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The Star Wars franchise, owned by Disney, has announced release dates for three of its new upcoming films. Back in April 2023, it was reported that the franchise is currently working on three new live-action movies. A month later, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that the work on the upcoming films had begun, although they're not going to be released anytime soon.
However, according to Variety, the three films will be released on May 22, 2026, December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027, respectively. The former film was originally scheduled to release on December 19, 2025, but it apparently faced a delay due to some internal issues.
Fans are not sure what to make of this timeline, since the last time the franchise release two movies in a year, it turned out to be a disaster (Solo: A Star Wars Story was released 6 months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2018).
"Let's hope they're great": New Star Wars films get release dates but fans give polarising reactions
In an interview with Empire a month back, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy hinted that not a single film will be ready for theatrical release till 2025. She gave the example of the James Bond franchise and how they release quality films after taking long breaks:
"I've often brought up Bond. That's every three or four years and there wasn't this pressure to feel like you had to have a movie every year. I feel that was very important to Star Wars. We have to eventise this," she said.
She further said that even though people are awaiting the release of the films, she preferrs being honest to the loyal fanbase:
"It's much better to tell the truth. We're going to make these movies when they're ready to be made and release them when they're ready to be released," she continued.
However, after the revelation of the release dates, fans are unsure what to expect. This is how they reacted to the news under a post shared by Discussing Film:
Reactions from fans were pretty mixed as some were happy about the news while some were very skeptical about the future of the franchise. One fan said that May 4 could have been the perfect release date for a film but the studio missed an opportunity.
The upcoming films will be directed by Taika Waititi, who has confirmed that the scripts are still in development. Disney hasn't revealed anything about the storyline of the films as of yet.
