161-584: Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. She first appeared in the 1999 film The Phantom Menace as the teenage queen of the fictional planet Naboo . In the following two films of the prequel trilogy , Padmé becomes a member of the Galactic Senate and secretly marries Anakin Skywalker , a Jedi Knight . Anakin's fear of losing Padmé drives him toward the dark side of
322-494: A DVD column, film reviews and trends, and a travel supplement called Destinations & Diversions (section D). The international edition of the paper features two sections: News and Money in one, and Sports and Life in the other. Atypical of most daily newspapers, the paper does not print on Saturdays and Sundays; the Friday edition serves as the weekend edition. USA Today has published special Saturday and Sunday editions in
483-431: A " McPaper " or "television you can wrap fish in", because it opted to incorporate concise nuggets of information more akin to the style of television news , rather than in-depth stories like traditional newspapers, which many in the newspaper industry considered to be a dumbing down of content. Although USA Today had been profitable for just ten years as of 1997, it changed the appearance and feel of newspapers around
644-434: A 10-episode adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back debuted in 1983. Billy Dee Williams joined the other two stars, reprising his role as Lando Calrissian. In 1983, Buena Vista Records released an original, 30-minute Star Wars audio drama titled Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell , written by Daley. In the 1990s, Time Warner Audio Publishing adapted several Star Wars series from Dark Horse Comics into audio dramas:
805-547: A cleaner style. On September 14, 2012, USA Today underwent the first major redesign in its history, in commemoration for the 30th anniversary of the paper's first edition. Developed in conjunction with brand design firm Wolff Olins , the print edition of USA Today added a page covering technology stories, expanded travel coverage within the Life section, and increased the number of color pages included in each edition, while retaining longtime elements. The "globe" logo used since
966-702: A great part in USA Today 's long-standing reputation for "fluff", but after its 30th anniversary revamp, the paper took a more active stance on political issues, calling for stronger gun laws after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. It heavily criticized the Republican Party for both the 2013 government shutdown and the 2015 revolts in the United States House of Representatives that ended with
1127-513: A handmaiden, Padmé meets the nine-year-old slave boy Anakin Skywalker. She witnesses him win a podrace that both aids her mission to Coruscant and secures his freedom. She and Anakin bond during their journey from Tatooine to Coruscant. Padmé consults with Senator Palpatine , who encourages her to appeal to the Senate to resolve Naboo's conflict with the Federation. Palpatine, who is secretly
1288-448: A hologram recorded by R2-D2 of Anakin informing Padmé of his vision of her death in childbirth. This is the first time Luke sees an image of his mother. Another hologram depicts a conversation between Padmé and Obi-Wan, and allows Luke and Leia to hear their mother's name for the first time. In the final novel of the trilogy, The Swarm War , Luke and Leia see Padmé's death and their own births. The animated television series Clone Wars
1449-430: A master and their apprentice. The franchise is set against a backdrop of galactic conflict involving republics and empires, such as the evil Galactic Empire . The Jedi and Sith prefer the use of a weapon called the lightsaber , a blade of plasma that can cut through virtually any surface and deflect energy bolts. The rest of the population, as well as renegades and soldiers, use plasma-powered blaster firearms . In
1610-472: A mixed reception from critics and audiences. Several Star Wars films have been produced separately from the Skywalker Saga. In 2008, Lucasfilm released the animated film The Clone Wars , which is set during the prequel trilogy and serves as the theatrical pilot of the television series of the same name . Following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, an "anthology" film series set between
1771-614: A noble of her stature would be constantly changing her wardrobe depending on the occasion. He decided that every time the queen appeared in The Phantom Menace , she would be wearing a different costume. The resulting wardrobe was influenced by fashions from Japan, Mongolia, Tibet and other countries. For Attack of the Clones (2002), Lucas wanted Padmé's garb to reflect the romantic storyline. He requested that her costumes be "skimpy" and "sultry". Padmé's garments were displayed at
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#17327980877461932-616: A pilot episode for the television series of the same name. While Anakin and his apprentice Ahsoka Tano search for Jabba the Hutt 's son Rotta, Padmé meets Ziro the Hutt to convince him to side with the Jedi. After Ziro forcibly removes Padmé, she escapes and eavesdrops on his communication with Count Dooku and the Separatists about an elaborate scheme to kill Rotta, frame the Jedi for his murder and force Jabba to attempt revenge, leaving Ziro as
2093-419: A reorganization of its newsroom, announcing the layoffs of 130 staffers. It also announced that the paper would shift its focus away from print and place more emphasis on its digital platforms (including USAToday.com and its related mobile applications ) and launch of a new publication called USA Today Sports . On January 24, 2011, to reverse a revenue slide, the paper introduced a tweaked format that modified
2254-512: A rundown of winning numbers from the previous deadline date for all participating state lotteries and individual multi-state lotteries. Some traditions have been retained. The lead story still appears on the upper-right side of the front page. Commentary and political cartoons occupy the last few pages of the News section. Stock and mutual fund data are presented in the Money section. But USA Today
2415-411: A second cover story within the second section. Each section is differentiated by a certain color in a box on the top-left corner of the first page; the principal section colors are blue for News (section A), green for Money (section B), red for Sports (section C), and purple for Life (section D); in the paper's early years, the Life and Money sections were also assigned blue nameplates and spot colors, as
2576-590: A senator, she helps liberate a number of slaves on Tatooine, but is unable to free Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker. The novel also explores relationships Padmé has with Rush Clovis, Captain Typho , Captain Panaka , Bail Organa and Chancellor Palpatine. A prequel to Queen's Shadow , titled Queen's Peril (2020) takes place before and during The Phantom Menace . Queen's Hope (2022) chronicles events after Padmé's secret marriage to Anakin. Padmé also appears in flashbacks in
2737-572: A series of murders of Jedi Masters. The Star Wars canon fictional universe spans multiple eras, of which three are focused around each of the film trilogies. The following eras were defined in January 2021, and further refined and expanded in April 2023: The Expanded Universe of spin-off media depicts different levels of continuity, which were deemed non-canonical and rebranded as Legends on April 25, 2014, to make most subsequent works align to
2898-408: A snapshot in "Life" could show how many people tend to watch a certain genre of television show based upon their mood). These "Snapshots" graphs employ icons roughly pertaining to the graph's subject (using the example above, the graph's bars could be made up of several TV sets, or ended by one). Snapshots are loosely based on research by a national institute (with the credited source in fine print below
3059-442: A theme for Obi-Wan Kenobi for the miniseries and Han Solo's theme for Solo: A Star Wars Story . Williams also created the main theme for Galaxy's Edge . Several other composers worked on other soundtracks, including John Powell ( Obi-Wan Kenobi ), Michael Giacchino ( Rogue One ), and Ludwig Göransson ( The Mandalorian ). The first Star Wars audio work is The Story of Star Wars , an LP using audio samples from
3220-460: A third international printing site, based in Hong Kong . The international edition set circulation and advertising records during August 1988, with coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics , selling more than 60,000 copies and 100 pages of advertising. By July 1991, Simmons Market Research Bureau estimated that USA Today had a total daily readership of nearly 6.6 million, an all-time high and
3381-448: A write-in candidate for president; or to focus on Senate, House and other down-ballot political races. In February 2018, USA Today published an op-ed by Jerome Corsi , the DC bureau chief for the fringe conspiracy website InfoWars . Corsi, a prominent conspiracy theorist , was described by USA Today as an "author" and "investigative journalist". Corsi was a prominent proponent of
