{"id":786223,"date":"2026-07-07T14:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/786223\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T14:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:34:11","slug":"the-star-wars-50th-anniversary-celebration-begins-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/786223\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘Star Wars’ 50th Anniversary Celebration Begins in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The year 2027 is the 50th anniversary of Star Wars, and the franchise is celebrating in some Death Star-sized ways. The biggest ones are the releases of the brand-new standalone movie<\/a>, Star Wars: Starfighter, as well as the IMAX re-release of the original film<\/a> without all the 1997 Special Edition additions. There\u2019s a new season of Ahsoka\u00a0and even a Star Wars Celebration<\/a> happening to talk about all of it. But all of it starts in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where, in February 2027, a brand new exhibit celebrating the history of the franchise opens. It\u2019s called \u201cStar Wars: The Experience \u2013 A Journey Through the Galaxy,\u201d and it\u2019s described as \u201cthe largest and most comprehensive behind-the-scenes exhibition celebrating the Star Wars galaxy and the only official exhibition during the landmark anniversary year.\u201d (Is that a George Lucas Museum jab<\/a>? I digress.)<\/p>\n

Spread over 18,000 square feet, guests will find \u201clarge immersive moments, screen-used artifacts, and an RFID-powered experience\u201d that\u2019ll transport them into a galaxy far, far away. There are \u201cmore than 70 artifacts, many of them screen-used and on view for the first time from the Lucasfilm archives, including legendary screen-used pieces such as Darth Maul\u2019s lightsaber and Darth Vader\u2019s costume.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grogu, R2-D2, C-3PO, a speeder bike, and props from Andor will also be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cStar Wars created a cultural landscape that spans decades and delivers massive, undeniable global appeal,\u201d Larry Dubinski, president and CEO of the Franklin Institute, said in a press release. \u201cIts influence extends far beyond cinema\u2014shaping entertainment, culture, technology, and business, while redefining how stories are created, experienced, and shared across generations. The Franklin Institute is excited to put Philadelphia once again at the center of a major cultural moment with another blockbuster world premiere exhibition in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news breaks this week ahead of a very special panel at San Diego Comic-Con hosted by none other than the voice of Ahsoka Tano herself, Ashley Eckstein. \u201cThe Making of Star Wars: The Experience\u201d panel takes place on Friday, July 24, 2026, from 4 to 5 p.m. in Room 7AB at the San Diego Convention Center.<\/p>\n

For more on the exhibit, head to the Franklin Institute\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The year 2027 is the 50th anniversary of Star Wars, and the franchise is celebrating in some Death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,337,21883],"class_list":["post-786223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-star-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}