So WHEN is Celebration Anyway?!

Ok, so we know the next Star Wars Celebration is in 2019.  But when is it exactly?  And where for that matter!

Unlike the major comics cons, like SDCC and NYCC, Celebration doesn't have a set date or location, having been held across America, in Europe and even in Japan during its history.  This makes predicting dates a bit like trying to fire proton torpedoes down a Death Star's exhaust port - you can do it but you can't always trust your targeting computer!

Let's start with the easy part - location.  All the rumours going round say it's going to be Anaheim.  That makes sense.  The rumour during the last day of Anaheim was that Celebration would become an annual event alternating between the US and the rest of the world, with US Celebrations alternating between Anaheim and Orlando.  Sure that pattern falls down a bit with Celebration skipping a year, but it holds up well enough.  Plus the Anaheim Convention Centre just completed a massive expansion project making it a better option than ever and if Disney are looking to time Celebration to the opening of Galaxy's Edge then the Disneyland expansion in Anaheim is due to be completed first.

So that's where.  How about when?

Yesterday I'd have said April.  I'd have put money on it.  The last two US Celebrations were in April and the teaser trailers for both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi debuted there.  It seemed obvious that Celebration 2019 would do the same.

Then Star Wars News Net reported they'd heard that Celebration would indeed be Ahaheim, but it would be Fall 2019, not Spring, and TheForce.net quickly followed up with their own report that their own source was also saying Fall is indeed the new date.

I know I'll probably be wrong (I certainly don't have any sources) but this just feels wrong to me.

Maybe it's just because Celebration has never been that late in the year before or because I've gotten used to Celebration kicking off the build up to each episode of the Sequel Trilogy but Disney already have their own D23 Expo in Anaheim at the end of August next year and ReedPop have NYCC, their biggest event of the year, at the start of October.  In terms of marketing the Sequel Trilogy movies have tended to drop their final trailers around mid October with a Monday night football game, so it's not inconceivable that the IX trailer could premiere at Celebration instead.  It just seems very close to NYCC to me and with them both being ReedPop events would ReedPop really want to put their customers in a position where they're choosing between the two?

Both SWNN and TheForce.Net speculate that a big reason for the Fall date is to tie in with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, which is due to open at both Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios next year.  Since Disneyland is due to open first they can't be tying the opening of Galaxy's Edge to Celebration as that will be earlier in the year.  Let's be honest, Celebration doesn't need Galaxy's Edge (which would be a separate ticketed event anyway) to boost attendance and Disneyland certainly doesn't need Celebration to boost park attendance for Galaxy's Edge.  So we're likely looking at special ticketed event like Galactic Nights (which may or may not be exclusive to Celebration attendees) that will be held in the new area of the park.

Don't get me wrong, this would be insanely cool and I'd be one of the first in line to try and get tickets for it, but I'm not convinced that they'd set the dates for Celebration around this.  It's a fantastic bonus but it's not the main event.  Especially when doing this would mean losing that first reveal of Episode IX (sure the final trailer will be amazing but nothing kicks off the hype like that first teaser), the first trailer for the upcoming season of whatever the next animated series is (along with the season premiere) and maybe, depending on when the streaming series debuts, the first look (and maybe pilot premiere) of the live action series as well.

And then there's Making Star Wars' tweet;

Because of the DMs: There is Celebration happenings going on. I was told we wouldn’t hear anything for a few still... there’s weird building blocks at play that might make concrete info accurate now but not tomorrow so I’m shutting my mouth.

— Jason Ward (@MakingStarWars) 16 April 2018

So whilst the current rumours say Anaheim in Fall (likely October), as Yoda would say "always in motion is the future."  My gut still says April but that's just me.

Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for that future to solidify.  Based on last Celebration the expectation amongst the fan community has been for an official announcement on May 4th.  This was supported recently when the Facebook fanpage Star Wars Celebration Wherever 2019 posted that they would have an announcement about Celebration 2019 on May 4th, confirming in the comments that this came to them from sources and wasn't just speculation.

May the 4th be with us indeed :o)