Star Wars Animated Telecast Planned for Super Bowl LXI

ESPN, Lucasfilm, Disney and the NFL have announced plans for Star Wars Funday Football, an animated alternate telecast of Super Bowl LXI scheduled for February 14, 2027. The presentation will be available on Disney, Disney Channel, Disney XD and the ESPN App, according to the announcement. The telecast is planned to recreate each play in real time, rendering players as animated avatars in the Star Wars universe. Characters from the franchise are expected to join the action at key moments, with references to the films appearing throughout. Anthony Daniels is expected to voice C-3PO, the character he played in the original 1977 film. The announced production will combine player-tracking data from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats with optical tracking from Sony Hawk-Eye Innovations. Sony Beyond Sports technology will be used to turn live gameplay into animation. The announcement describes the format and distribution, but the event has not yet taken place. The presentation is billed as the first animated alternate telecast of a Super Bowl. It will be one of several viewing options planned for the game. The traditional broadcast is scheduled for ESPN and ABC, while other announced...