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#17327980877463542-534: Is "Weather Focus", a graphic which explains various meteorological phenomena. On some days, the Weather Focus could be a photo of a rare meteorological event. On business holidays or days when bonus sections are included in the issue, the Money and Life sections are usually combined into one section, while combinations of the Friday Life editions into one section are common during quiet weeks. Advertising
3703-514: Is common due to lightspeed hyperspace technology. The planets range from wealthy, planet-wide cities to deserts scarcely populated by primitive tribes. Virtually any Earth biome , along with many fictional ones, has its counterpart as a Star Wars planet which, in most cases, teem with sentient and non-sentient alien life. The franchise also makes use of other astronomical objects such as asteroid fields and nebulae . Spacecraft range from small starfighters to large capital ships, such as
3864-476: Is concerned with Palpatine's calls for public surveillance and restrictions on freedom of movement and action. Padmé is confident that Palpatine will relinquish his power when the crisis is over. Padmé appears in stories set after the events of the original trilogy as holograms and flashbacks. The Joiner King (2005), the first book in the Dark Nest trilogy , is set 35 years after Star Wars. Luke discovers
4025-494: Is dedicated to ending her planet's occupation by the Trade Federation . She negotiates with Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray , who attempts to force her to sign a treaty which would legitimize the Federation's occupation. Padmé escapes from Naboo with the help of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi . On the way to Coruscant , they are forced to land on Tatooine to repair their ship. Disguised as
4186-660: Is distributed in all 50 states , Washington, D.C. , and Puerto Rico , and an international edition is distributed in Asia , Canada , Europe , and the Pacific Islands . USA Today was first conceived on February 29, 1980, when a company task force known as "Project NN" met with the then-chairman of Gannett , Al Neuharth , in Cocoa Beach, Florida . Early regional prototypes of USA Today included East Bay Today , an Oakland, California -based publication published in
4347-481: Is elected queen, and contacts Palpatine to inform him that Veruna has been mysteriously killed. She and Palpatine discuss the events that lead to the Trade Federation blockade of Naboo. Literature also focuses on Padmé's career as the monarch of Naboo. The young-adult novel Star Wars Episode I Journal: Amidala (1999) depicts Padmé narrowly escaping the Trade Federation. The Queen's Amulet (1999) explores
4508-772: Is impossible for the Force. These superpowers are wielded by two major knightly orders at conflict with each other: the Jedi , peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic who act on the light side of the Force through non-attachment and arbitration , and the Sith , who use the dark side by manipulating fear and aggression. While Jedi Knights can be numerous, the Dark Lords of the Sith (or 'Darths') are intended to be limited to two:
4669-455: Is mentioned briefly, however, in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi , the final film of the original trilogy . In the film, Leia tells Luke that she has faint memories of her mother. Lucas has explained that although he created a backstory for the mother while writing the original trilogy, it did not make it into the films. He wanted her to be mentioned in Return of the Jedi , however, because he
4830-729: Is often covered in the Monday Money section, with a review of a recent television ad, and after Super Bowl Sunday , a review of the ads aired during the broadcast with the results of the Ad Track live survey. Stock tables for individual stock exchanges (comprising one subsection for companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange , and another for companies trading on NASDAQ and the American Stock Exchange ) and mutual indexes were discontinued with
4991-563: Is part of the Legends universe. Padmé appears in eight chapters of the series, which aired on Cartoon Network from 2003 to 2005. She is secluded on Coruscant and maintains correspondence with Anakin while he is fighting in the Clone Wars. In one chapter, Padmé is traveling with Yoda when he senses a disturbance in the Force coming from the planet Ilum . Despite Captain Typho's protest, she helps Yoda rescue Jedi Master Luminara Unduli and
Padmé Amidala - Misplaced Pages Continue
5152-484: Is revealed in Legends novels and comics. In the 2000 comic "A Summer's Dream" from Star Wars Tales 5 , Padmé is the Princess of Theed, Naboo's capital city. A young man named Ian Lago falls in love with her, but she places her civic duty over her personal happiness and rejects him. In the novel Cloak of Deception (2001), Naboo's King Veruna is forced to abdicate the throne following accusations of corruption. Padmé
5313-512: Is still "good" in Vader. After Padmé is given an elaborate funeral on Naboo, her twins are separated and hidden from the Empire. Leia is sent to Alderaan to be raised by Senator Bail Organa and his wife Breha . Obi-Wan brings Luke to Tatooine, where he will be raised by Vader's stepbrother Owen Lars and his wife Beru . Padmé appears in the 2008 animated film The Clone Wars , which serves as
5474-403: Is sufficiently different in aesthetics to be recognized on sight, even in a mix of other newspapers, such as at a newsstand . The overall design and layout of USA Today have been described as neo-Victorian . On most of the sections' front pages, in the lower left-hand corner, are "USA Today Snapshots" graphs, which offer statistics on lifestyle interests according to the section (for example,
5635-506: Is the cover page feature "Newsline", which shows summarized descriptions of headline stories featured in all four main sections and any special sections. As a national newspaper, USA Today cannot focus on the weather for any one city. Therefore, the entire back page of the News section is used for weather maps of the continental United States , Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands , as well as temperature lists for many cities throughout
5796-425: Is voiced by Catherine Taber. In the series The Clone Wars , Padmé is again voiced by Taber. Padmé is mostly working in the Senate towards a peaceful resolution to the Clone Wars, although a few episodes show her fighting the Separatists alongside Anakin, Ahsoka and Jar Jar Binks. In several episodes she associates with her old colleague Rush Clovis , which causes Anakin to become jealous. Taber also voices Padmé in
5957-538: The Jedi Academy trilogy (1994) by Kevin J. Anderson , the 14-book Young Jedi Knights series (1995–1998) by Anderson and Rebecca Moesta , and the X-wing series (1996–2012) by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston . Del Rey took over Star Wars book publishing in 1999, releasing what would become a 19-installment novel series called The New Jedi Order (1999–2003). Written by multiple authors,
6118-559: The Land of Oz series of novels. Lucas, who both wrote and directed the film, wanted to cast a performer who displayed strength comparable to that of Leia, who is a central character in the original trilogy. The filmmakers auditioned over two hundred actresses for the role before selecting Natalie Portman, who was sixteen at the time. One of the concept artists, Iain McCaig , said Portman exhibited vulnerability and strength akin to Ozma. Portman
6279-709: The San Francisco Chronicle offered a less critical appraisal, describing Portman's portrayal in Revenge of the Sith as "decorative and sympathetic". Despite the criticism, Portman's performances in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith earned her nominations for the Saturn Award for Best Actress . Padmé makes her first appearance in The Phantom Menace (1999) as the recently elected fourteen-year-old queen of Naboo. She
6440-531: The 1984 United States presidential election , USA Today did not endorse candidates for the President of the United States or any other state or federal political office, a policy which has been re-evaluated during each four-year election cycle by the paper's Board of Contributors through an independent process, with any decision to override the policy based on a consensus vote in which fewer than two of
6601-442: The 2008 series of the same name . Following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, all animated series released prior to 2014, apart from the 2008 series, were discarded from the franchise's canon . Subsequent animated series include Rebels , released in 2014; Resistance , released in 2018; and The Bad Batch , released in 2021. Several micro-series and shorts have also been released by Lucasfilm since Disney's acquisition, with
Padmé Amidala - Misplaced Pages Continue
