'Jaw-dropping, gripping, unpredictable, insane': Twitter reacts to Star Wars: The Last Jedi as it's billed 'best movie since Empire'

The Force is strong with this one.

The first reviews are in for Star Wars: The Last Jedi - and everybody is blown away. The world premiere of the eighth chapter in the Skywalker saga, directed by Rian Johnson, took place in Hollywood on Saturday night.

Not all of Kylo Ren's secrets will be revealed

By Nick Cavicchio

Of the new characters introduced to the 'Star Wars' mythos in 'The Force Awakens', Kylo Ren has proven thus far proven to be one of the more compelling. Despite some controversies relating to his characterization to date (many fan parodies have cast Ren as, effectively, an emo kid with a lightsaber), his backstory is rich with unanswered questions, and thus, with storytelling potential.

With both Ren and Luke Skywalker expected to feature heavily in 'The Last Jedi', it stands to reason that the complicated and tragic history between the two men will be addressed in some form or fashion. But while that may be the case, Adam Driver has suggested to Screen Rant that a good deal of his character's backstory will remain shrouded in mystery, at least for the time being:

'Star Wars' box office: 'Last Jedi' has a key advantage over 'Force Awakens'

Well, this is interesting. Morning Consult, a privately-held technology and media company specializing in online survey and market research, just dropped a bunch of poll results around the Star Wars movies. You can read the results on their actual page, but I wanted to point out one very interesting nugget. To the extent that the 2,200 adults polled in the survey represent a national consensus, Princess Leia is the most popular character, followed by Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Yoda, RD-D2 and only then Han Solo.

Yes, there is a clear preference for the original trilogy and original trilogy characters, to the point where John Boyega's Finn is the highest rated Force Awakens/Rogue One character at 13th place, while Daisy Ridley's Rey is less popular than Boba Fett. But let's look at those top

14 things we learned about 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

The cast and creators of Star Wars: The Last Jedi had a whole lot to say in our new cover story - from writer/director Rian Johnson's revelation that he considered making Luke Skywalker blind to Adam Driver's confession of total emo ignorance to Daisy Ridley's declaration that she was done with the saga after the next movie (she's since attempted to walk that one back). But our in-depth interviews for the article yielded even more revelations that didn't quite fit. Here's what we learned.

1. J.J. Abrams couldn't resist returning for Episode IX, out in 2019. "I had no intention to return," says Abrams, who directed 2015's The Force Awakens. "But when the opportunity presented itself to finish a story that we had begun with these new characters, to tell the last chapter of their story, it fel

Knights of the Old Republic won't be Rian Johnson's new Star Wars Trilogy

While Johnson himself is a huge fan of the two Knights of the Old Republic games and understands that fans of the series would love to see it adapted for the big screen, the director recently told Mashable he doesn't believe their story would really be compelling enough to warrant a trilogy. Like many filmmakers presented with the chance to grab ahold of a franchise like Star Wars, Johnson's far more interested in doing his own thing.

Millennial moviegoers most excited for 'Star Wars,' 'Jumanji'

The movie business has long been worried that it suffers from an aging customer base, with younger viewers abandoning multiplexes for the pleasures and convenience of Netflix or video games.

A new study by Fandango, an online ticketer that admittedly does have a dog in this fight, indicates that so-called millennials, customers between the ages of 18 to 34, are planning to turn out in force at cinemas this holiday season. They'll be lured there by new amenities such as recliners, as well as a series of yuletide blockbuster hopefuls that include "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle."

This free science fiction anthology is all about the future of space exploration

There's been a growing movement within the science fiction community to imagine the future as something other than a dreary dystopia. That's what Arizona State University is doing with a new digital anthology called Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A Collection of Space Futures.

When 'Star Wars' came to California: Documents reveal history behind original film

Director George Lucas filmed much of the 1977 blockbuster "Star Wars" in North Africa and the U.K., but to get one of the key shots in the film, the production turned to Death Valley National Park in California.

The reason? Lucas needed an elephant.

