Star Wars Celebration Is Coming Sooner Than Expected
Over the last year and a half, we have missed out on a ton of big events, including ones which allow us to interact with people from all over the world in celebration of our favorite comic book and film franchises. One such victim was the annual Star Wars Celebration event, first established back in 1999. Advertised as the "ultimate fan experience," it, too, was cancelled for 2020 and 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The event itself would last for days and feature major announcements, immersive exhibits, an interactive floor show, screenings, exclusive merchandise, celebrity panels, and loads of other cool Star Wars-related media, meaning fans of the franchise were left heartbroken when they couldn't take part.
For those who have never been able to attend a Star Wars Celebration event, here are some examples of the biggest things to happen since its inception:
George Lucas himself attended Star Wars Celebration III, back in 2005, just one month prior to the release of Revenge of the Sith. Many fans camped out overnight in order to ensure that they didn't miss an audience with the man who gave us this universe in the first place. Lucas would go on to give details about the future of Star Wars, confirming there would indeed be much more to come, and fans got to ask him questions directly.
Dave Filoni, best known nowadays for bringing us The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and more upcoming Star Wars content, made his first appearance at Celebration IV back in 2007. This happened to coincide with the franchise's 30th anniversary, so it's fitting that this is when Filoni would give us our first look at Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Fans in attendance even received a special poster teasing a new character, which turned out to be Ahsoka Tano.
Back in 2015, not too long before the release of The Force Awakens, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was joined onstage by director J.J. Abrams and cast of the film. Although a teaser trailer had been released previously, they treated fans to a brand new teaser trailer for the upcoming new installment to the Skywalker saga which featured the first look at Han and Chewbacca. The trailer would feature Han's fitting line, "Chewie, we're home." This sent fans into a frenzy and the roar from fans has been described as being similar to that of an earthquake.
At the end of 2016, Star Wars fans were shocked by the news Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) had sadly passed away. The following year, Star Wars was celebrating its 40th anniversary, but fans who attended that year's Celebration felt the loss of Fisher due to her absence. Carrie's daughter Billie Lourd, however, who also played a Star Wars character herself, read out a fitting tribute to her late mum. Fans were left in tears, though, when curtains pulled back to reveal John Williams and a full orchestra who began to play "Princess Leia's Theme." There was not a dry eye in the place.
After a horrid year and a half, we can finally bring fans some good news as it has been announced the event will go ahead in 2022, but take place earlier than expected. The event was previously due to be held between August 18 and August 21, now it will move up to earlier in the year and take place between May 26 and May 29, still in Anaheim as previously planned for 2020's event.
As if that wasn't enough good news, fans who had tickets for the older cancelled dates will automatically have them transferred to the new dates, with refunds being offered up until June 11th 2021 for those who no longer wish to go or can't make the new dates.
Along with what has been mentioned above, the event has become synonymous with the release of exclusive LEGO Star Wars sets in the past such as 75227 Darth Vader Bust and 75294 Bespin Duel (which you can see below), the latter of which was due to be released at the 2020 event.
LEGO and Star Wars have always, seemingly, gone hand-in-hand, especially since the release of the LEGO Star Wars videogames. This means that we may see the release of some brand new sets in the leadup to 2022.
With what we have mentioned above, along with all the other teasers and exhibitions that take place during the event, it's no wonder fans flock to the Celebration in their thousands, from all over the globe.
It remains to be seen what the event will actually look like in order to ensure it complies with whatever COVID guidelines are at the time, but with the world now starting to gradually get back to some degree of normality, Star Wars fans can rejoice over the knowledge that the biggest event of their year is making a comeback and perhaps we will get even more updates about the future of the franchise and the plans to keep us locked in the galaxy far, far away for years and years to come.
As always we will bring you more updates as and when they are released.
Until next time!
Source(s): Brick Fanatics