6762-656: The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles in 2005, and at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2018. Portman's performance in the prequel films was criticized in a number of reviews. James Berardinelli called her acting in The Phantom Menace "lackluster," while Annlee Ellingson of Box Office Magazine said her delivery was "stiff and flat, perhaps hindered by the gorgeous but cumbersome costumes." In his review of Attack of
6923-687: The Journal Media Group , gradually began identifying themselves as part of the USA Today Network (foregoing use of the Gannett name outside of requisite ownership references) through early January 2016. In the late 2010s, as the print run declined, Gannett pulled back from the extensive and expensive distribution network, opting to have shorter deadlines, and printing the remaining copies from fewer facilities while potentially trucking them longer distances to still be available in
7084-533: The Lafayette, Louisiana -based Advertiser being the first newspapers outside of the pilot program participants to add the supplement on December 15), citing "positive feedback" to the feature from readers and advertisers of the initial four papers. Gannett was given permission from the Alliance for Audited Media to count the circulation figures from the syndicated local insert with the total circulation count for
7245-463: The New Republic era, serving as the climax of the various live-action television series that began with The Mandalorian in 2019. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will direct a third film about a new Jedi Order, set fifteen years after the sequel trilogy. In January 2024, it was announced that Jon Favreau would direct a new Star Wars film, titled The Mandalorian & Grogu . In February of
7406-550: The Padawan Barriss Offee . In another chapter of the series, she is thrilled by Anakin's graduation to Jedi Knight, and stores his Padawan braid with the necklace he gave her when they first met. Grey DeLisle voices Padmé in the series. Padmé Amidala in the StarWars.com Databank Star Wars Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas , which began with
7567-466: The Republic , the return of Luke as a Jedi Master (a role similar to that of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original trilogy), Luke's sister (not yet determined to be Leia), Han, Leia, R2-D2 and C-3PO . However, after beginning work on the prequel trilogy, Lucas insisted that Star Wars was meant to be a six-part series and that there would be no sequel trilogy. Lucas decided to leave the franchise in
7728-578: The Russian invasion , and an article on sunscreen. Miranda resigned. USA Today is known for news in compact, easy-to-read-and-comprehend stories. In the main edition circulated in the United States and Canada , each edition consists of four sections: News (the "front page" section), Money, Sports, and Life. Since March 1998, the Friday edition of Life has been split into two sections: the regular Life focusing on entertainment (subtitled Weekend ; section E), which features television reviews and listings ,
7889-607: The September 11 attacks . That November, USA Today migrated its operations from Gannett's previous corporate headquarters in Arlington, Virginia , to the company's next headquarters in nearby McLean . The company moved it's headquarters to New York, NY in 2024. In 2004, Jack Kelley , a senior foreign correspondent for USA Today, was found to have fabricated foreign news reports over the past decade. Kelley resigned. On December 12, 2005, Gannett announced that it would combine
8050-476: The Sith . Although no longer canon, the story is paralleled in The Force Awakens with Han and Leia's son Ben Solo , who becomes the evil Kylo Ren. Three series set in the prequel era were published by Scholastic for younger audiences: the 18-book Jedi Apprentice (1999–2002) chronicles the adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master Qui-Gon Jinn in the years before The Phantom Menace ;
8211-521: The Sith Lord Darth Sidious, persuades her to make a motion to have Supreme Chancellor Valorum removed from office, which enables Palpatine to be elected in his place. Padmé returns to Naboo to fight for her planet's freedom, enlisting the aid of Jar Jar Binks and his Gungan tribe. The Gungans create a diversion to lure the Federation's droid armies away from the palace, which has been seized by Gunray. A small force led by Padmé enters
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#17327980877468372-480: The Star Destroyers , as well as space stations such as the moon-sized Death Stars . Telecommunication includes two-way audio and audiovisual screens, holographic projections, and hyperspace transmission. The universe of Star Wars is generally similar to the real universe but its laws of physics are less strict allowing for more imaginative stories. One result of that is a mystical power known as
8533-535: The Star Wars franchise when she was cast, and watched the original trilogy before filming began. Lucas has explained that galactic society in the prequel trilogy is more sophisticated than in the original trilogy. To illustrate this difference, the costumes in the prequels are more elaborate than those in the earlier films. Trisha Biggar, the costume designer for the prequel films, said there were only three costumes initially planned for Padmé. However, Lucas felt that
8694-574: The Super Bowl ) previously used the orange color, but later changed to the regular sports red in their sports bonus sections. To strengthen their association with USA Today , Gannett incorporated the USA Today color scheme into a standardized broadcast graphics package that was phased in across its television station group (which was spun-off in July 2015 into the separate broadcast and digital media company Tegna ) starting in late 2012. The package used
8855-565: The Thrawn trilogy, Leia considers an advantageous political marriage to Prince Isolder of the planet Hapes, but she and Han ultimately marry. Steve Perry 's Shadows of the Empire (1996), set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi , was part of a multimedia campaign that included a comic book series and video game. The novel introduced the crime lord Prince Xizor , another popular character who would appear in multiple other works. Other notable series from Bantam include
9016-411: The USA Today editorial page is the publication of opposing points of view: alongside the editorial board's piece on the day's topic runs an opposing view by a guest writer, often an expert in the field. The Board of Contributors, which is distinct from the paper's news staff, chooses the opinion pieces that appear in each edition. From 1999 to 2002 and again from 2004 to 2015, the editorial page editor
9177-563: The University of Southern California , licensed the Star Wars radio rights to KUSC-FM for US$ 1 . The production used John Williams's original film score, along with Ben Burtt 's sound effects. The first was written by science-fiction author Brian Daley and directed by John Madden . It was broadcast on National Public Radio in 1981, adapting the original 1977 film into 13 episodes. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprised their film roles. The overwhelming success, led to
9338-481: The eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media , including television series , video games , novels , comic books , theme park attractions , and themed areas , comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe . Star Wars is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The original 1977 film, retroactively subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope ,
9499-404: The false conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not a US citizen, and Infowars has promoted conspiracy theories such as 9/11 being an "inside job." In October 2018, USA Today was criticized by NBC News for publishing an editorial by President Trump that was replete with inaccuracies. The Washington Post fact-checker said that "almost every sentence contained a misleading statement or
9660-418: The 11-book Jedi Quest (2001–2004) follows Obi-Wan and his own apprentice, Anakin Skywalker in between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones ; and the 10-book The Last of the Jedi (2005–2008), set almost immediately after Revenge of the Sith , features Obi-Wan and the last few surviving Jedi. In 2019, a new prequel era novel, starring Qui-Gon and the young Obi-Wan, was published by Del Rey under
9821-552: The 2012 redesign due to the myriad electronic ways to check individual stock prices, in line with most newspapers. Book coverage, including reviews and a national sales chart which debuted on October 28, 1994, is seen on Thursdays in Life, with the full A.C. Nielsen television ratings chart printed on Wednesdays or Thursdays, depending on release. The paper also publishes the Mediabase survey for several genres of music based on radio airplay on Tuesdays, along with their own chart of
