After Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a no-show during the Super Bowl, it was widely assumed that we’d be waiting for Star Wars Celebration before seeing anything from Episode 8. But for the attendees of CinemaCon 2017, an exhibition held for movie theater owners and critics, The Last Jedi premiered its first footage a little early.
Set for April 13-16 in Orlando, Star Wars Celebration will probably still see the debut of the first Episode 8 trailer, but CinemaCon featured a handful of shots featuring Rey and a lightsaber. The two shots were included in a Disney sizzle reel.
Because it’s Star Wars, people are doing crazy things like analyzing the “leaked audio” from the sizzle reel. Spoiler: you can hear cheering and the sound of a lightsaber.
While one shot has Rey wielding a lightsaber, the other included an even more revealing bit about Rey’s story in The Last Jedi. The sizzle reel includes Rey moving rocks with the Force. Now that’s some actual content! The smallest sliver perhaps, but it looks like Luke Skywalker hasn’t exactly left behind Yoda’s teachings.
Still, we know from the title that both Rey and Luke won’t be Jedi at the same time, otherwise there’d be no last Jedi. Oh wait, Jedi can be plural. Goddamn it. The CinemaCon sizzle reel can’t really help us beyond offering the promise of context to come. Maybe the first Episode 8 trailer will finally give us a sense of what this year’s Star Wars release is actually about.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres Dec. 15.
