At the closing ceremonies of Star Wars Celebration Europe on Sunday, Lucasfilm announced that its next fan fest Star Wars Celebration VII will be timed to the theatrical release of Star Wars: Episode VII, and will be held in Anaheim, California from April 16-18, 2015. Does this mean we should expect a May, 2015 release for “Episode VII”? Hopefully we’ll find out soon.
Star Wars Celebration Europe was attended by more than 20,000 fans from 40 different countries. In a Main Stage event hosted by Warwick Davis, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced that legendary composer John Williams will return to score the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII, to be directed by J.J. Abrams. And one of the Executive Producers from “Star Wars Rebels,” Dave Filoni, was on hand to guide fans through the genesis of the upcoming animated series, revealing designs heavily influenced by original “Star Wars” concept artist Ralph McQuarrie. While unable to attend in person, Executive Producers Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman shared their excitement for the series in a video message recorded exclusively for Celebration attendees. “Star Wars Rebels” will begin airing on Disney XD starting in fall of 2014.
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” was also featured at the event, spotlighting a first look at The Complete Season Five Blu-ray and DVD boxed sets, and the massive Seasons 1-5 Collector’s Edition, both scheduled for an October 15 release.
Lucasfilm also released two more backstage videos, the first of which is Warwick Davis talking to concept artists Doug Chiang and Iain McCaig and the second features Davis interviewing “Star Wars Rebels” executive producer Dave Filoni.
