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2020 marks the first Star Wars Day celebration since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker closed out the Skywalker Saga in style. Love it or hate it, a major era of sci-fi history has concluded, and it’s a cause for celebration if we’ve ever seen one. Which makes the fact that you’ll be able to enjoy that final chapter on Disney+ as of May 4th a moment that’ll make fans very, very happy.
Check out the official announcement, courtesy of Disney+, below:
Announced by Disney+ themselves today, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be headed to the digital library of Disney’s streaming platform, officially capping off their collection of the Star Wars films. Add in the fact that this is also the date for the debut of the series finale to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as the debut of the behind-the-scenes documentary series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, and you’ve got the perfect way to start off a week’s worth of festivities.
Much as they had previously done with their release of Frozen II, Disney+ moved up the debut of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker by a couple of months, in order to entertain folks that will unfortunately still be in lockdown during this geekiest of holidays. Typically, there’s a seven month window between theatrical release and streaming debut, much like when Disney was debuting its titles on the Netflix platform.
The timing of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker almost sounds like something Disney+ would have done even under normal circumstances. Such is the nature of being a streaming platform that is owned, operated, and trading exclusively in the properties of one company’s IP.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s early streaming debut is another calculated risk in a line of moves that have seen Disney leaning on their home base platform to help stem the bleeding from the closure of all major theater chains during the COVID-19 crisis. As Onward debuted way earlier than expected, and Artemis Fowl has now become a Disney+ exclusive debut set for this coming June, the studio is taking full advantage of the experimental laboratory that their proprietary launchpad has offered them.
It couldn’t have come at a better time, as Warner Bros’ HBOMax and NBCUniversal’ Peacock streaming services aren’t fully armed or operational yet, which means Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker only has that much more room to roam. And Disney+ stands to make a streaming killing in the process, as Star Wars Day 2020 will be a day long remembered. At least, it’ll be pretty long remembered with the way that time has been moving during the quarantine.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker completes Disney+’s Skywalker Saga library on May 4th. Not a Disney+ subscriber yet? Check out the 7-day free trial offer that could help you celebrate Star Wars Day in style!
