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| Courtesy of Disney |
Director Rian Johnson is officially underway with production for Star Wars VIII according to a new report from EW.
“There is no better way to propel this franchise into the future than producing quality products,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII, the next chapter of the legendary saga, has just commenced and it will be in theaters December 2017. And production of Episode IX, a 2019 release, has also begun.”
J.J. Abrams directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens which released two months ago to the tune of well over $2 billion dollars globally. If you’ve at all contributed to that sum then you already may know who probably is and/or isn’t returning the cast apart from the return of leading pair of actor John Boyega and actress Daisy Ridley among others.
Plans are also in motion for a third with Jurassic World helmer Colin Trevorrow directing while Disney and Lucasfilm seuge from the recent wrapping of director Gareth Edwards’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story onto the production of the upcoming Han Solo spin-off, so on and so forth.
“Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we’ve seen so far,” Iger stated. “This is the first of a set of planned stand-alone stories and we’re already in preproduction on our next one, for release in May of 2018.”
Star Wars VIII is releasing on December 15, 2017 with the ninth installment slated for May 24, 2019 while Rogue One makes way for December 16, 2016.
Stay tuned for more details.