Star Wars has forced its way back on the big screens with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the second most popular movie of 2016.
On December 16, 2016, opening day, movie tickets sales were shooting to the stars with $155M sold, putting this story in the top ten for most tickets sold on opening night.

The movie tells the story of scientist Galen Erso, who lives on a farm with his wife and daughter Jyn. One day the evil Orson Krennic takes their peaceful life away by taking Erso away from his family. Years later, Erso becomes the Empire’s lead engineer for the Death Star (the most powerful weapon in the galaxy).
Jyn comes to the realization that her father is working with the most destructive thing in the galaxy and joins forces with a spy and resistance fighters to steal the plans of the space station for the Rebel Alliance.
English teacher Timothy Hare was surprised with the outcome of this new Star Wars movie.
“I liked it. I was surprised by a couple of things, especially with it being Star Wars,” said Hare. “The ending was very surprising, and I liked how it all tied in right with the next episode. It was a solid pace and had enough action to keep it going.”
Playing Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher passed away on December 27, 2016, shortly after the movie was released.
Fisher was rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack on a plane. Four days later, she passed away in the hospital at age 60.

December 28, 2016, one day following Fisher’s death, her mother Debbie Reynolds also passed away after being sent to the hospital for a severe stroke.
Her last words were, “I just want to be with Carrie.”
Human Geography teacher Matthew Amberman feels sadness for the family having to deal with both deaths just a day apart from each other.
“I think Debbie Reynolds was in frail health with Carrie dying, and it caused her a lot of stress. So after being taken to the hospital, she didn’t want to fight for her life because she just wanted to be with Carrie,” said Amberman. “In any case, death is just a sad thing, and they were both great actors. It’s a lot to deal with.”
This new Star Wars movie will be played as a tribute to the death of Carrie Fisher, making more of her fans want to go see the movie.

Senior Michael Koval was a fan of all of Fisher’s work and expresses his feelings on the movie and how well the actors did.
“I thought it was great and better than episode 7. The beginning was hard to grasp at first but throughout it became a lot more clear,” said Koval. “It was a pretty solid pace. I thought all the actors did great like they usually do, especially the originals like Carrie Fisher.”
Even with the death of Fisher, the Stars Wars collection is still moving forward in the creation of another movie coming out in 2017.