Pulp science-fiction? How Quentin Tarantino could save Star Trek

If you were to draw up a shortlist of likely directors for the next Star Trek movie, auteurish cinephile, renowned grump and all-round cuss-enthusiast Quentin Tarantino would probably not be on it. And yet we may be plotting a course towards exactly that. QT has pitched a Trek idea to producer JJ Abrams, who is so impressed that he's going to assemble a writers' room to hammer it out. Tarantino could feasibly direct.

'Frankenstein Dreams': When Sci-fi lumbered into the Victorian Era

Victorian Science Fiction with a quote that is probably as true now as it was in 1818: "Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."

Star Wars lightsabre lamps will help you get hyped for 'The Last Jedi'

With all the new Star Wars swag you've been adding to your collection in time for The Last Jedi, you'll definitely want to add a little mood lighting to your room with these desktop lightsaber lamps for 56% off.

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Daisy Ridley says she won't play Rey anymore after 'Star Wars: Episode IX'

By Dave Trumbore, Collider

Daisy Ridley returns as Rey in Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi", bringing her feisty, Force-wielding character back in a big way. But "Star Wars" fans better enjoy the on-screen moments with Ridley's Rey while they can, because after the concluding chapter of the current trilogy, she's probably done with the franchise.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Supreme Leader Snoke is not a Sith Lord

By Bryan Abrams

You'd have been forgiven for assuming that Supreme Leader Snoke, played by Andy Serkis, was a Sith Lord. While we only saw him in holographic form in The Force Awakens, it was made crystal clear he was the man-er, being-in charge.

Exploring the Skelligs: Irish islands feel the Force

By Wes Little, CNN

Cinematic even before you add the Millennium Falcon. You can see why "Star Wars" producers chose Skellig Michael as a location in a galaxy far, far away.The small rocky island sits about 8 miles off the southwest coast of Ireland. It hosts a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an ancient Christian monastery famous for its architecture consisting of stone "beehive" huts built without mortar.

Netflix releases trailer for 'Black Museum,' ahead of 'Black Mirror' season four

Netflix has released the trailer for 'Black Mirror' season four episode titled 'Black Museum.' The intriguing and dark series that has been likened to a modern day 'Twilight Zone' has fans eagerly waiting for the next installment, even though Netflix has yet to announce the season's official premiere date.

Is it possible that even those responsible for 'Star Wars: the last Jedi' don't know who Rey's parents are?

It seems that even the star and director of 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' don't know the answer to what is possibly the new trilogy's biggest mystery: who are Rey's parents? Filmgoers witnessed a young Rey being abandoned on the desert planet Jakku. Obviously, her folks aren't some random, never-before-seen nobodies.

We just got the most detailed description yet on the new billion dollar Star Wars land coming to Disney World

By Ken Storey

The Orange County Register, a highly respected Southern California newspaper, posted a lengthy analysis of the newly public permit plans for the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge that Disney shared with the City of Anaheim. Disney is currently building two nearly identical 14-acre Star Wars lands, one in California at Disneyland and one here in Florida at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Each is estimated to cost well north of a $1 billion. The details that the OC Register shared regarding the new land can be assumed to be accurate for the one here in Florida with a few exceptions, most notably the LARPing-focused Star Wars hotel that has been announced for Disney World.

Stormtroopers invade the Sage as the Star Wars Spectacular delights the audience

With next month's release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, what better time to reprise all the unforgettable musical themes which have helped to create the cinema legend over the past 40 years?

John Williams, the multi-award-winning American composer, is credited with reviving the use of a full orchestral score to support on-screen action.
What Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner and Erich Korngold did in the 20th Century 'Golden Age of Hollywood', Williams carried on. His music for the Star Wars adventures is arguably his finest work.

Meet `Oumuamua, the strange interstellar asteroid that sent us a message

In the classic 1973 Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel "Rendezvous With Rama," a mysterious object is detected outside the orbit of Jupiter as it rapidly approaches the inner solar system. Traveling at high speed and on a hyperbolic trajectory, the object is obviously not from our solar system; it's from interstellar space.

Virtual reality boom brings giant robots, cyberpunk castles to China

Giant robots and futuristic cyberpunk castles rise out of lush mountain slopes on the outskirts of Guiyang, the capital of one of China's poorest provinces.
Welcome to China's first virtual reality theme park, which aims to ride a boom in demand for virtual entertainment that is set to propel tenfold growth in the country's virtual reality market, to hit almost $8.5 billion by 2020.

