Star Wars: Episode VIII Officially Begins Principal Photography

Star Wars: The Force Awakens success has been out of this world one might even say from a galaxy far far away, but now it’s time to look to the future. Rian Johnson has written the script for Star Wars: Episode VIII, and now moves into the director chair as the film has officially launched principal photography.

The cameras being turned on was announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger during the quarterly earnings call. Disney had a pretty good fourth quarter of 2015. That’s largely on The Force Awakens‘ $2 billion global box office cume, plus over $3 billion in consumer products. Now, it’s full speed ahead on the next two chapters of the third Star Wars trilogy.

“There is no better way to propel this franchise into the future than producing quality products. Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII, the next chapter of the legendary saga, has just commenced and will be in theaters December 2017. And production of Episode IX, a 2019 release, has also begun,” Iger said on the call.

Rogue One, meanwhile, is not quite wrapped, but Iger said they “absolutely love what [they’ve] seen so far.” He also said the next stand-alone story in the Star Wars saga is in preproduction. Interestingly, despite moving Episode VIII to a December release, Iger re-iterated that the second stand-alone film, a Han Solo origin story, is set “for release in May of 2018.”

OH MY GOD FANdemaniacs, is this the best news EVER? We have all seen The Force Awakens a gazillion times, and now we find out that the next one is starting production. What do you want to see happen in the next installment of this amazing and legendary saga? Let us know in the comments below.

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Jenn

Jenn is a Book Lover, Fangirl, Daniel Cudmore's Number one Fan, and Ricky Whittle connoisseur and the "chairwoman" of #TheWhittleExperience. Co-Owner of FANdomConsultants.com. When not found traveling to and from NYC (my home, my heart), reading, or writing on one of the several sites she owns, she's usually on Tumblr stalking Ricky Whittle gifs and scouring the Internet for more goodies on Dan. Jenn is also a budding artist and has her own studio where she creates some fandom made goodies. Follow her on Twitter, & Instagram.