UPDATE: Jason Ward of Making Star Wars has heard the Solo trailer is NOT coming January 12. The original article follows.
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The long-awaited first trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story is rumored to debut on Good Morning America this Friday, January 12. Lucasfilm had been holding off unveiling any marketing materials for their second spinoff film while The Last Jedi entered theaters, but now that Episode VIII is a $1 billion blockbuster, the time has come to shift gears. As of this writing, there are a little more than four months before Solo premieres, with only leaked LEGO sets giving fans a look at what the film could have in store. Needless to say, people are starting to get impatient.
With Last Jedi now in the rearview mirror, it does look like a big Solo push is about to start. It was only a couple of weeks ago when reports suggested the preview was coming soon and a possible description of it leaked online. If the latest word is to be believed, viewers only have to wait a few more days before getting a taste of Alden Ehrenreich's Han Solo.
Related: Your First Alleged Look At The New Han Solo
Twitter account Star Wars Legacy posted a new rumor, stating the Solo trailer will air on Friday's episode of Good Morning America. This lines up with Lucasfilm's promotional strategy in the past; the first teaser for Rogue One also premiered on GMA back in 2016. Since Disney is using the college football national championship game as a platform for Black Panther (and there are no other major sporting events on the horizon), GMA is the perfect outlet for the company's trademark synergy.
Lucasfilm has their work cut out for them in regards to Solo promotion. Not only do they have to raise awareness for casual audiences in a truncated amount of time (four months, instead of the eight month campaigns for the previous three movies), the studio also needs to calm nerves about the infamously troubled production and sell die-hards on this being a worthwhile and necessary installment in the franchise. The prospect of a young Han Solo prequel with a new actor in the lead role is one that doesn't exactly enthuse fans, and many were skeptical before the unprecedented director switch happened. Of course, all it takes is one great trailer to get people onboard, so hopefully this bit of speculation pans out. If the studio waits much longer to get the ball rolling on marketing, concerns about Solo's quality are only going to become more widespread.
Unlike its predecessors, which all dominated the holiday movie season as one of the few tentpoles in town, Solo is arriving during the highly-competitive summer months, where it's sandwiched between the likes of Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, and The Incredibles 2 (among others). The Star Wars brand is a name that sells itself, but this is a case where some stellar advertising is needed to make the spinoff stand out amongst the crowd and make some noise at the box office. Everyone has been singing the praises of Lawrence Kadan's Solo script and Ron Howard's directorial approach, so hopefully the end result doesn't disappoint.
MORE: Solo Teaser Poster Released
Source: Star Wars Legacy
Update Source: Jason Ward
