Rian Johnson Teases Upcoming Episode VIII Shoot

Rian Johnson took to Tumblr to tease the upcoming commencement of the Star Wars: Episode VIII shoot.

The director of the sequel to The Force Awakens and writer of both Episode VIII and IX recently shared a picture he took of the exterior of Pinewood Studios in London. His feet are propped up on the cart he’s sitting in, and the caption for the shot reads, “Getting Close.”

http://rcjohnso.tumblr.com/post/138471500490/getting-close

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The shoot of Episode VIII was announced to have been delayed about a month in January. Although no official explanation was given, sources like Jeff Sneider of TheWrap heard the delay was due to script rewrites. The rewrites reportedly involved giving main characters Rey and Finn bigger roles over new characters who are apparently going to be introduced in VIII.

The premiere of Episode VIII in theaters was also delayed, though this may have been more of a business move by Disney than a result of production setbacks. The film will now premiere December 15th, 2017 instead of May 26th, 2017. Considering the success The Force Awakens had by hitting theaters near Christmas, and the first standalone Star Wars film, Rogue One, will also be premiering in December, Disney may be thinking from both a financial and a consistency point of view that December is the best month for Star Wars movies.

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What Rian Johnson doesn’t tell us is how close we’re getting to production, but I imagine it will start sometime this month. But it looks like we’ll be seeing the results of production beginning soon.

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