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We still have several months to go before the release of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ which is Episode Eight in the series.  (December 15th to be exact.)  But now Disney has already decided on a date for the next movie, Episode Nine, and it’s a bit startling.

You may recall that both 2015’s ‘The Force Awakens’ and 2016’s ‘Rogue One’ were originally given  May release dates, but production delays and reshoots forced Disney to move their premiers to the Holiday Season– a move that seems to have only benefited the franchise, as the ‘Star Wars’ flicks avoided the superheroes and other big budget spectacles of the Summer Movie Season.  ‘Rogue One”s only real competition last year was ‘Fantastic Beasts’, but a ‘Harry Potter’ film without Harry Potter in it couldn’t quite measure up.

But it seems that the upcoming ‘Han Solo’ anthology, directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (‘The LEGO Movie’) has gotten the brand back on track and Disney has gone back to its original plan.  ‘Han Solo’ is set for release on May 25, 2018 and now Disney has announced that ‘Episode IV’ will arrive almost a year later to the day on May 24, 2019.  It will be directed by Colin Trevorrow (‘Jurassic World’) but beyond the date, Disney remained as secretive as ever with this brand.  Not even a title has been announced.

Prior to ‘The Force Awakens’, the first film under Disney, all ‘Star Wars’ movies came out in May, so the shift returns to the old tradition.

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, directed by Rian Johnson, is currently in post-production and will be released on December 15, 2017.  It stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwedoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern, plus Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels and Carrie Fisher in her final performance.