CJ25 Star Wars Celebration (social thread)

MSW in my opinion has a pretty decent record. Once Jason posts something concrete it is usually true.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of more sites coming forward to support this new rumour or to say they're still hearing spring. I'm not expecting anything official until May 4th (at earliest now).

 

I dont think Dragon Con will be a factor in their decision at all.

I know, but what other reliable Star Wars sites are out there that may have legitimate sources about this?

 

Yeah, you got me there. I know plenty of collecting sites but in terms of general Star Wars, TF.net. SWNN and Making Star Wars are the main ones I can think of and they've all weighed in. Maybe some of the podcasters or YouTubers but I'm not at all familiar with those.

Looking at the rumours and coming back to Making Star Wars' tweet about how details are still changing I'm thinking that Anaheim is pretty much a lock but the dates aren't.

The only positive I can see about moving to Fall (presumably October) is that Galaxy's Edge is almost certain to be complete and open at that point. But that's not Celebration. It would almost certainly be a separate ticketed event (like a Galactic Nights) and in trade off you lose that first reveal of Episode IX and for ReedPop it would mean doing 2 of their biggest events pretty much back to back (assuming NYCC stays at the start of October and Celebration goes to early/mid October when the final theatrical trailers are normally released). It would mean that the latest animated series would likely have already started so you'd lose that first trailer and episode premiere. Depending on when it debuts you'd potentially lose the first look (and maybe premiere) of the live action series. It's a big trade off.

Sure a Galaxy's Edge event would be AMAZING (I would be fighting to be first in the virtual line for those tickets) but I don't believe it's worth moving the whole of Celebration for, especially IF that's the ONLY reason that its moving.

 

I think the fall makes it more likely we would get news about the tv series. Lion King doesn't come out until next summer, so nothing is happening on the live action front until then.

 

Could go either way. If the live action series is to debut with the streaming service in 2019 then a first look in April would be about right. If the live action show isn't planned to debut until 2020 then October would fit better for that. Remember, TLK already started filming last year, they even showed off footage at D23 last August, so it may have already finished filming and be in post production (Aladdin which comes out in May 2019 wrapped earlier this year).

 

I don't know why they couldn't just have another Celebration in 2020 instead of trying to cram everything into one in 2019. Assuming that's the reasoning behind wanting to move it to Fall next year.

 

Now tf.n is saying Reed Pop is out and announcement on 5/4.

 

SWNN has an in depth article with additional information clarifying yesterday's rumor. Interesting that they don't mention that ReedPop might be out. Give it a look. This whole thing is starting to look messy. I wonder who the supposed source is that is leaking the information and who it is they are seeking clarification from.

https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2018/04/further-investigating-the-star-wars-celebration-rumors.html

 

Sounds like MSW was spot on with the moving parts. Geez...

I would be totally down for Chicago.

 

I'd be fine with it being anywhere in the US. Right now I'm mainly hoping that it happens in Spring.

 

Star Wars Celebration: South Dakota

I'm starting to think if it is Anaheim, it will be in the fall. If it's in the spring, it will be somewhere else. It's concerning though that they don't seem to have this ironed out.

 

I planned my family vacation around the Orlando Celebration. We spent an extra week in Florida. If it would be in Chicago I don't see myself doing that. We would drive out from the con then drive home the morning after. Plus I really don't see Disney having these conventions anywhere but a location with access to one of their theme parks. Too much money left on the table. C3 in Indy was a great time but it was also a much smaller con back then.

From a conversation I had at work today I'm 90% sure tickets for Solo will either go on sale or be announced on 5/4.

 

The new SWNN piece isn't actually any new rumours, it's just them basically saying what we've said here (and I also said in a blog post this morning) about October not really making much sense outside of anything but a Galaxy's Edge tie in when Galaxy's Edge doesn't need a boost from Celebration. Though I do think it will be Anaheim.

That said, the new rumours from TF.net are very interesting! I know it's only a rumour but I can't imagine a site as big and reputable as this one posting that ReedPop is out unless they are certain. It would also remove one of the big factors against the October date which was ReedPop doing Celebration & NYCC back to back, which would have been a massive logistical challenge and they'd be competing with themselves.

My big concern about the Disney crew taking over is that everything I've read from their 2015 and 2017 D23 events is either the same or worse than what fans complained about during Celebration Orlando.

Like Celebration they have over night lines for their main panels, but then they don't have the wristband system. So for other panels you'd have to queue again during the day rather than already having a guaranteed seat, which means you'd lose show floor time. The store situation seems even worse, with some merchandise limited to specific days so if you want (for example) all the pins you'd have to go to the store every day.

ReedPop was not perfect but I'm not sure this us a step in the right direction.

And if D23 prices are anything to go by I think I can forget about even trying for VIP tickets. For the 2017 Expo the Sorceror Tickets (their equivalent of Jedi Master badges) were $2250 each!

