Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to premiere at Dubai International Film Festival

Dubai International Film Festival organisers announced that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first spin-off movie set within that galaxy far, far away will close this year’s event on December 14, the first public screening in the Middle East

Felicity Jones portrays Jyn Erso in a scene from, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Jonathan Olley / Lucasfilm-Disney via AP

For the second year running, the UAE will host the regional premiere of what is probably the year's most hotly anticipated movie – yes, Star Wars fever is kicking off all over again.

Dubai International Film ­Festival organisers yesterday announced that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first spin-off ­movie set within that galaxy far, far away, will close this year's event on December 14. It will be the first public screening in the Middle East, ahead of its general release the following day.

The latest Star Wars coup for the country follows the regional premiere of Episode VII: The Force Awakens at Emirate's Palace in Abu Dhabi last December. Parts of that film were shot in the ­desert outside the capital.

Of course, there are plenty of other treats to whet the appetites of movie lovers during the eight days of Diff, but the highlight for many is sure to be director ­Gareth Edwards’ addition to the epic space-opera saga.

Rogue One is the eighth film set in the Star Wars universe, but the first in the new Star Wars Anthology series, which will explore stories, characters and events not covered by the main films in the series. It is also the second since Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, bought from creator George ­Lucas' Lucasfilm in 2012.

Diff managing director Shivani Pandya says that the festival’s ­relationship with Disney was ­crucial to securing the ­prestigious screening.

“Disney has always supported us and given us a lot of films to launch in the past,” she says. “They were really happy to give it to us, so now we’re working out all the details to make sure we can show it and do it justice.”

Star Wars fans are notoriously loyal to the franchise, and ­Pandya admits that fan pressure played a role in the festival's ­decision to lobby for the film.

“I don’t think we quite realised just how anticipated this film was at first, but as time went on this year people kept pointing out the timing and saying, ‘You have to get it’ – so we did and we’re ­absolutely delighted.”

She adds that the festival is ­going all out to ensure the screening will be one to remember for fans, though the details are being kept under wraps for now.

Rogue One is the first in an ­anthology series of films that complement the so-called "­canon films", which are Episodes I to VII, plus the forthcoming Episodes VIII and IX, which are due for release in December 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Future stand-alone anthology movies will include a Han Solo origin film, which is due for release in May 2018, starring Alden Ehrenreich (Hail Caesar!) as a young version of the fan-­favourite character played in the main movies by Harrison Ford.

Another fan favourite, bounty hunter Boba Fett, is also getting an origin film, which is pencilled in for release in 2020. Looking further ahead, Jedi master Yoda might also be getting a film of his own, and there are rumours of one or more films revealing what happened to Obi Wan Kenobi ­between the end of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the final film of the prequel trilogy, and the start of Episode IV: A New Hope (the original 1977 Star Wars movie).

For now, though, all attention is on Rogue One. Here is what we know about the film.

It is set shortly before the events of Episode IV and tells the story of the mission by the fledgling Rebel Alliance to steal the plans for Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine's planet-destroying Death Star. You might recall that these are the plans (spoiler alert) that Princess Leia hides inside R2-D2 at the start of Episode IV.

We also know that the film will feature the return to the big screen of one of cinema’s greatest ever villains, Darth Vader.

The Force Awakens was well ­received by fans last year, and ­early trailers for Rogue One ­received an enthusiastic response. Fans seemed to be particularly pleased that the new film seems to have a darker tone than The Force Awakens.

However rumours soon began to circulate that Disney had ­ordered extensive reshoots to lighten the tone.

The movie's star, ­Felicity Jones, who plays Jyn Erso, the rebel tasked with stealing the Death Star plans, dismissed these rumours during an interview with The National.

“It’s totally normal for films to go back for reshoots a number of times, for a number of reasons, just to capture certain aspects better and so on, not to change the whole feel of the film or the story,” she says. “I’m not the ­director but, as far as I know, there have been no reshoots for any reasons like that.”

Is this reassurance or damage limitation? We will find out on December 14.