The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: June 28, 2026
Getting ready for the Naboo/Nal Hutta Galaxy Cup final
Hello there
Good evening or good morning or whenever you read this and welcome back to the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter. As I said last week, we’re in a bit of a lull here. Not just because summer on Tatooine in Texas has officially arrived and really, it’s too hot to do anything but stay inside and watch soccer. But, we will solider on. This week, the Death Star HR podcast returns, a little bit about Star Wars: Starfighter turns into extended commentary on the state of movie going and the economy, and a comedy legend has a birthday.
As always, thanks for reading Death Star HR. If you’re reading this and you’re not a subscriber, I’d love it if you entered your email below and smashed that subscribe button. There’s also an official Death Star HR Instagram and an official Death Star HR YouTube page as well and I’d love it if you subscribed there as well.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
Carpenter. Actor. Dealer. Harrison Ford contains multitudes.
Makes you wonder what he was carrying for Jabba when the Imperials boarded him. Just a reminder folks, never consent to a search. Doesn’t matter what galaxy you’re in.
Community and Karaoke: DSHR Podcast Return
The Death Star Human Resources Department Podcast returns. This week I’m talking with Spencer Jawitz from the Virtual Cantina Network.
We talk about that Star Wars is meant be seen on the big screen, building a Star Wars community, what you can except if you visit a VCN Boonta Eve party, and Star Wars karaoke. Spencer is a good dude and I love that he’s on the same page as DSHR, he wants to put together a community of like-minded, positive Star Wars fans. So make sure you watch the interview and make sure you’re following the Virtual Cantina Network.
Starfighter Has (Allegedly) Taken Off
Even though we’re less than a year out for the next movie, Star Wars: Starfighter, we still don’t know a whole lot about it. I posted some (rumored) spoilers a couple weeks ago. And they really weren’t really that much in the way of spoilers. If you’ve watched any Star Wars in the last 10 years, you could probably make some educated guesses as to what the movie is going to be about. Younger kid. Older adult acting as a father figure. Some bad guys trying track down the kid. We’ve seen Rebels. We’ve seen The Mandalorian and Grogu. Star Wars in its current iteration does love a found family.
As of now, some footage has been screened. No leaks as far as I can tell. I even (gasp) visited Reddit to see if anything made its way onto the serious of tubes, but no such luck. As Deadline reported in an exclusive:
During Disney’s CineEurope presentation today, we hear they presented footage and first looks of upcoming titles, including from: Avengers: Doomsday, Gatto, Hexed, Ice Age: Boiling Point, Moana, Star Wars: Starfighter, The Dog Stars and Whalefall.
I checked a couple of Star Wars news sites as well, but haven’t even been able to find a description of what Disney screened. However, if Disney has at least enough finished footage for a teaser, it seems likely we the salivating fans will get to see it soon. The Disney D23 investor conference is in August, and is usually a time that Disney will announce upcoming projects. By comparison, the first teaser and poster for The Mandalorian and Grogu was released released September 22nd, 2025. This was slightly after the 2025 D23, but again, if there’s already a teaser cut, it makes a lot of sense to screen it at D23.
The big selling point of Disney’s CineEurope presentation was Infinity Vision. Not another Marvel movie, but instead a new certification. It seems that it’s going to be somewhere in between a regular movie screen and an IMAX.
In order for an exhibitor’s screen to receive the Infinity Vision branding, they have to meet the following standards: the screen needs to be a minimum of 45′ wide, have an Immersive sound system like Dolby Atmos or 7.1. Brightness levels need to reach either 14 footlamberts in 2D and/or 6 footlamberts in 3D.
“As interest in enhanced theater amenities continues to grow, there is a meaningful opportunity for our collective industry to simplify how we communicate and promote the range of premium large format (PLF) experiences that are available to consumers. We commend Disney for taking an important first step toward advancing this objective and look forward to collaborating with them and our broader industry partners to align on a unifying PLF brand and set of standards.,” said Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble.