Yeah, I'm definitely a little nervous right now.

Agreed! It makes me wonder if this whole ReedPop thing is quite recent rather than something that's been planned for.

 

Just looking at their event calendars, it looks like spring is doable for Chicago or Indy if they are looking midwest.

 

I'm also not so sure how much I like the idea of a Celebration fully run by Disney. At the D23 Expos in 2015 and 2017 they brought a bunch of park employees to come work it. I get doing that for their only dedicated event for all things Disney. But I don't like the idea of Disney park employees handling a Star Wars Convention in the same manner.

It will become totally Disneyfied in that stereotypical sense we think of whenever that term is thrown out. Strict guidelines on panel topics and discussions. Stricter rules on cosplay...say goodbye to prop weapons and sexy slave Leias. No more 501st Bash promotion. All that will come down.

Not only that, but if it becomes an entirely Disney run event, that means that they are going to offer perks to members of their clubs and groups and whatnot who might not otherwise attend Celebration. D23 isn't just an event. It's primarily a large dedicated official fan group for all things Disney, with monthly and yearly dues paid by it's members, and perks given to them based on their level of membership. And they are definitely going to want in on Celebration, not because it's Star Wars, but because it's a Disney event. The same will go for park attendees, where they might offer attendance to both the park and Celebration as package deals.

Line issues in general are simply unavoidable now. No matter what rules or procedures are in place, people are still going to find the nearest point at which they can line up at the absolute earliest time. So that won't go away.

If Disney takes over Celebration completely, I think it's inevitable that an entirely different fan event will sprout up. Either that, or people will start gravitating towards an already existing smaller one. It won't get the big trailer drops and celebrity appearances. But it's inevitable that enough of the fan base will get tired of the Mouse.

Which makes me wonder about the likelihood of an official announcement by May the 4th.

@ChrisLyne: You should link your blog in the bottom signature section of your profile so it comes up anytime you post.

 

@MotivateR5D4 that's a great idea! Thanks

I think (hope) that D23 and Celebration will remain totally different beasts. D23 Expo was born out of the D23 fan club which, like you say, has an annual cost for membership and gives you the D23 magazine along with access to other events. Because of that members do get some perks at the event (and you have to be a member to even try for the VIP passes), but D23 is for everything Disney (Disney Animation, Disney Live Action, Disney Parks, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, etc.). There's definitely an overlap in the fanbase but I don't think changing the behind the scenes team from ReedPop to Disney will affect whether people want to attend or not too much.

And don't worry about slave Leias, I've definitely seen pictures of them at D23 (including a slave Leia/Elsa mash up), prop weapons and lightsabers too.

You're right about the lines. Celebration is just that big now, no matter what solution ReedPop or Disney try there will always be lines and there will always be people who are disappointed. I just hope the wristband system stays. Since there will be an over night queue anyway I'd rather get all my panels secured than do the over night and then lose show floor time queuing again for the other panels.

 

There are a lot of rabid D23 members out there. A LOT. Who clamor for anything Disney has to offer, especially if it comes to them as a result of being a D23 member. Which is fine, that's their thing, no judgement there. I just know that as soon as they get wind of another event that is run entirely by Disney, they are absolutely going to want in. And Disney will likely do what they can to accommodate and offer access to it. Trust me, when Disney takes over Celebration completely, there's going to be a decent portion of attendees that go who are there more as overall Disney people than they are specifically for Star Wars. Especially once updates regarding Star Wars Land and Disney Parks become a big draw at Celebration, which I'm sure is going to be a continual thing. And just given the size of Celebration and the location being in such close proximity to the parks (assuming it's held in Anaheim or Orlando from here on out under Disney ownership), it's everything they would want and can easily have access to. Again, their thing, that's fine. I'm just saying that it's inevitable that this will be one aspect of the overall Disney-fication process of the whole thing. It would be the same for anything else Disney takes over.

 

Between all of the Disney fans just there for the park and all of the people who swore off Star Wars forever after TLJ, we should be able to just walk into the episode ix panel.

 

How much park stuff is there normally at US Celebrations? Only asking because it doesn't seem like much on the live stream and there was none in Europe. With D23 already having the parks panel and Star Wars land presumably opening in advance of Celebration I wouldn't have thought there'd be any real parks news at Celebration (of course if Celebration is linked to Galaxy's Edge opening that's a game changer).

The more I read about D23 the more I think biggest attendance boost/Disney crowd will be the merchandise hunters. Especially if Disney go with D23 style super limited edition exclusive merchandise with different limited editions available each day. There are people who get VIP tickets to D23 just to buy and sell that stuff.

 

There was a panel for the parks in Orlando (I did not go to it). They had the Galactic Nights, but that was its own thing.

