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Rumor: Star Wars Celebration 2019 Takes Place In Anaheim
Lucasfilm may be holding the next Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim during fall 2019. As the name suggests, the convention is full of festivities commemorating the ever-popular galaxy far, far away, with numerous panels dedicated to all corners of the franchise. Last year’s Celebration was a particularly memorable occasion, with a 40th anniversary retrospective, a touching tribute to the late Carrie Fisher, and the first trailer for The Last Jedi among the many highlights of the weekend.
There won’t be a Star Wars Celebration in 2018, but it was announced last spring it will return in 2019. At the time, the dates and place of the event were unknown, but the latest reports suggest Celebration is heading back to sunny California in the latter stages of next year.
Star Wars News Net has heard from one of their sources that Star Wars Celebration will be held in Anaheim next fall. A specific timeframe is not in place yet, though this could be an indicator an official statement is going to be made in the near future. Conventions like Celebration take a considerable amount of time to put together, so Lucasfilm will want to iron out all the details soon. This would be the first time since 2015 Star Wars Celebration is set in Anaheim. Screen Rant has reached out to Disney for comment and will update accordingly.
If true, this would mark something of a shift from Lucasfilm’s established marketing patterns. For the first two episodes of the sequel trilogy (released in 2015 and 2017), Celebration took place in the spring, acting as a launching pad for the films’ respective promotional campaigns. Final trailers for both Force Awakens and Last Jedi came out in the fall, but as part of ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcasts. Should Celebration 2019 be a fall event, the studio would likely have to mix things up a bit. Undoubtedly, Episode IX would be the centerpiece of the convention, and Lucasfilm would want to bring the house down with an explosive preview of the saga’s grand finale. A Star Wars 9 teaser could still release next spring, it just wouldn’t be in conjunction with a major event. San Diego Comic-Con and D23 are in the summer.
SWNN speculates the site of Anaheim is related to the fact the Galaxy’s Edge expansion at Disneyland is set to open prior to the one in Disney World. There are few things the Mouse House loves more than corporate synergy, so this could be part of a massive master plan to generate as much enthusiasm as possible about the new theme park. It’ll be interesting to see how it all shakes out, but this is certainly plausible, so fans should begin making early preparations.
KEY RELEASE DATES
Solo: A Star Wars Story release date: May 25, 2018
Star Wars 9 / Star Wars: Episode IX release date: Dec 20, 2019
