The Force was with many Japanese, as well as visitors from abroad, at a “Star Wars” event on Friday where Lucasfilm announced that the next installation in the franchise will hit theaters in May 2027 starring Ryan Gosling.
Appearing on stage before a lightsaber-waving crowd at Makuhari Messe center in Chiba, Gosling showed a photo of his childhood bedsheets, plastered with illustrations from the space epic created by George Lucas.
“I guess I was dreaming about ‘ Star Wars ’ even before I saw the film,” Gosling said.
Shawn Levy, who will direct the movie, told the crowd that “Star Wars: Starfighter” will not be a prequel or a sequel, but a new standalone adventure with new characters set several years after “Episode Nine.” Filming starts later this year, he said.
Levy, who also directed the 2006 film “The Pink Panther” and the recent Netflix series “Stranger Things,” said little else, noting: “I can’t say much about it because I understand the rules.”
Only the title was shown on a giant screen, although that was enough for the crowd to burst into cheers.
The event, called Star Wars Celebration, which runs through Sunday, is full of "Star Wars"-themed merchandise including T-shirts, toys, books, manga comics, AC chargers, cellphone covers, autographs, posters and more.
The Lego booth featured a man wearing the ominous black mask and cloak of Darth Vader, made out of Legos. The deep-breathing villain also appeared as traditional Japanese lacquerware decorating earphones in a limited edition of 10, each selling for 990,000 yen. Darth Vader T-shirts were more affordable at 8,000 yen.
“It makes me so happy to think everyone here loves ‘Star Wars,’” said Yoshiki Takahashi, 26, who was holding a remote-controlled R2-D2 miniature robot.
“I love the directing, the sound of the gun and the lightsaber, but above all the story, with great fight scenes and, of course, human drama,” he added.
Another Japanese man, who said he goes only by Hiro, was dressed as the “Star Wars” character Mandalorian, in a detailed costume he made himself, complete with a plastic sword and armor.
Also present were “Star Wars” fans from around the world, including a robed Raul Herrera, a computer science teacher from Chile, who was there with friends.
“All of them,” said Herrera, when asked which ‘Star Wars’ films he’d seen. “The sense of commitment of the characters, I really like it.”
With offshoot stories spanning generations and literally the cosmos, “Star Wars” is one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time since its 1977 debut, starring Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
It may be natural that “Star Wars” appeals to Japanese: Its story about a samurai-like hero who befriends various characters along his journey echoes the nation’s fables, as well as legendary Akira Kurosawa films.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
9 Comments
Login to comment
Pukey2
Personally I thought the first 3 movies during the 1970s-80s were more than enough.
Jimizo
Maybe, but the later films did give us the classic ‘younglings’ line. I honestly spat out my tea in laughter when I heard that.
Anyway, hope the fans enjoy the next film.
fallaffel
Great. Apparently many others disagree though.
Jimizo
Yes.
The people who sneer at this type of thing are often the same types who like ‘real’ music.
People to avoid at parties.
Jimizo
Given your problems with basic numbers, I’d be a bit careful using terms like broke.
”6/3”? Really?
tora
Disney. Give it up already. Done with the wokeness.
patkim
I would have to agree with that. The first trilogy (which is actually the second trilogy considering it was episodes 4-6) were all cinematic masterpieces which I thoroughly enjoyed in either the theater or had the fortunate experience of viewing at a drive-in. Episodes 1-3 were awful. The third trilogy, was a bit better, but still left a lot to be desired. Did like Rogue One and the Mandalorian series though.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Oh boy this IP can't be driven much further into the ground I assume. The only thing half decent under Disney was Andor and that was just from embracing 70's era futurism.
fallaffel
The animated series are also very good. Better than all of the recent movies.