The Phantom

Star Wars fans around the world have their opinion of what is the best lighsaber battle in the Star Wars movie franchise, so on this Star Wars day at 25thframe.co.uk we though we would give our opinion of what we think is the best battle seen on screen in the ever growing list of movies.

5. Rey Vs. Kylo Ren (with help from Finn) from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

There had been a Star Wars drought for a number of years (10 years) and with the buyout of Lucasfilms still fresh in everyones minds as well as the (at the time) badly received prequel trilogy the fan base wanted a good Star Wars movie.

JJ Abrahams was put in charge of directing the film, a life long fan of the series, and he delivered in spades, bringing arguably the best Star Wars film to date.

We instantly took to the new characters of the Rebel Alliances Rey and the First Orders Kylo Ren, and with Rey's force powers hinted at throughout, the dual between the two was inevitable, and at the end of the film Abrahams delivered, set within a forest of the Star Killer Base while the planet explodes around them.

4. Yoda Vs. Count Dooku from Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones

We knew Yoda was a Jedi Master and that he had fought in the Clone Wars that started at the end of the second part of prequel trilogy, and George Lucas knew he had to deliver.

As Yoda walks into the hanger where Count Dooku was trying to board his ship you simply knew what was about to happen, and as he pulls across his robes to reveal a small lightsaber this was the moment, he force pulls his weapon to his hand and turns it on.

The battle doesn't last long, but seeing the small green Jedi Master who usually finds it hard to walk bouncing around the walls during the fight is a joy.

3. Obi Wan Kenobi Vs. Darth Vader from Star Wars

The original movie introduces us to the legendary weapon, something not really seen on the big screen before but throught the stories Ben Kenobi tells Luke during the movie we know that the weapon is elegant and the Jedi are lethal with it.

We also believe at this time that Darth Vader is the arch enemy of Ben Kenobi, and by the end of the movie there has to be a metting of the two, and while trying to escape the Death Star the two come face to face.

Despite the technological abilities in special effects at the time this thrilled fans of a generation and when the inevitable happens at the end we are shocked at the loss of our new hero.

2. Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader on Cloud City from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

This battle comes as no surprise, we have seen Luke go through the training, and go off to rescue his friends, and we get the foreshadowing fof things to come on Dagobah.

When Luke goes into the carbon freeze chamber and the two enemies ignight their sabers in low light we get the almighty battle between the two enemies.

The style and technology used in this film is so much greater than that of the original Star Wars that it feels fresh and thrilling, and at the end of the battle we get one of cinemas greatest reveals, so good to this day it is celebrated as THE movie twist of all times.

1. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi Vs. Darth Maul from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

The movie gets a lot of criticism, but over the last 20 years time has been kind and in the grander scheme of the saga the fan base is looking at this film more favourably, and it has the best lighsaber battle of all time.

It had been 16 years since we'd had any proper Star Wars to enjoy and despite the film not getting the critical reaction Lucas wanted the Dual Of Fates was spectacular.

The highlight is at the start of the battle as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan face the Sith Lord Darth Maul, as the John Williams music 'Duel Of Fates' starts to get more intense Maul ignites a single blade on his lightsaber, then the money shot happens and another blade appears from the other side, every Star Wars Fan looked on in amazement as the incredible battle unfolds between the 3 warriors.

The only real shame is that, inevitably, Darth Maul dies at the end of the movie, although in quiet spectacular style, but with little screen time fans wanted more, although as seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story they have brought him back and who knows if he'll appear in another movie or not?

Returning 17 years after their last teaming Will Smith and Martin Lawrence team up as Bad Boys again in Bad Boys For Life and hit the top with a far better than expected debut while Robert Downey Jr. limps into number 2 with Dolittle.

Bad Boys For Life

With a change of director from Micheal Bay to Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence sequel vehicle hits the top of the US box office with ease taking a surprising $59.1 Million.

The last time we had a Bad Boys movie was 17 years ago in July 2003 when Bad Boys II made its debut at the top with $46.5 Million, so the love for this franchise has not demished at all.

Dolittle

Robert Downey Jr. first movie since the mega smash hit Avengers: Endgame which went on to be the highest grossing movie of all time limps into the box offie with a debut gross of $22.5 Million.