 

I just think with Disney owning Celebration it's inevitable down the road that there will be a lot of park focus there. Because once Star Wars Land is fully operational, it will remain fresh and be a continual cash cow for them for at least a couple of decades. They'll constantly be rolling out different events and special promotions that they'll want to give heads up about ahead of time. And given that Star Wars productions are likely going to continue for that amount of time as well, they'll obviously be tying in park promotions with all the various releases as well, much more so than they do now.

And great point about the merchandise hunters. They're at every major convention. But with Celebration now run by Disney it will be an even bigger draw for them to come and get all that crazy exclusive merch and then flip it to all the rabid Disney collectors. Who again, don't want it because it's Star Wars, but simply because it's Disney.

Just wait for the week long 50th Anniversary Mega Celebration that has the convention going and all the accompanying park festivities at the same time. I'm already planning for that one! It will probably even include the first trailer drop for the re-boot of A New Hope with the accompanying panel that has all the new actors and director and Kathleen Kennedy telling everybody how great it is to usher in a new take on the Original Trilogy. We'll start the queue for that at Celebration 2019.

 

See I just don't think there will be that much park news. It's 4 years from announcement to opening for Galaxy's Edge, it will be a long time before they do any major updates and when they do it will be one ride at a time. New merchandise, character meet & greets, sure they can be updated pretty regularly but Celebration already had a Disney Parks & Star Wars Merchandise panel and I can't see them adding much more than that. Maybe extending it slightly or shift the focus away from merchandise to give some Galaxy's Edge updates but that's all. D23 has 1 panel for all the park updates not just Galaxy's Edge, there's not enough content there. I could see them doing a Galaxy's Edge panel at C2019, going behind the scenes and looking in detail at how they made it, but that's more a one off panel than a every Celebration thing. Plus if Celebration is being moved to after D23 they'll have already announced their major park news there.

Special events is trickier. They're not going to dedicate a full panel to announcing the next Galactic Nights or Star Wars Day at Sea. Again, not enough content and it's like we were saying about tying Celebration to the launch of Galaxy's Edge - Disney don't need Celebration to promote their parks. That said, Disney love making money. Of course they will do events in the parks to coincide with Celebration. But this is nothing that they weren't already doing. It just changes from being in Disneyland/Hollywood Studios to specifically Galaxy's Edge. And those are normally separately ticketed events so Disney fans won't need a Celebration ticket to attend them.

I suppose I just can't see Celebration changing that much (in terms of panel content) and I don't get the mentality of attending a convention on something you're not interested in just because of who runs it behind the scenes. If they start linking in park events to Celebration tickets then yeah, I can see it having more of an impact.

The merchandise hunters/scalpers are what I'm really dreading if this change happens. I read the other day that some Sorcerer's came out of their night before store access with full carts never mind bags!

Haha, you know I'd actually be up for a week long 50th anniversary Celebration

 

I didn't mean to say they aren't interested at all in Star Wars. Just that with Celebration being fully Disney owned and operated there will be a decent portion of people that will be much more inclined to attend who otherwise might not have been. And I would expect there to be a lot more content to appease that crowd. Whether it's park stuff or other Disney happenings, they'll find a way to tie it in.

And same with the merchandise, not that that crowd doesn't want Star Wars stuff at all, just that they might not always seek out Star Wars items specifically. But now with the limited Celebration exclusives coming straight from Disney there will be a much higher demand for it from people who collect all things Disney.

And I agree, there is nothing more infuriating than seeing someone with a cartload of merchandise that you know they are just going to turn around and sell. You can practically watch them go up on Ebay as they get purchased by these guys. And for some it's just the cost of doing business to purchase a VIP pass in order to get that early access. I'm assuming the profit is worth it because so many people do it. I also hate it when vendors take advantage of their status and buy multiple quantities of something to sell right then and there at their booth at an inflated price. I've seen vendors openly discuss going back and forth and making sure they use all of their badges to buy stuff. I literally had a vendor tell me at Celebration last year that they are in the business of making money after I had joked with her about seeing something on their shelf at a much higher price than what it went for at retail from one of the companies that was there. And then on top of all that you have to worry about the attendees who themselves decide at that very moment that it's worth a temporary investment to buy more than they need and turn around and flip it for a small profit. I've seen attendees do it simply so they can take care of their trip expenses. I swear I wouldn't be surprised if half of the exclusives at any major convention go to the re-sell market. But obviously if the market is there, that won't change. Which surprises me that there are that many people who are willing to pay an exorbitant price for an exclusive from an event that they aren't even attending, or are attending but either can't or don't want to make the effort to get it themselves. So now with Disney running Celebration this is all just going to ramp up even more than it already is there.

 

Outside of the Celebration store, VIP didn't help you get exclusive merchandise. We still had to enter the lottery for Funko, Lego, etc.