Solo: A Star Wars Story will receive its world premiere in the glamorous setting of Cannes, the film festival’s organisers have confirmed.
The latest Star Wars spinoff, which stars Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo, will receive a special screening out of competition at the festival on 15 May, before receiving a world release on 25 May.
While the usually arthouse-focused Cannes might seem an unlikely location for George Lucas’s epic sci-fi series to make its bow, there is precedent for a Star Wars film appearing on the Croisette. Revenge of the Sith, the final instalment in the poorly received prequel trilogy, premiered there in 2005, while blockbusters such as The BFG and Mad Max: Fury Road had out-of-competition screenings at the festival.
The production of Solo: A Star Wars Story has been beset by problems. Original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced by veteran film-maker Ron Howard midway through filming, and reports circulated that Ehrenreich required on-set acting lessons to improve his performance.
The news comes on the heels of the announcement that this year’s festival will be opened by Everybody Knows, which stars Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. Directed by Academy award-winning Iranian film-maker Asghar Farhadi (The Salesman, A Separation), the film is psychological thriller about a Spanish woman whose return to her home country is marked by unexpected tragedy.
The full lineup for the 2018 Cannes film festival will be announced on 12 April.
