New promo trailer premieres during ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Football’ game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The third -- and possibly final -- full trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens has debuted online, following the promo’s premiere during ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The trailer’s release coincides with the launch of ticket sales for the seventh installment in the beloved franchise, which will arrive in theaters on December 18.
On Sunday, Lucasfilm unveiled the theatrical poster for The Force Awakens as part of the countdown to the trailer and ticket release. Despite initial plans for the tickets to go on sale following the trailer’s debut, online ticketers put them on sale almost two hours before halftime, straining many sites, including Fandango and MovieTickets.com, with many users reporting site crashes and error messages as fans rushed to secure their seats.
The new trailer opens with Daisy Ridley’s Rey as she scavenges what looks like an old starship -- likely the Imperial Star Destroyer seen in the first trailer -- before moving on to John Boyega’s Finn. Another shot reveals Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren ominously promising to finish what Darth Vader started.
While the trailer is heavy on action and sweeping shots of the Millennium Falcon, it still plays coy with the stars of the original trilogy -- Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Peter Mayhew’s Chewbacca get the most screen time of the returning actors, with only a brief glimpse of Carrie Fisher’s Leia and no full shot of Mark Hamill’s Luke, who is implied to be the cloaked figure seen with R2-D2 in the trailer. Hamill is also notably absent from the film’s poster.
Check out the new trailer and poster, below:
The new Star Wars film, which picks up three decades after the events of Return of the Jedi, is headlined by original trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO). New additions to the cast include Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) and Game of Throne’s Gwendoline Christie along with Adam Driver (Girls), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley, performance-capture artist Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), and Max von Sydow (The Exorcist).
Directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and veteran Abrams collaborator Bryan Burke, Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives in theaters December 18, 2015.
Rian Johnson is directing Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is scheduled for release on May 26, 2017. Colin Trevorrow’s Episode IX is slated for a 2019 release, while a standalone Han Solo origin film, directed by The LEGO Movie’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller, lands in theaters on May 25, 2018. The first standalone film in the franchise, Star Wars: Rogue One, will debut on December 16, 2016.
Source: Walt Disney Studios
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
