Hollywood loves a marriage, and there may be few marriages so rich in potential than the fusion of computer game developer Rovio and production company Lucasfilm. Or, in simpler language, Angry Birds and Star Wars.

The most successful mobile game in iPad history and the most successful film franchise in cinema history have given birth to Angry Birds: Star Wars.

The latest iteration of the popular game is set in the Star Wars universe.

Instead of birds and pigs engaging in a war of attrition, Angry Birds: Star Wars will feature bird-like iterations of iconic Star Wars characters such as Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi.

They will be pitted against pig-versions of the Star Wars franchise villains, notably the sinister Sith Lord, Darth Vader, who features in the short trailer released this week.

The trailer is the first step in a marketing campaign building up to the game's launch on November 8.

The game's established birds will be transformed into specific iterations of the Star Wars characters for Star Wars: Angry Birds.

Angry Birds' Red Bird, foe example, will be based on Luke Skywalker as he was seen flying an X-Wing star-fighter in the Death Star battle at the end of the original Star Wars film.

The game will be released on the iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire and PC platforms.

"You will see a pig-esque Vader and pig-esque stormtroopers," Lucasfilm's vice-president of marketing Paul Southern told the American newspaper USA Today.

The game will also feature recreations of the Star Wars universes's iconic locations, including the desert world Tatooine, where Luke Skywalker was raised, and the ice planet Hoth, which featured in the film The Empire Strikes Back.

Angry Birds is the most successful computer game on the iPad platform. It has been downloaded more than one billion times.

The fusion of the two companies, and the marketing might they command, is formidable.

"We wanted this to feel like one of the biggest, if not the biggest, entertainment launches of the year," Rovio's general manager in North America Andrew Stalbow told US media.

It is not Rovio's first partnership with another company on Angry Birds.

In March they released Angry Birds Space, in partnership with NASA. And last year Angry Birds Rio was released in partnership with the film studio 20th Century Fox, and based on their film, Rio.

 

- Sydney Morning Herald

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