Filming on Star Wars: Episode VIII has begun

With STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS grossing over two billion dollars in less than two months, Disney must be feeling very confident about the upcoming onslaught of STAR WARS films which are in the pipeline. During Walt Disney Co.’s quarterly earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke ecstatically about the financial success of THE FORCE AWAKENS and revealed that filming has officially begun on STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII.

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.

Rian Johnson (LOOPER) will be taking over directing duties for the next installment of the STAR WARS sequel trilogy and much of the cast of STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS will be returning for the sequel, which John Boyega has called a "much darker" film than STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. Bob Iger also praised what he'd seen so far of Gareth Edwards' ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, which tells the tale of a group of Rebel spies on a mission to steal the plans for the Empire's new weapon, the Death Star.

Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we’ve seen so far. This is the first of a set of planned stand-alone stories and we’re already in pre-production on our next one, for release in May of 2018.

The "next one" is the as-yet-untitled film about the adventures of a young Han Solo which is set to be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a script by Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan. We don't know who will land the coveted role of Han Solo, but pretty much every young male actor in Hollywood has thrown his hat into the ring.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII will hit theaters on December 15, 2017.