"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has not even hit the theaters yet, but Lucasfilm and Disney have already announced the release date for the follow-up film, the untitled "Star Wars: Episode IX."
It has been revealed on the Star Wars official website that on May 24, 2019, the ninth film of the Skywalker saga will make it to the big screens. While the studios have found massive success in the box office with the December releases of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," it looks like the franchise is going back to its roots and will be releasing the upcoming films in the month of May.
All of the episodes in the original trilogy, as well as in the prequel trilogy, had a May launch. Now, even the upcoming "Han Solo" spin-off movie is scheduled to premiere in May 2018, which makes it the first "Star Wars" movie to be released during the summer since the relaunch of the franchise. This also makes "The Last Jedi" the last film to be released during the winter season.
At this point, "Star Wars IX" is still in the pre-production stage. According to Screen Rant, film director Colin Trevorrow has revealed that a script is in place and they are already working on finalizing it, making sure that it will not include the late Carrie Fisher's character Leia, since it has been decided that the studios will not be using CGI just to keep her in future films.
Along with the announcement of the release date for "Star Wars: Episode IX," Lucasfilm and Disney also revealed that the much-awaited fifth chapter of the "Indiana Jones" series is set to premiere on July 10, 2020. More importantly, it has been confirmed that both actor Harrison Ford and director Steven Spielberg will return for the film.