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#17327980877469982-593: The Clones , Mike Clark of USA Today complained about the performances of both Portman and Hayden Christensen , who portrays Anakin Skywalker. He wrote, "Both speak in monotone for doubly deadly effect, though when not burdened by his co-star, Christensen often finds the emotion in his limited intonations." Reviewing Revenge of the Sith , Ed Halter of The Village Voice said that "computer-generated characters like wheezing cyborg baddie General Grievous and blippeting fireplug R2-D2 ... emot[ed] more convincingly" than either Portman or Christensen. Mick LaSalle of
10143-535: The EU material until April 25, 2014, when the company announced all of the EU works would cease production. Existing works would no longer be considered canon to the franchise and subsequent reprints would be rebranded under the Star Wars Legends label, with downloadable content for the massively multiplayer online game The Old Republic the only Legends material to still be produced. The Star Wars canon
10304-408: The Force which is described in the original film as "an energy field created by all living things ... [that] binds the galaxy together". The field is depicted as a kind of pantheistic god. Through training and meditation, those whom "the Force is strong with" exhibit various superpowers (such as telekinesis , precognition , telepathy , and manipulation of physical energy); it is believed nothing
10465-401: The Force , which results in his transformation into Darth Vader. Padmé eventually dies after giving birth to the twins Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa . Natalie Portman portrays Padmé in all three prequel films. In addition to films, Padmé appears in animated series, novels, comics and video games. Padmé is introduced in The Phantom Menace (1999), the first film of the prequel trilogy. She
10626-622: The Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda . The ensuing battle marks the beginning of the Clone Wars . Afterwards, Padmé and Anakin are married in a secret ceremony on Naboo. It was a secret ceremony because it was against the Jedi Code for any jedi to get married. The only two 'people' that attended the wedding were C-3PO and R2-D2 . After they are married, they returned to Coruscant for a senate meeting that would change
10787-492: The Marvel magazine Pizzazz between 1977 and 1979. The 1977 installments were the first original Star Wars stories not directly adapted from the films to appear in print form, as they preceded those of the Star Wars comic series. From 1985 to 1987, the animated children's series Ewoks and Droids inspired comic series from Marvel's Star Comics line. According to Marvel Comics former Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter ,
10948-606: The Mobile Excellence award for Best User Experience, the MOBI award for Editorial Content, and Mobile Publisher of the Year. The USA Today site design was launched on desktop, mobile and TV throughout 2013 and 2014, although archive content accessible through search engines remains available through the pre-relaunch design. On October 6, 2013, Gannett test launched a condensed daily edition of USA Today (part of what
11109-526: The Presto platform. Developers built a separate platform to provide optimizations for mobile and touchscreen devices. The Gravity ad won Digiday's Best Publishing Innovation in Advertising in 2016, thanks to an 80% full-watch user engagement rate on desktop, and 96% on mobile. Following the relaunch, the editorial team behind USA Today Investigations ramped up its "longread" article plans, following
11270-489: The Separatists attempt to kill her. Obi-Wan and his apprentice Anakin are assigned to protect Padmé. Palpatine sends Padmé into hiding on Naboo, where she and Anakin struggle to maintain a platonic relationship despite their obvious mutual attraction. When Anakin has a vision of his mother in danger, Padmé accompanies him to Tatooine in a failed attempt to rescue Shmi from a band of Tusken Raiders . Anakin returns to Padmé with his mother's body and confesses that he slaughtered
11431-416: The U.S. and the world. Temperatures for individual cities on the primary forecast map and temperature lists are suffixed with a one- or two-letter code, such as "t" for thunderstorms , referencing the expected weather conditions. The colorized forecast map was created by staff designer George Rorick (who left USA Today for a similar position at The Detroit News in 1986) and was copied by newspapers around
11592-688: The USA Today Careers Network (now Careers.com), a website featuring localized employment listings, then on July 18, the USA Today News Center was launched as an interactive television news service developed through a joint venture with the On Command Corporation that was distributed to hotels around the United States. On September 12 of that year, the newspaper set an all-time single day circulation record, selling 3,638,600 copies for its edition covering
11753-602: The United States at its Hong Kong publishing facility; additional editorial bureaus were launched in London and Moscow in 1996. On April 17, 1995, USA Today launched its website to provide real-time news coverage; in June 2002, the site expanded to include a section providing travel information and booking tools. On August 28, 1995, a fifth international publishing site was launched in Frankfurt, Germany , to print and distribute
11914-543: The United States in October 2013. On September 3, 2014, USA Today announced that it would lay off roughly 70 employees in a restructuring of its newsroom and business operations. In October 2014, USA Today and OpenWager Inc. entered into a partnership to release a Bingo mobile app called USA Today Bingo Cruise. On December 3, 2015, Gannett formally launched the USA Today Network, a national digital newsgathering service providing shared content between USA Today and
12075-727: The announcement. Since the new canon has been introduced, there has been a multitude of pieces of Expanded Universe continuity that have become a part of canon. Star Wars in print predates the release of the first film, with the November 1976 novelization of Star Wars , initially subtitled " From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker ". Credited to Lucas, it was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster . The first "Expanded Universe" story appeared in Marvel Comics ' Star Wars #7 in January 1978 (the first six issues being an adaptation of
12236-519: The appearance of its front section pages, which included a larger logo at the top of each page; coloring tweaks to section front pages; a new sans-serif font, called Prelo, for certain headlines of main stories (replacing the Gulliver typeface that had been implemented for story headers in April 2000); an updated "Newsline" feature featuring larger, "newsier" headline entry points; and the increasing and decreasing of mastheads and white space to present
12397-715: The candidacy of Republican nominee Donald Trump , calling him "unfit for the presidency" due to his inflammatory campaign rhetoric (particularly that aimed at the press, with certain media organizations being openly targeted and even banned from campaign rallies, including The New York Times , The Washington Post , CNN and the BBC , military veterans who had been prisoners of war, including 2008 Republican presidential candidate and Vietnam War veteran John McCain , immigrants, and various ethnic and religious groups); his temperament and lack of financial transparency; his "checkered" business record; his use of false and hyperbolic statements;
12558-474: The color scheme in a rundown graphic on most stations, persisting throughout their newscasts, as well as bumpers for individual story topics. In many ways, USA Today breaks the traditional newspaper layout. Some examples of its divergence from tradition include using the left-hand quarter of each section as "reefers" (front-page paragraphs referring to stories on inside pages ), sometimes using sentence-length blurbs to describe stories inside. The lead reefer
12719-484: The combined box office revenue of the films equate to over US$ 10 billion, making Star Wars the third-highest-grossing film franchise of all time. The Star Wars franchise depicts the adventures of characters "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" across multiple fictional eras , in which humans and many species of aliens (often humanoid ) co-exist with droids , which may be programmed for personal assistance or battle. Space travel between planets
12880-494: The company's 92 local newspapers throughout the United States as well as pooling advertising services on both a hyperlocal and national scale. The Courier Journal had earlier soft-launched the service as part of a pilot program started on November 17, coinciding with an imaging rebrand for the Louisville, Kentucky -based newspaper; Gannett's other local newspaper properties, as well as those it acquired through its merger with
13041-550: The dark side by Palpatine—who is actually the mastermind of the war—and has killed everyone in the Jedi Temple , including children. Unable to believe this, Padmé travels to the volcanic planet Mustafar , where Vader has gone to assassinate the Separatist leaders, unaware that Obi-Wan has stowed away on her ship. Padmé begs Vader to escape Palpatine's grasp, but he insists that together they can overthrow Palpatine and rule
