Star Wars Episode IX could show itself off sooner than expected

New rumors suggest that Disney might have a Life Day gift for Star Wars fans around the world by presenting them with a trailer for the first film.

Sure, we might not actually want to celebrate Life Day, because the Star Wars Holiday Special is terrible, but we couldn’t resist the pun. Here we are, though, picking up the latest in Star Wars Episode IX rumors and reports, which include hints that we may know more about Episode IX sooner rather than later.

They come via Steven Weintraub of Collider, with an additional hat tip to CBR, who picked up the story earlier today.

The initial tweet, which had fans abuzz, read like this:

Then, Weintraub later tweeted again about his regrets on how he posted the rumor:

Funnily enough, we here at Culturess are picking this up as well, but we’re about to do more than just what CBR did, which was point out that this actually would follow more in line with The Force Awakens‘ marketing. Instead, let’s look at a more pertinent question: Why would Disney want to follow this instead of The Last Jedi, especially with another Star Wars Celebration slated for April 2019?

Well, an earlier release would also continue the train that Disney has going right now, from the release of The Lion King‘s trailer on Thanksgiving to Captain Marvel earlier this week to the ongoing rumors about when we might see a first look at Avengers 4. Moreover, because it’s more in line with Force Awakens over Last Jedi, it might help clear the bad taste Star Wars fans have in their mouths over a year of a badly-marketed movie and a fandom that’s had its instances of bad behavior.

If there’s a December trailer for Episode IX, the Celebration could then provide a second, more in-depth look, with additional footage and presumably introduced at a major panel. This would also serve the purpose of re-hyping fans before another eight months of waiting; it’d also make sure that there’s no perceived lack of marketing as with Solo. (It would also probably get shown at screenings of Avengers 4, thus guaranteeing even more exposure.)

Then, Disney could drop a final teaser probably in the fall, or even with Frozen 2, which merits a mention in Weintraub’s tweets, and make sure that fans, casual and hardcore alike, are primed to buy tickets, spread the good word, and otherwise make sure that the marketing actually has an effect.

That all being said, this is just speculation, and we’ll cross this Star Wars bridge after Avengers 4.