This will be worrying for the studio and it could end up as one of the stars lowest grossing movies.

To put this into perspective the debut gross is even lower that the $29 Million debut of the 1998 Eddie Murphy Doctor Dolittle, without adjusting for inflation.

1917

Sam Mendes much praised war movie drop to number 2 this weekend with a $22.1 Million weekend gross putting the film total at $76.7 Million after 4 weeks of release, 2 weeks on wide release.

Jumanji: The Next Level

The Dwayne Johnson starring sequel movie falls to 4 this weekend with $9.5 Million for a US total gross of $270.4 Million after 6 weeks of release.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

J.J. Abrams final star wars movie falls to 5 this week with $8.3 Million on its 5th weekend of release.

The film has without doubt been a success with a total US gross of $492 Million and is the highest total grossing movie on the box offie this week, but in terms of film in the Star Wars franchise, and the marketing hype the film was given, it is perhaps a failure and wont reach the $620 Million of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Some good news this week for the film, it has passed the $474.5 Million of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Parasite

The much praised South Korea movie is the longest running film on the US box office this week with 15 weeks and a total gross of $27.7 Million.

Disney Held their bi-annual conference for fans last week with plenty of news and info for The House Of Mouse but one of the more anticipated things was new footage from the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker.

Billed as the end of the epic Skywalker saga that stared 42 years ago with Star Wars (A New Hope) the film directed by JJ Abrahams will hopefully wrap up all loose ends and answer all question built up during that time.

The new footage in the 'trailer' was sparse, but along with new footage of all the primary characters that lasted on screen seconds the two money shots were Kylo Ren and Ray having a lightsaber fight, reminiscent of Kenobi and Skywalker at the end of Revenge Of The Sith, and Rey unfolding a duel ended lightsaber while wearing a black robe, reminiscent of Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.

The trailer is narrated by Emperor Palpatine which makes you wonder if Rey turns to the dark side of the force and becomes the new Darth! Or is JJ Abrahams just messing with us.

The film is set for release 19th December 2019, you can check out the new footage below.

The bio-pic of Freddy Mercury and Queen makes its debut at the top of the UK box office knocking A Star Is Born to the runner up spot after 2 weeks at number 1.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Taking over at the top with a fantastic opening weekend of £9.5 the film starring Rami Malek wowed UK audiences but didn't please all critics.

This opening puts the film in the top 100 opening weekends in the UK ever at number 90, one below The Secret Life Of Pets and one above Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

For the stars this will be by far their biggest movie to date, for director Bryan Singer it needs to beat all the X-Men movies he has directed the highest of which is X-Men Days Of Future Past, but don't rule it our just yet.

A Star Is Born

Being dumped down from the top to the number 2 position is the Lady Gaga starring movie which takes £2.1 million on its 4th weekend of release.

This brings the films total UK gross to and very good £19.2 million, the 14th highest grossing movie of 2018.

Halloween

The Jamie Lee Curtis starring movie topped the charts in many places around the globe last week, except in the UK where it landed at number 2, this week it falls to number 3 with £1.6 million to brings its total to £5.8 million after 2 weeks.

Smallfoot

Hanging on for another weekend the family animation takes £1.5 million for a UK gross of £7.7 million.

Johnny English Strikes Again

The Rowan Atkinson comedy closes out the top 5 at the film beins to fall down the chart but takes £1.5 million on its 3rd weekend for a £14.1 million total.

This week marks a bit of a mile stone in film global grosses, Despicable Me 3 goes over $1 billion, the first of the series to do so, this means now the top 30 top global grossing movies have all grossed over $1 Billion.

The first movie to do so was Titanic back in 1998 and was the only film to do so for a long time, that film had another bite of the cherry in 2012 and its gross is now over $2 billion.

The next film to do it was The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King in 2003, since then we have had at least one film a year do the fate.

The oldest film to go over $1 Billion is Jurassic Park from 1993, but again that had another go in 2011 which pushed it over the mark, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace similarly did the same.

To date only 3 film have gone to $2 Billion, Avatar (the top grossing movie of all time), Titanic and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The next milestone will be the top 50 all over a billion, which at the current rate will be some time in 2020/21, and then of course we look forward to the next Star Wars film going over the $2 Billion mark!.