13202-416: The earlier animated series falling under Disney's "Vintage" collection of Star Wars content. The Star Wars franchise includes several live-action series. The first series, The Mandalorian , was released in 2019 for the streaming service Disney+ and is set between the original and sequel trilogies of the Skywalker Saga. Due to its success, the series spawned multiple live-action spin-offs set during
13363-494: The editorial board's members dissent or hold differing opinions. For most of its history, the paper's political editorials (most of them linked to the presidential election cycle) had focused instead on major issues based on the differing concerns of voters, the vast array of information on these themes, and the board's aim to offer a fair viewpoint through the diverse political ideologies of its members and avoid reader perceptions of bias. The avoidance of political editorials played
13524-428: The entire Tusken tribe. Padmé is troubled by what Anakin has done, but nevertheless comforts him. After they receive a message from Obi-Wan, Padmé and Anakin go to Geonosis to aid him, only to be captured and condemned to death by the Separatist leader and Sith Lord Count Dooku . Facing execution, Padmé and Anakin profess their love for each other. They are saved from death by an army of Jedi and clone troopers , led by
13685-399: The episodic films, The Clone Wars film , and television series . From 1976 to 2014, the term Expanded Universe (EU) was an umbrella term for all officially licensed Star Wars storytelling material set outside the events depicted within the theatrical films, including novels, comics, and video games. Lucasfilm maintained internal continuity between the films and television content and
13846-495: The evil Sith lord Palpatine (Darth Sidious). The original trilogy depicts the heroic development of Luke Skywalker as a Jedi and his fight against Palpatine's Galactic Empire alongside his sister, Leia . The prequels tell the tragic backstory of their father, Anakin , who is corrupted by Palpatine and becomes Darth Vader . The sequels follow the conflict between Leia's son, Ben Solo , and Luke and Leia's protegé, Rey , and their eventual alliance against Palpatine after
14007-463: The fall of the Empire. In 1971, George Lucas wanted to film an adaptation of the Flash Gordon serial , but could not obtain the rights, so he began developing his own space opera . After directing American Graffiti (1973), he wrote a two-page synopsis, which 20th Century Fox decided to invest in. By 1974, he had expanded the story into the first draft of a screenplay. Fox expected
14168-479: The film would be of limited financial success, and so it was given a relatively low budget, with production being moved to Elstree Studios in England to help save on cost. Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977, and first subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope in the 1979 book The Art of Star Wars . The film's success led Lucas to make it the basis of an elaborate film serial . With the backstory he created for
14329-650: The film), followed by Foster's sequel novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye the following month. After penning the novelization of the original film, Foster followed it with the sequel Splinter of the Mind's Eye (1978). The novelizations of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Donald F. Glut and Return of the Jedi (1983) by James Kahn followed, as well as The Han Solo Adventures trilogy (1979–1980) by Brian Daley , and The Adventures of Lando Calrissian trilogy (1983) by L. Neil Smith . Timothy Zahn 's bestselling Thrawn trilogy (1991–1993) reignited interest in
14490-650: The first issue, Gannett gradually expanded the national distribution of the paper, reaching an estimated circulation of 362,879 copies by the end of 1982, double the amount of sales that Gannett projected. The design uniquely incorporated color graphics and photographs. Initially, only its front news section pages were rendered in four-color, while the remaining pages were printed in a spot color format. The paper's overall style and elevated use of graphics—developed by Neuharth, in collaboration with staff graphics designers George Rorick, Sam Ward, Suzy Parker, John Sherlock and Web Brya—were derided by critics, who referred to it as
14651-422: The flagship national edition of USA Today . On January 4, 2014, USA Today acquired the consumer product review website Reviewed . In the first quarter of 2014, Gannett launched a condensed USA Today insert into 31 other newspapers in its network, thereby increasing the number of inserts to 35, in an effort to shore up circulation after it regained its position as the highest-circulated weekday newspaper in
14812-532: The franchise and introduced the popular characters Grand Admiral Thrawn , Mara Jade , Talon Karrde , and Gilad Pellaeon . The first novel, Heir to the Empire , reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list , and the series finds Luke, Leia, and Han facing off against tactical genius Thrawn, who is plotting to retake the galaxy for the Empire. In The Courtship of Princess Leia (1994) by Dave Wolverton , set immediately before
14973-404: The franchise as "the tragedy of Darth Vader". Prior to releasing the original 1977 film, and made possible by its success, Lucas planned "three trilogies of nine films". However, he announced to Time in 1978 that he planned "10 sequels". He confirmed that he had outlined the prequels and sequels in 1981. At various stages of development, the sequel trilogy was to focus on the rebuilding of
15134-446: The franchise. This led to a sequel trilogy , consisting of Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). All nine films, collectively referred to as the " Skywalker Saga ", were nominated for Academy Awards , with wins going to the first two releases. Together with the theatrical live action "anthology" films Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018),
15295-519: The friendship between Padmé and her handmaiden Sabé immediately before the events of The Phantom Menace . In the short comic " The Artist of Naboo ", a young painter features Padmé in his work and later risks his life to save her. Padmé's role in the Delegation of 2000—the senatorial resistance movement to Palpatine's growing absolutism —is discussed in Labyrinth of Evil (2005). The Delegation
15456-443: The galaxy. Padmé recoils in horror, and tries to persuade him to abandon the dark side. When Obi-Wan emerges from her ship, Vader accuses Padmé of betrayal and uses the Force to strangle her into unconsciousness. After Obi-Wan defeats Vader in a lightsaber duel, he brings Padmé to the secret asteroid base Polis Massa . She dies soon after giving birth to twins, Luke and Leia. Just prior to her death, Padmé insists to Obi-Wan that there
15617-640: The gap between the High Republic publishing initiative and the events of The Acolyte . Titled Star Wars: The Acolyte – Kelnacca , the one-shot was written by High Republic writer Cavan Scott with art by Marika Cresta. It focuses on Kelnacca, the Wookiee Jedi introduced in The Acolyte . John Williams composed the soundtracks for the nine episodic films. He stated he would retire from the franchise with The Rise of Skywalker , but he composed
15778-411: The given area on the forecast map, are also featured. Weather data is provided by AccuWeather , which has served as the forecast provider for USA Today for most of the paper's existence (except from January 2002 to September 2012, when forecast data was provided by The Weather Channel through a long-term multimedia content agreement with Gannett). In the bottom left-hand corner of the weather page
15939-431: The graph). The newspaper also features an occasional magazine supplement called Open Air , which launched on March 7, 2008, and appears several times a year. Other advertorials appear throughout the year, mainly on Fridays. The opinion section prints USA Today editorials, columns by guest writers and members of the editorial board of contributors, letters to the editor, and editorial cartoons. One unique feature of
16100-483: The hands of other filmmakers, announcing in January 2012 that he would make no more Star Wars films. That October, the Walt Disney Company agreed to buy Lucasfilm and announced that Episode VII would be released in 2015. The co-chairman of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy , became president and served as executive producer of new Star Wars feature films. Lucas provided Kennedy his story treatments for
16261-402: The inconsistency of his viewpoints and issues with his vision on domestic and foreign policy; and, based on comments he had made during his campaign and criticisms by both Democrats and Republicans on these views, the potential risks to national security and constitutional ethics under a Trump administration, asking voters to "resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue". The board wrote that
