Star Wars: Episode VIII has started filming!

Geek Girl Diva

If you’ve been keeping track of filming dates for new Star Wars movies (who isn’t?), here’s a new one to add to the timeline. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Episode VIII started filming today according to the CEO of Disney, Bob Iger.

The news was part of Disney’s quarterly earnings call and Iger went on to discuss the film’s almost $3 billion in earnings at the box office and another $3 billion globally in consumer products.

When he discussed the company strategy for the franchise, Iger said the key is not to forget what generated all that income – tickets and merchandise. In his words, “There is no better way to propel this franchise into the future than producing quality products.”

You know what that means – continuing to generate awesome merchandise for the currently slated films and beyond. Rogue One is of course slated for December 16th this year, and Rian Johnson’s as yet untitled Episode VIII is on track for a December 2017 release. But that’s not all.

“Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we’ve seen so far,” Iger said. “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.” That May 18 slot belongs to the new “young Han Solo” standalone with Episode IX coming out in 2019.

Just think, that’s four more years of new and exciting Star Wars figures and Star Wars Collectibles merchandise for casual and diehard collectors. Star Wars fans, the future looks very, very bright!

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