Whispers began whirring on social media that LucasFilm would reveal some kind of footage before the end of the year – whether a trailer, a brief teaser or a behind-the-scenes glimpse. But with no news from LucasFilm, and time running out before 2018 becomes 2019, are fans going to be left disappointed? It seems that may be the case – and anyone who’s said all along that it’s too early for a trailer may be proven right.
A new report from Star Wars News Net claims that signs point to some kind of behind-the-scenes video, if anything.
“If [a teaser] was this week it’d be online by now or info would be out there about it being rated,” an expert from TrailerTrack told them.
“For example, Disney’s other trailers set for this week at cinemas – Lion King, Artemis Fowl, Avengers, Cap Marvel – were all rated in the past two weeks.”
And why couldn’t a Star Wars teaser just hit cinemas next week? Because all of the big movies it could be attached to will be out by then.
“Aquaman, Bumblebee, Mary Poppins are the biggest releases of the month,” the expert continued.
“There’s a reason Disney has been dropping all these trailers like Avengers, Captain Marvel, Lion King, etc these past few weeks. Studios always time trailer launches to play with specific cinema releases.
“The theatrical placement is usually the first thing that’s decided and the online release is then decided based on that.
“And with something like Episode IX – major blockbuster trailers – they won’t have it play in cinemas before it’s online, otherwise low quality bootlegs will come out.
“This is why The Force Awakens’ teaser came on the morning of the first day of that ‘exclusive’ weekend run with The Hobbit – just as it was screened for the first time in US cinemas.”
Of course that’s not to say a teaser definitely isn’t on the way – it just means that the signs point to it being unlikely.
After all, it could be an online-only glimpse that we may be getting, rather than something more substantial that’s intended for cinemas.
Whatever the case, Star Wars: Episode IX – as yet untitled – is out in December 2019.