16422-506: The international edition throughout most of Europe. On October 4, 1999, USA Today began running advertisements on its front page for the first time. In 2017, some pages of USA Today's website features Auto-Play functionality for video or audio-aided stories. On February 8, 2000, Gannett launched USA Today Live , a broadcast and Internet initiative designed to provide coverage from the newspaper to broadcast television stations nationwide for use in their local newscasts and their websites;
16583-604: The largest readership of any daily newspaper in the United States. On September 1, 1991, USA Today launched a fourth print site for its international edition in London for the United Kingdom and the British Isles . The international edition's schedule was changed as of April 1, 1994, to Monday through Friday, rather than from Tuesday through Saturday, in order to accommodate business travelers; on February 1, 1995, USA Today opened its first editorial bureau outside
16744-535: The late 1970s to serve as the morning edition of the Oakland Tribune , an afternoon newspaper that Gannett owned at the time. On June 11, 1981, Gannett printed the first prototypes of the proposed publication. The two proposed design layouts were mailed to newsmakers and prominent leaders in journalism for review and feedback. Gannett's board of directors approved the launch of the national newspaper, titled USA Today , on December 5, 1981. At launch, Neuharth
16905-418: The late 1980s and early 1990s, including the ability to create computer-generated imagery (CGI), inspired Lucas to consider that it might be possible to revisit his saga. In 1989, Lucas stated that the prequels would be "unbelievably expensive". In 1992, he acknowledged that he had plans to create the prequel trilogy. A theatrical rerelease of the original trilogy in 1997 " updated " the 20-year-old films with
17066-445: The main and section pages), clickable video advertising and a responsive design layout. The site was designed and developed to be more interactive, faster, provide "high impact" advertising units (known as Gravity), and provide the ability for Gannett to syndicate USA Today content to the websites of its local properties, and vice versa. To accomplish this goal, Gannett Digital migrated its newspaper and television station websites to
17227-671: The main episodes of the Skywalker Saga entered development in parallel with the production of the sequel trilogy, described by Disney chief financial officer Jay Rasulo as origin stories . The first film released was 2016's Rogue One , which tells the story of the rebels who steal the plans for the Death Star , the Galactic Empire 's superweapon, just before the events of the original Star Wars film. A second film, 2018's Solo , tells Han Solo's backstory, set 10 years prior to A New Hope . The series Obi-Wan Kenobi
17388-493: The morning. In May 2021, USA Today introduced a paywall for some of its online stories. On June 16, 2022, it was reported that USA Today removed 23 articles written by journalist Gabriela Miranda after an inquiry related to one of her articles triggered an internal investigation and found that Miranda had fabricated sources on articles pertaining to the Texas Heartbeat Act , Ukrainian women's issues due to
17549-490: The movie material, while others rely heavily on the non-canonical Expanded Universe (rebranded as Star Wars Legends and removed from the canon in 2014). Star Wars games have gone through three significant development eras, marked by a change in leadership among the developers: the early licensed games, those developed after the creation of LucasArts, and those created after the closure of the Lucasfilm division by Disney and
17710-553: The newer, less-obtrusive advertising strategy. Gannet Digital designed, developed, and released the longread mobile experience to coincide with the launch of Brad Heath 's series Locked Up , which won the Investigative Reporters and Editors Tom Renner Award in October 2013. Gannett Digital's focus on its mobile content experience paid off in 2012 with multiple awards; including the Eppy for Best Mobile Application,
17871-455: The newly weds lives forever. Padmé makes her third film appearance in Revenge of the Sith (2005), which takes place three years after the previous film. As the Clone Wars continue, Padmé informs Anakin that she is pregnant. She detects changes in him after he begins having visions of her dying in childbirth. Palpatine plays on Anakin's fears by saying that the dark side of the Force holds
18032-599: The newspaper began turning its first profit in May 1987, six months ahead of Gannett's corporate revenue projections. On January 29, 1988, USA Today published the largest edition in its history, a 78-page weekend edition featuring a section previewing Super Bowl XXII ; the edition included 44.38 pages of advertising and sold 2,114,055 copies, setting a single-day record for an American newspaper (and surpassed seven months later on September 2, when its Labor Day weekend edition sold 2,257,734 copies). On April 15, USA Today launched
18193-476: The next morning's paper. The sports section of USA Today , with its complete set of results, was well-regarded and generally seen as one of the main selling points of the paper. On July 2, 1984, the newspaper switched from predominantly black-and-white to full-color photography and graphics in all four sections. The following week, on July 10, USA Today launched an international edition intended for U.S. readers abroad, followed four months later on October 8 with
18354-506: The nine films of which are collectively referred to as the " Skywalker Saga ". The saga was produced non-chronologically, beginning in media res with the release of the original trilogy between 1977 and 1983. This was followed by the prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005, and the sequel trilogy, released between 2015 and 2019. Each trilogy focuses on a generation of the Force -sensitive Skywalker family and their struggle against
18515-451: The nine-film series plotted, but due to the stress of producing the original trilogy, he had decided to cancel further sequels by 1981. In 1983, Lucas explained that "There was never a script completed that had the entire story as it exists now ... As the stories unfolded, I would take certain ideas and save them ... I kept taking out all the good parts, and I just kept telling myself I would make other movies someday." Technical advances in
18676-406: The novel Thrawn: Alliances . Following the acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company in 2012, most of the licensed Star Wars Expanded Universe material produced between 1977 and 2014 was rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise. The Legends works comprise a separate narrative universe. Padmé's background prior to her appearance in the prequel films
18837-473: The original film and a new narration to retell the story, released in 1977. Most later printed novels were adapted into audio novels, usually released on cassette tape and re-released on CD. As of 2019, audio-only novels have been released not directly based on printed media. Radio adaptations of the films were also produced. Lucas, a fan of the NPR-affiliated campus radio station of his alma mater
18998-497: The outer reaches of the galaxy, crime syndicates such as the Hutt cartel are dominant. Bounty hunters are often employed by both gangsters and governments, while illicit activities include smuggling and slavery . The combination of science fiction and fantasy elements makes Star Wars a very universal franchise, capable of telling stories of various genres. The Star Wars film series centers around three sets of trilogies,
19159-571: The packaging of its national and international news content and enterprise stories (comprising about 10 pages for the weekday and Saturday editions, and up to 22 pages for the Sunday edition) into the pilot insert. Gannett later announced on December 11, that it would formally launch the condensed daily edition of USA Today in 31 additional local newspapers nationwide through April 2014 (with the Palm Springs, California -based The Desert Sun and
19320-656: The palace and captures Gunray, which ends the occupation of Naboo. Padmé returns in Attack of the Clones (2002), which is set ten years after The Phantom Menace . She now represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate and leads a faction opposed to the Military Creation Act that would create an army of clones for the Galactic Republic , which has been threatened by a growing Separatist movement. As she arrives on Coruscant to cast her vote, assassins hired by
19481-498: The paper by 1987 (according to Simmons Market Research Bureau statistics) had reached 5.5 million, the largest of any daily newspaper in the U.S. On May 6, 1986, USA Today began production of its international edition in Switzerland . USA Today operated at a loss for most of its first four years of operation, accumulating a total deficit of $ 233 million after taxes. According to figures released by Gannett in July 1987,
