This year’s Star Wars Celebration is said and done, although its impact will certainly be felt within the science fiction-based universe for at least the next year, leading up to next year’s event that will take place in London in July 2016.
The four-day event, which was held in Anaheim, California, brought fans, celebrities and cosplay fanatics in droves, where nearly every corner of the Star Wars universe was tackled. I attended as well, and although it was only my second Star Wars Celebration event in the 16 years since it began, it still felt like I was home.
Obviously the new film The Force Awakens took an enormous focus, as a second trailer for the film debuted on Thursday and instantly drove fans into nostalgic overdrive. If early indications show anything, the film should have no trouble breaking box office records when it debuts on December 18. A report from Comicbook.com shows that it’s already shattered YouTube viewership records, with the trailer getting 88 million views in a 24 hour time period. That destroys the previous record of 62 million held by Furious 7 back in November.
The show was also the place for various panels that spanned the Star Wars universe, from talking with iconic stars like Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to showcasing new products like the second season of Disney’s Star Wars Rebels animated show and EA’s forthcoming Battlefront game, which debuted with flying colors. The event also dug deep into more “hardcore” Star Wars elements, including tattoo competitions, comic books, art and much, much more.
Star Wars Celebration turned out to be immensely popular over the span of its four days, as all tickets sold out by the time it began, and thousands lined up the doors to take part in a number of exhibits, including a Battlefront X-Wing simulator that inputted players into the action. You can see my personal foray into this experiment below. (And yes, I’m already told that I look like Porkins from the original A New Hope film.)