The 330-acre (134-hectare) park in southwestern Guizhou province promises 35 virtual reality attractions, from shoot-'em-up games and virtual rollercoasters to tours with interstellar aliens of the region's most scenic spots.

How did you get into Star Wars?

By Joe Tonelli

At some point or another, we were all bitten by the Star Wars bug-er-sandflea. We were dragged to a theater by a cool uncle, handed an N64 controller to play Star Wars Episode I: Pod Racer (let's be kind to those whose first exposure may not have been the original trilogy), or just caught a marathon over Thanksgiving weekend.

Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi isn't an homage and pushes the franchise forward, says director Rian Johnson

Fun though Star Wars: The Force Awakens was, it felt like a bit of a retelling of the original Star Wars films and relied a lot on big reveals of beloved established characters.

Director Rian Johnson has taken care to avoid this with his sequel, The Last Jedi, however, which is more about "pushing everything forward."

Star Wars: Princes William and Harry are stormtroopers in The Last Jedi

Princes William and Harry have cameo roles as stormtroopers in the next Star Wars film, actor John Boyega has said. The royals visited the set of The Last Jedi in April 2016 and were rumoured to have filmed a scene in disguise.

Now Boyega, who plays reformed stormtrooper Finn, has confirmed that he shared a scene with the pair "wrapped in stormtroopers costumes."

The troublesome universe of 'Valiant Dust'

They say that all science fiction stories are tales of today, dolled up with ray guns and spaceships to make them more palatable. That they're all muddled messes of our modern politics and current fears, our hopes for distant sweet endings cut with the arsenic cynicism of actually living in the present moment.

And that's probably true, if only because no science fiction writer (with the arguable exceptions of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick) can really see into the future. Richard Baker's newest novel, Valiant Dust, is no exception. As a matter of fact, it is possibly one of the most thoroughly today-ish novels I have ever read - all starships, warp torpedoes and faraway worlds serving as only the gauziest scrim to cover a story which is very much about our current moment in history.

Let the 'Force' bring you to UW-Parkside

By Lee B. Roberts

The "Force" is set to return to movie theaters across the country Dec. 15 when "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" - the latest installment in the "Star Wars" film saga - opens. In preparation for that much-anticipated release, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside is hosting a series of free, public events celebrating the cultural phenomenon that is "Star Wars."

Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper have often met in fiction, though only one of them is real

A fictional super-detective and a notorious real-life serial killer walk into a bar together..." I don't know if crime buffs have yet thought up a joke that begins with that line, but this gin joint would likely be in London's poverty-drenched East End in the 1880s: the sort of place where shady characters might drop in for a peg or pint at any time, even 7 AM, to ward off the cold and other miseries. And the carousing sleuth and murderer would be Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper, respectively.

'Doctor Who' Christmas Special clip shows the first doctor hating the modern Tardis

It's difficult to believe that we're only barely more than a month away from Peter Capaldi's final episode as The Doctor.

For the past few years, Doctor Who episodes have been heavily rationed, with tiny slivers of deliciousness eeked out, sometimes once a year, as fans desperately wait for more. This year, we got a full season of the show, and now we're almost upon the traditional annual Christmas extravaganza, which shows up every December 25th.

A Harry Potter-inspired potions class with 'magic' working wands, bubbling cauldrons, and colour-changing alcohol is coming to London in 2018

* A "Magical Cocktail Experience" is coming to London in March 2018.
* Guests will create their own drinkable potions using a wand.
* The people behind it also plan to open a Harry Potter-inspired pub.

The team who are planning to launch London's first 'magical' Harry Potter-inspired pub - The Cauldron - have another more imminent surprise in store for fantasy fans.

A company is making 3D printing of human body parts a reality

3D bioprinting is already being used to create cartilage and skin cells to test cosmetics. It may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but a technique to 3D print body parts using ink that contains human cells is being developed by a Swedish firm.

Cellink uses a process known as 3D bioprinting that uses cell-laden bio-ink to create and grow human tissues and organs.