So far movie theaters, at least in the USA, are experiencing their best year since 2019 and finally seem to be rebounding after the COVID years. Of that that is you have a couple of huge independent movies in Backrooms and Obsession. There was a little film called The Mandalorian and Grogu. Toy Story 5 has been a hit. And there’s Avengers: Doomsday coming out later this year. There’s also ticket prices that are outpacing inflation. The Wall Street Journal had an article a couple months ago simply titled “The $50 Movie Ticket Has Arrived.”
Eye-popping prices for the most in-demand movies on the best screens are becoming increasingly common as the cinema industry copies the audience-segmentation playbooks of airlines and hotels. Theaters are getting people who love movies and have discretionary income to pay substantially more.
Some 17% of film tickets sold last year were for premium format theaters with bigger screens and better sound, compared with 13% in 2021. They cost an average of $18 nationally, according to research firm EntTelligence, and as much as $30 in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
Like everything else in the current state of America, it’s a limited pool of people willing to spend money propping things up while everyone else figures out how to pay the bills each money.
It was $48.02 for Emperor Palpatine’s #1 Fan and I to see The Mandalorian and Grogu in IMAX. And that was even getting a little bit of a discount for going to an afternoon matinee. If we had gone to an evening showing, it would have been over $50. And that doesn’t even take into account getting any concessions. For a family with a couple of kids, you’d easily be looking at $100 or so for an outing. At some people, actually not at some point - that point is here, people are going to ask “is it worth spending $100 or more when I can just wait a few months and stream it?”
In classic Death Star HR fashion, I’ve one from talking about Starfighter to opining on how inflation has outpaced wages. This is why you read, right? This is also what happens when like I’ve mentioned, we’re sort of in a Star Wars lull. So, hopefully we get that Starfighter trailer in August so I have something to write about.
The 2,000 Year Old Man Turns 100
Confession time. I’ve never actually seen Mel Brooks’ 2,000 Year Old Man bit. All I actually know of it is from The Simpsons.
Happy birthday to President Skroob himself. Mel Brooks turns 100 today. I don’t think it would be possible to quantify Brooks’ effect on movies and comedy. In the galaxy far, far away he’s best known as President Skroob and Yogurt. I can still remember seeing Spaceballs in the theater at 7 years old. I can tell you which movie theater I was at and who I was with. I actually saw Spaceballs on the big screen before I ever saw Star wars on the big screen.
When the trailer for Spaceballs 2: The New One came out, I commented that Brooks looks pretty good for his age, but I really had hoped they shot his parts first. Thankfully, shooting wrapped in December.
On Facebook, Gad confirmed that Spaceballs 2 has wrapped filming after going into production in September. He makes reference to the first film and to the quick turnaround, saying "It really was Ludicrous speed" as he reflects on the creative process and this important milestone.
Spaceballs 2 comes out April 23, 2027. I wonder if Brooks and Josh Gad who spearheaded getting this off the ground and getting Brooks on board planned it to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Star Wars or if was just a happy coincidence. Either way, it’s going to be a nice little comedy break in between the re-release of Star Wars in February and Starfighter which comes out in May.
This Day in Star Wars History
Quite a bit to cover on June 28th in the Star Wars galaxy. A bunch of birthdays, the debut of a beloved character, and there’s Ewoks!
Radio dramatist and voice actor Erik Bauersfeld was born in 1922. Bauersfeld did the voices for Bib Fortuna and Admiral Ackbar in Return of the Jedi. Bauersfeld, in a 2011 interview said that he hadn’t watched Return of the Jedi since 1983 and was "flattered but a bit perplexed" about all the continuing attention received for playing the Mon Calamari Admiral.
Sound editor and composer Ken Wannberg was born in 1930. Wannberg was the supervising music editor on all six movies of the Original Trilogy and the Prequels. He also won an Emmy for sound editing on Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories series.