19642-518: The paper's inception was replaced with a new logo featuring a large circle rendered in colors corresponding to each of the sections, serving as an infographic that changes with news stories, containing images representing that day's top stories. The paper's website was also extensively overhauled using a new, in-house content management system known as Presto and a design created by Fantasy Interactive, that incorporates flipboard-style navigation to switch between individual stories (which obscure most of
19803-473: The past: the first issue released during the standard calendar weekend was published on January 19, 1991, when it released a Saturday "Extra" edition updating coverage of the Gulf War from the previous day; the paper published special seven-day-a-week editions for the first time on July 19, 1996, when it published special editions for exclusive distribution in the host city of Atlanta and surrounding areas for
19964-644: The piece was not a "qualified endorsement" of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton , for whom it was unable to reach a consensus (some editorial board members expressed that Clinton's public service record would help her "serve the nation ably as its president", while others had "serious reservations about [her] sense of entitlement, [...] lack of candor and... extreme carelessness in handling classified information "), suggesting instead tactical voting against Trump and GOP seats in swing states, advising voters to decide whether to vote for either Clinton, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson , Green Party nominee Jill Stein or
20125-529: The power to save Padmé, which ultimately leads Anakin to become Palpatine's Sith apprentice, Darth Vader. Meanwhile, Padmé watches with increasing suspicion as Palpatine uses the Clone Wars as an excuse to take near-total control of the Senate. As Palpatine transforms the Republic into the Galactic Empire and declares himself Emperor, Padmé remarks: "So this is how liberty dies—with thunderous applause." Obi-Wan Kenobi informs Padmé that Anakin has been seduced to
20286-575: The presses used at USA Today 's printing facilities did not yet accommodate the use of other colors to denote all four original sections. Orange is used for bonus sections (sections E+), which are published occasionally for business travel trends and the Olympics . Other bonus sections for sports (such as for the PGA Tour preview, NCAA basketball tournaments , Memorial Day auto races ( Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 ), NFL opening weekend and
20447-586: The resignation of John Boehner as House Speaker. It also called out then- President Barack Obama and other top members of the Democratic Party for what it perceived as "inaction" during 2013–14, particularly over the NSA scandal and the ISIL beheading incidents . The editorial board broke from its "non-endorsement" policy for the first time on September 29, 2016, when it published an op-ed piece condemning
20608-456: The rollout of the first transmission via satellite of its international version to Singapore . On April 8, 1985, the paper published its first special bonus section, a 12-page section called "Baseball '85", which previewed the 1985 Major League Baseball season . By the fourth quarter of 1985, USA Today had become the second-largest newspaper in the United States, reaching a daily circulation of 1.4 million copies. Total daily readership of
20769-500: The ruler of the Hutts. After Padmé is discovered, Dooku suggests that Ziro collect the bounty placed on her head. The droid C-3PO leads a squad of Coruscant Guard troopers to rescue her. Padmé then contacts Jabba just as the Hutt is about to execute Anakin and Ahsoka, and forces Ziro to confess his betrayal. Padmé negotiates an alliance between the Republic and the Hutts which would allow Republic warships to use Hutt hyperspace lanes. Padmé
20930-431: The same fictional era, including The Book of Boba Fett , released in 2021; Ahsoka , released in 2023; and the upcoming Skeleton Crew . These series follow the plight of the New Republic and its allies against the remnants of the fallen Galactic Empire . A story focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi was planned as a film before becoming a live-action series after the box office failure of Solo in 2018. The series
21091-502: The same year, Bob Iger announced that the film would be the first release of the next slate of Star Wars movies. The Mandalorian & Grogu is scheduled for release on May 22, 2026. Lucasfilm has a number of Star Wars films in various stages of development, including: The first two animated series, Droids and Ewoks , were produced in the 1980s. They were followed by the Clone Wars animated micro-series in 2003 and
21252-471: The separate newsroom operations of the online and print entities of USA Today , with USAToday.com's vice president and editor-in-chief Kinsey Wilson promoted to co-executive editor, alongside existing executive editor John Hillkirk. In December 2010, USA Today launched the USA Today API for sharing data with partners of all types. On August 27, 2010, USA Today announced that it would undergo
21413-460: The sequel, Lucas decided that the series would be a trilogy of trilogies. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21, 1980, also achieving wide financial and critical success. The final film in the trilogy, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi , was released on May 25, 1983. According to producer Gary Kurtz, loose plans for a prequel trilogy were developed during the outlining of the original two films. In 1980, Lucas confirmed that he had
21574-746: The sequels during the 2012 sale, but in 2015 it was revealed Lucas's sequel outline had been discarded. The sequel trilogy also meant the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe stories, which were discarded from canon to give "maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience." Episode VII: The Force Awakens was released on December 16, 2015, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi on December 13, 2017, and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker on December 18, 2019, in many countries. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi were both critical and box office successes. Episode IX received
21735-467: The series was set 25 to 30 years after the original films and introduced the Yuuzhan Vong, a powerful alien race attempting to invade and conquer the entire galaxy. The bestselling multi-author series Legacy of the Force (2006–2008) chronicles the crossover of Han and Leia's son Jacen Solo to the dark side of the Force; among his evil deeds, he kills Luke's wife Mara Jade as a sacrifice to join
21896-716: The staples of the News section is "Across the USA", a state-by-state roundup of headlines. The summaries consist of paragraph-length Associated Press reports highlighting one story in each state, the District of Columbia , and one U.S. territory . Similarly, the "For the Record" page of the Sports section (which features sports scores for the previous four days of league play plus individual non-league events, seasonal league statistics and wagering lines for that day's games) previously featured
22057-443: The strong sales of Star Wars comics saved Marvel financially in 1977 and 1978. Marvel's Star Wars series was one of the industry's top selling titles in 1979 and 1980. The only downside for Marvel was that the 100,000 copy sales quota was surpassed quickly, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate the royalty arrangements from a position of strength. In the late 1980s, Marvel dropped a new Star Wars comic it had in development, which
22218-417: The style of CGI envisioned for the new trilogy. Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released on May 19, 1999, Episode II: Attack of the Clones on May 16, 2002, and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on May 19, 2005. The first two films were met with mixed reviews, with the third being received somewhat more positively. Together with the original trilogy, Lucas has referred to the first six episodic films of
22379-468: The style of local, regional, and national newspapers worldwide through its use of concise reports, colorized images, informational graphics , and inclusion of popular culture stories, among other distinct features. As of 2023, USA Today has the fifth-largest print circulation in the United States, with 132,640 print subscribers. It has two million digital subscribers, the fourth-largest online circulation of any U.S. newspaper. USA Today
22540-426: The success of the series Ghost Factories . With differing platform requirements, USA Today's mobile website did not offer any specialized support for these multi-chapter stories. Nearing the end of 2012, more than one-third of USA Today 's readership was browsing only using their mobile phones, and the majority of these users were accessing the mobile website (as opposed to the iOS and Android applications) with
22701-457: The three-part Dark Empire saga, Tales of the Jedi , Dark Lords of the Sith , the Dark Forces trilogy, and Crimson Empire (1998). Return of the Jedi was adapted into 6-episodes in 1996, featuring Daniels. The Star Wars franchise has spawned over one hundred computer, video, and board games, dating back to some of the earliest home consoles . Some are based directly on
