Disney makes it official: Star Wars Celebration 2020 is canceled

By Rick Marshall Published June 15, 2020

That disturbance in The Force you just felt was the sound of millions of Star Wars fans crying out in anguish over the cancellation of Star Wars Celebration 2020.

The biennial celebration of all things Star Wars will skip 2020 due to the danger posed by the coronavirus pandemic and return in 2022, according to an announcement made by Disney and Lucasfilm on StarWars.com. The next iteration of the popular convention will be held August 18-21, 2022, in the Anaheim (California) Convention Center.

Recommended Videos

Ticket-holders for the 2020 convention, which was originally scheduled for August 27 to 30, will have the option of transferring their tickets to the 2022 event, receiving a refund, or receiving credit for Star Wars Celebration merchandise. Anyone who transfers their ticket to 2022 will also receive an exclusive stormtrooper pin. All of the convention-exclusive merchandise for Star Wars Celebration 2020 will be made available online, according to the announcement.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The first Star Wars Celebration event was held in 1999, ostensibly to promote the release of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. It was also framed as a celebration of the wildly popular sci-fi franchise. In recent years, the event shifted to a biennial schedule, often alternating years with Disney’s D23 Expo.

To date, there have been 13 Star Wars Celebration conventions held around the world, including events in Japan, Germany, and the U.K.

The window for receiving a refund or credit for Star Wars Celebration 2020 will begin Monday, June 22, and run through August 26. Hotel reservations for the 2020 convention will be canceled automatically.

Ticket-holders can get more information about transferring their tickets, getting refunds, or receiving credit at starwarscelebration.com.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Entertainment

Josh Gad had to explain the Star Wars sequels to Mel Brooks while pitching Space Balls 2

Luke Skywalker with a blue lightsaber at the climax of The Last Jedi.

Space Balls has long been one of Mel Brooks's most beloved films, in large part because it lovingly parodies the Star Wars universe. In fact, that film has become so beloved in and of itself that a sequel is in the works from actor Josh Gad, who co-wrote the sequel script with Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit.

In a recent interview on Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Josh discussed development for the new film and explained that he had to do a lot of explaining for the 98-year-old comic legend. When Space Balls was released in 1987, the original trilogy was just a few years old, and in the years since, there have been eight new Star Wars movies that Gad had to walk through.

Entertainment

Andor cost how much? Disney+ show is most expensive Star Wars project ever

Cassian riding off with Luthen on a speeder in Andor.

Andor is one of the best Star Wars projects ever created by Lucasfilm. It also carries a hefty price tag.

According to a report from Forbes, Disney has spent $645 million to make Andor, including over $290 million on season 2 alone. That is the new record price for a Star Wars project, passing the $400-million-plus budget on Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Entertainment

Disney co-chairman reveals why The Acolyte was canceled after one season

Sol wields his lightsaber in The Acolyte episode 8.

Lucasfilm may be in the midst of experiencing a wave of positive attention and success thanks to its latest TV series, Skeleton Crew, but the Jude Law-starring sci-fi show isn't the only Star Wars title that has premiered on Disney+ this year. This past summer, Lucasfilm also debuted The Acolyte, a Sith-centric show set around 100 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Across its eight episodes, the series proved to be critically divisive, and it was only a month after The Acolyte's finale aired that Disney and Lucasfilm announced they would not be bringing the show back for a second season.

In a recent interview with Vulture, Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman shed some light on the behind-the-scenes decision to cancel The Acolyte after just one season. "As it relates to Acolyte, we were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a season 2," Bergman revealed. "That’s the reason why we didn’t do that."

nproxy.org