on costs but the company spent 1 billion dollars to build a 12-acre Cars Land that debuted in California in 2012 and now will open a 5.5 billion dollar theme park in Shanghai next year.

Difficult words: announce (to say something officially), to bring to life (to make an idea real), franchise (a series of films and products), saga (a long story in books or movies), feature (to have), infamous (well known for something bad), hub (the centre), rogue (a person who does not follow laws), nail it (to do something successfully), bunch (a lot), lightsaber (an electronic sword from the “Star Wars” movies), universe (the place where a story exists), debut (to be shown to the public).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com