22862-490: The title Star Wars: Master and Apprentice . Although Thrawn had been designated a Legends character in 2014, he was reintroduced into the canon in 2016 for the third season of the Rebels animated series, with Zahn returning to write more novels based on the character and set in the new canon. Marvel Comics published a Star Wars comic book series from 1977 to 1986. Original Star Wars comics were serialized in
23023-748: The top ten singles in general on Wednesdays. Because of the same limitations as its nationalized forecasts, the television page in Life, which provides prime time and late night listings (running from 8:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time ), incorporates boilerplate " Local news " or " Local programming " descriptions to denote time periods in which the five major English language broadcast networks ( ABC , NBC , CBS , Fox and The CW ) cede airtime to allow their owned and affiliated stations to carry syndicated programs or local newscasts. The television page has never carried local scheduling information similar to those in local newspapers. Like most national papers, USA Today has no comic strips . One of
23184-549: The transfer of the license to Electronic Arts . USA Today USA Today (often stylized in all caps ) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett 's corporate headquarters in New York, NY . Its newspaper is printed at 37 sites across the United States and at five additional sites internationally. The paper's dynamic design influenced
23345-438: The two-week duration of the 1996 Summer Olympics . USA Today prints each complete story on the front page of the respective section, with the exception of the cover story. The cover story is a longer story that requires a jump (readers must turn to another page in the paper to complete the story, usually the next page of that section). On certain days, the news or sports section, will take up two paper sections, and there will be
23506-582: The venture also provided integration with the USA Today website, which transitioned from a text-based format to feature audio and video clips of news content. The paper launched a sixth printing site for its international edition on May 15, 2000, in Milan , Italy , followed on July 10 by the launch of an international printing facility in Charleroi, Belgium . In 2001, two interactive units were launched: on June 19, USA Today and Gannett Newspapers launched
23667-433: The web series Forces of Destiny (2017–2018), while Montana Norberg provides her voice in the television miniseries Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales (2015). Padmé is featured in three novels by E. K. Johnston , collectively referred to as the "Queen's Series." The first novel to be released, Queen's Shadow (2018), is set four years after the events of The Phantom Menace. As Padmé ends her reign as queen and becomes
23828-400: The world, breaking from the traditional style of monochrome contouring or simplistic text to denote temperature ranges. National precipitation maps for the next three days (the next five days before the 2012 redesign) and four-day forecasts and air quality indexes for 36 major U.S. cities (16 cities prior to 1999), with individual cities color-coded by the temperature contour corresponding to
23989-400: The world. Gannett invested in an expensive network of printing factories and distribution during the rollout of USA Today , meaning that the paper could be printed and distributed quickly. One of the results of this was USA Today having the luxury of a later time cutoff for journalists to submit stories, such that the paper was able to include sports scores from games that finished late in
24150-515: Was Brian Gallagher, who has worked for the newspaper since its founding. Other members of the editorial board included deputy editorial page editor Bill Sternberg, executive forum editor John Siniff, op-ed/forum page editor Glen Nishimura, operations editor Thuan Le Elston, letters editor Michelle Poblete, web content editor Eileen Rivers, and editorial writers Dan Carney, George Hager, and Saundra Torry. The newspaper's website calls this group "demographically and ideologically diverse." Beginning with
24311-534: Was announced in January 2014 that in 2015 the Star Wars comics license would return to Marvel Comics, whose parent company, Marvel Entertainment , Disney had purchased in 2009. Launched in 2015, the first three publications were titled Star Wars , Darth Vader , and the miniseries Princess Leia . First announced as Project Luminous at Star Wars Celebration in April 2019, the Star Wars: The High Republic publishing initiative
24472-473: Was appointed president and publisher of the newspaper, adding those responsibilities to his existing position as Gannett's chief executive officer . Gannett announced the launch of the paper on April 20, 1982. USA Today began publishing on September 14, 1982, initially in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas, for a newsstand price of 25¢ (equivalent to 79¢ in 2023). After selling out
24633-410: Was enthusiastic about the role, and thought it would be empowering for young female viewers to witness the intelligence and leadership abilities of the teenage monarch. She worked closely with Lucas on her character's accent and mannerisms, and watched the films of Lauren Bacall , Audrey Hepburn , and Katharine Hepburn to draw inspiration from their voice and stature. She was relatively unfamiliar with
24794-479: Was followed by the sequels Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), forming the original Star Wars trilogy . Lucas later returned to the series to write and direct a prequel trilogy , consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). In 2012, Lucas sold his production company to Disney , relinquishing his ownership of
24955-613: Was internally known within Gannett as the "Butterfly" initiative) for distribution as an insert in four of its newspapers – The Indianapolis Star , the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle , the Fort Myers -based The News-Press and the Appleton, Wisconsin -based The Post-Crescent . The launch of the syndicated insert caused USA Today to restructure its operations to allow seven-day-a-week production to accommodate
25116-411: Was originally planned as a film, but changed to a miniseries due to Solo underperforming at the box office. In April 2023, three new Star Wars films were announced to be set within different eras of the franchise. An untitled film written and directed by James Mangold will be set during the "dawn of the Jedi". Dave Filoni will direct a film set between the original and sequel trilogies during
25277-534: Was picked up by Dark Horse Comics and published as the popular Dark Empire series (1991–1995). Dark Horse subsequently launched dozens of series set after the original film trilogy, including Tales of the Jedi (1993–1998), X-wing Rogue Squadron (1995–1998), Star Wars: Republic (1998–2006), Star Wars Tales (1999–2005), Star Wars: Empire (2002–2006), and Knights of the Old Republic (2006–2010). After Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, it
25438-439: Was planning on introducing her as a main character in later films. When Lucas began writing The Phantom Menace , he envisioned similarities between Padmé and Leia, who he described as "the daughter who follows so closely in her [mother's] footsteps." During development for The Phantom Menace , concept artists were given character outlines by Lucasfilm . The fourteen-year-old Padmé was described as similar to Princess Ozma from
25599-542: Was released on Disney+ in 2022 and is set between the prequel and original trilogy films. It was followed by the live-action series Andor in the same year; both series follow their titular characters during the reign of the Empire. The Acolyte is a series created by Leslye Headland set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the Skywalker Saga , and follows an investigation into
25760-478: Was revealed in a press conference in February 2020. Involving the majority of the then current officially licensed publishers, a new era set 200 years before the Skywalker Saga was explored in various books and comics. Including ongoing titles by Marvel and IDW Publishing, written by Cavan Scott and Daniel José Older respectively. Marvel Comics will publish a one-shot comic book on September 4, 2024, that bridges
25921-503: Was subsequently restructured to only include the existing six feature films, the animated film The Clone Wars (2008), and its companion animated series. All future projects and creative developments across all types of media would be overseen and coordinated by the story group, announced as a division of Lucasfilm created to maintain continuity and a cohesive vision on the storytelling of the franchise. Multiple comics series from Marvel and novels published by Del Rey were produced after
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