Rumor: Why You Should Be Excited For Disney’s D23 Event This Year!
This year will be very exciting for Star Wars fans. In 10 months time we will get to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the highly anticipated sequel to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by Rian Johnson. Just 5 months after that, we will have the pleasure of enjoying the second Star Wars stand-alone movie about the adventures of young Han Solo in theaters. Because of the short time between the two projects, Disney and Lucasfilm will have to take a slightly different approach in promoting the movies…
First, let’s start with a few bits that we’ve heard from two separate sources.
The first thing is that the title for the untitled Han Solo film will be revealed during Disney’s fan event D23, which takes place at Anaheim Convention Center from July 14-16.
The second thing, coming from a separate source, is that there will be a bigger commitment concerning Star Wars at D23 this year than there has been in the past, and fans won’t want to miss all the excitement at this year’s event.
We all know that Disney/Lucasfilm’s promo strategy has always been to focus on the current movie in development and throw everything they got for that movie to avoid sidetracking the fans with other upcoming projects. In 2015 during Celebration Anaheim and SDCC all eyes were fixed on The Force Awakens with just one panel dedicated to Rogue One, which really didn’t show anything. In 2016 we had a similar situation with Rogue One being the main player on all events. Episode VIII and Han Solo got a combined panel that again was pretty vague.
It is clear that this year’s Celebration in Orlando will focus on Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. Of course Han Solo will also have a presence, but again I think it will be much smaller compared to TLJ, trying not to distract the fans from the main course in the meal. And it is a safe bet to assume that next year the Han Solo film will be the focus of Celebration 2018. But there is one big problem. With the official confirmation that Han Solo will hit theaters on May 25, 2018, it means that Celebration 2018 will happen just mere weeks before the movie’s premiere (assuming that the event will be again in April, which is the earliest for these gatherings), and it will be too late to start the movie’s main promo push. Also, other fan events like D23 and SDCC will take place after the movie is released.
So, based on what we’ve heard from our sources and the release date of the Han Solo film, it’s easy to conclude that this year Disney/LFL only have 2 upcoming events, where they can actively promote Han Solo. That’s D23 and SDCC. It’s interesting though that this year both events are separated just by a few days. D23 is from July 14-16 and SDCC is from July 20-23. I doubt that this is a mere coincidence. In the last few years Disney undoubtedly showed that they are slowly withdrawing their products from other events like SDCC (Marvel’s presence there have been significantly toned down in recent years) and are trying to use their own, like Star Wars Celebration and D23. So, it’s not hard to guess that this year Disney will try to overshadow SDCC with their own event. While there might be some Star Wars presence during SDCC, we think that the real news and revelations will happen during D23, especially about the Han Solo movie.
So, you really don’t want to miss Dsiney’s D23 event this year. Unfortunately unlike Star Wars Celebration, D23 is not live streamed, at least not until now. Still, if any news hit, they will surely be covered by the official Star Wars site and all the bloggers who will attend the event. July is promising to be really exciting.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
Seeing how they are going to market two SW films at the same time is going to be interesting.
Well, one is about a pan-galactic conflict, the other is probably about Han gaining good reputation in the smuggling business. We’re sure to get either gang warfare, Imperial entanglements, or both.
I’m surprised that there isn’t more talk of the Han Solo movie getting released half a year after The Last Jedi and why they just don’t keep the successful Xmas release schedule going. Maybe they want to keep space away from the Avatar sequels (assuming they actually get released starting Xmas 2018).
I think they announced the May thing before Avatar sequels were announced
Those Avatar sequels have been dated for months now
They announced this being in out in May in July 2015.
As I recall, the original plan for TFA was to release it over Memorial Day weekend in 2015, in keeping with the tradition of every SW film to date. When it quickly became apparent that the production would need more time to complete the film to everyone’s satisfaction, the release date was pushed back to Christmas 2015.
I suspect they may be using the Solo movie as an opportunity to shift everything back to the classic May release schedule. Time will tell.
I hope so!
So do I! (Though my reason is pretty selfish – my birthday’s on May 26th.) ;^)
Totally hope this is the case, utter pain trying to get to see a film over the Xmas period with work and family.
Standing in line during the dead of winter is no fun either.
Disney isn’t scared of Avatar, it’s the other way around. I’m assuming they want to get back to the May release dates for their films.
Isn’t D23 industry only? can anyone attend?
https://d23.com/d23-expo-2017-tickets-on-sale-beginning-july-14-2016/
Thanks!
Hopefully we’ll get some pictures of everyone in costume.
hmm. The fact that they mention the title will be ‘revealed’ at D23 makes me think it won’t be a simple title. I always just assumed it would be Solo: A Star Wars Story, but if that is the title they reveal then they better have brought some A-Game photos or posters unless they are prepared to have a bunch of annoyed fans at the most obvious reveal of all time.
Perhaps the title is more centered around the plot of the movie itself? Like “Kessel Run: A Han Solo Story” or maybe they heard the criticism and will drop the whole ‘story’ subtitle altogether and just have it be some other title cheeky title ‘Making a Scoundrel’ or ‘Scruffy-looking nerf-herder: The Movie”. Lol, well in either case lucasfilm is usually pretty on-point in the title department so ill leave it to the professionals 😛
I would fall in love with it if it was called Scruffy-looking nerf-herder: The Movie
And “Han Solo 2: Who’s Scruffy Looking?” for the sequel
Haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere but I wonder if we’ll be seeing Jabba in Han Solo? I’d like to see him in prosthetic form again since he’s one character they have never gotten right in digital form and seems to get worse each time they attempt it.
I’d like to see them get into the whole rival Hutt clan thing which the new canon hasn’t really touched yet and would be novel to what we seen onscreen so far.
There were hutts in clone wars. That is canon.
Maybe with 2017 digital technology they can get him right.
No we don’t need 2017 technology to “get him right”. The 1983 technology produced the iconic Jabba that permeates pop-culture to this very day.
It would be absolutely amazing to see Jabba in the Han Solo film —- using the same prosthetic / puppetry that literally brought to life a character with such grotesque charisma that he will never be forgotten…
I’ve been thinking that too. It would obviously make sense for him to be involved. I wouldn’t mind seeing Boba Fett pop up in a small role either.
So, if things stay the same, we should expect the first teaser trailer of Episode IX at Celebration 2018. Which most likely be held after the release of the Han Solo movie.
I’m interested to see what the Han Solo movie will be called. I just assumed it would be Solo A Star Wars Story.
Han Solo’s Day Off – A Star Wars Story
Han Solo – A Series of Unfortunate Events – A Star Wars Story
Han Solo in Watch Out for those Bridges without Railings! – A Star Wars Story.