Actor Rio Hackford was born in 1970. Hackford was probably best known for his role in the David Simon produced Treme, about post-Katrina New Orleans1. In the Star Wars galaxy, he played random bounty hunter Riot Mar in a season 1 episode of The Mandalorian and also did the motion-capture work for IG-11 in season 1 as well.
In 1978, Star Wars got its first glimpse of Boba Fett. The all-white concept for the galaxy’d most famous bounty hunter was unveiled in a test screening for Lucasfilm. Wookieepedia says it was a 20 minute screening. Star Wars posted a clip on their official YouTube page a while back.
The children’s book The Baby Ewoks’ Picnic Surprise was published in 1984. From reading the plot summary, I learned that baby Ewoks are called “woklings.” I have not read the book, but I’m hoping the picnic surprise is the book confirming the long-standing rumor that Ewoks are cannibals and roast Stormtrooper is on the menu.
Maybe there’s a Scout Trooper rib in the basket? Actor and the best character in Skeleton Crew, Robert Timothy Smith was born in 2011. Smith played Neel, the blue elephant looking kid who just wanted to go home. As an indoor cat, I could relate to Neel.
Canon novel Shadow of the Sith, by Adam Christopher was published as a regular book and audiobook in 2022. The book is one of the lead-ups to the Sequel Trilogy and has Luke having visions of the Dark Side on Exegol and Lando looking for his missing daughter. I understand this is Star Wars, there’s always world building and universe expanding going on. But I’ve made the comment in the past that a cynical take is there’s a good chunk of Disney’s post-Rise of Skywalker output that exists solely to justify the less popular choices from the Sequel Trilogy. Now, that is not to knock this book, it’s actually a good one.
If you ever wondered how Jack Black and Lizzo ended up in The Mandalorian, you can just watch Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian: The Making of Season 3 was released on this day in 2023.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
You guys know my favorite topic is Star Wars food. And this week, we’ve got Blue Bespin breakfast bars. And in case you were wondering, yes, they are canon.
Blue Bespin breakfast bars were a type of breakfast food. The light freighter Millennium Falcon held blue Bespin breakfast bars in its refrigerator unit on at least one occasion; the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka found them alongside blue bantha buttermilk biscuits and blue puff cubes, leading him to wonder if all the foods on the ship were blue.
The blue bars come from the junior novel Pirate’s Price which is told from Hondo Ohnaka’s point of view. Which, I love Hondo. He really is one of my favorite characters because he’s so much fun. But he’s probably not someone who should be telling stories for kids.
News From the HoloNet
DC reaches settlement with man who played ‘Star Wars’ music at troops
“The Imperial March” is in fact covered by the First Amendment.
I keep forgetting that Star Wars: Eclipse is a thing. When was in announced? It seems like it was forever ago.
I Crashed, Burned, and Loved Every Second of Star Wars: Galactic Racer
This is (allegedly) gameplay footage of Galactic Racer. It looks fun.
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
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NOLA is one of my favorites cities. In case you were wondering.
I know I am being nitpicky, but the Ewoks feasting on stormtroopers would make them "man-eaters," not cannibals (that would be Ewoks eating other Ewoks, which is never implied).
I have helped advocate the idea that the Ewoks are actually savage fighters who brutally killed the Imperials with their primitive weapons. Of all the notes I have written, I am most proud of this one for my post on The Battle of Endor:
https://substack.com/@christopherwilbur/note/c-211298052?r=3ulcqv
Looking at that cute picnic book above, I'm understanding a little bit more of those "they're too cute" anti-Ewok people. The Ewok book I grew up with as a kid was "The Ewoks Join the Fight":
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Ewoks_Join_the_Fight_(storybook)
I need to hunt around, but Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner produced and voiced a 2000-Year-Old Man animated special that ran on CBS in 1974. I was all of 7 when it ran (I was waiting for the Friday CBS Late Movie, “Willard”), and I still guffaw about the Man’s encounter with Robin Hood.