Ticket sales for upcoming ‘Star Wars’ installment open months in advance

Courtesy photo of IMDb.

By Kj Burkley | Reporter

Tickets for Disney-owned Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” are on sale now. Although the movie premieres in theaters on Dec.19, tickets became available to buy on Monday.

The newest addition to this cross-generational movie empire will be the franchise’s ninth film, and the hype for what director J.J. Abrams will accomplish is electrifying the Star Wars fan base. Classic characters like Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Darth Sidious make a return to the big screen to help with critical plot development of the new generation of Resistance and the First Order.

After a mediocre performance of the last movie “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Disney decided to reinvigorate fans by reintroducing the leadership of Abrams after his sudden absence from directing the eighth film.

Abilene junior David Tobey said he loved that Abrams will get the chance to guide the reigns on this new movie.

“I think it’s better that Disney is bringing back Abrams, even though it shows that they might play the film safe,” Tobey said. “Abrams has done a great job with directing in the past, and he gets the chance to really develop some of the plots that were left undeveloped in the seventh movie.”

The seventh movie, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, was released back in 2015 and had a total domestic gross of over $900 million, $300 million more than “The Last Jedi.” The film left many fans with mixed emotions due to the controversial development of the movie and its relationship to the rest of the series.

Fans now have questions as to what twists and turns the new ninth movie will have in store. Will Rey become a Jedi? Will the Resistance finally subdue the power of the First Order? Will Kylo Ren give up his wicked ways and choose to fight against evil? Which original characters will be killed tragically?

The movie premiere is also stirring up talk about theories surrounding Rey and other new generational characters. Who exactly are Rey’s parents and are they possibly Jedi themselves? Could Rey and Kylo Ren be related? These are common theories that Star Wars fans share, according to Houston junior Jonah Kelly.

“That’s the thing about the passion of Star Wars fans,” Kelly said. “They usually share common consensus of theories about the movies and hate how the movies are executed. I wouldn’t be surprised if Star Wars fans burned Disney to the ground if the ninth movie is terrible.”

However, one thing is for sure — the ninth movie must clarify and deliver another epic resolution for the popular franchise.

“I think it will be better than ‘The Last Jedi,’” Tobey said. “I didn’t really like the seventh or the eighth movies, but I think that this movie will do a great job in fleshing out all of the possible outcomes that were mentioned in the seventh movie. Nevertheless, it will still be another classic that will keep people coming back for more.”