After Rogue One: A Star Wars Story dominated the box office over the holiday season to the tune of $1 billion worldwide, fans of the galaxy far, far away have been eager to learn when they can bring the first spinoff home for their viewing pleasure. Based on the film's December theatrical premiere, it stood reason to believe it would hit Blu-ray in the spring, but an exact date hadn't been officially revealed yet. The most recent rumors pointed to either March 28 or April 4 for when the Rogue One disc would become available.
Early April seemed like a reasonable timeframe, considering that was when The Force Awakens was released on Blu-ray last year. Since the great Star Wars renaissance launched, Lucasfilm has quickly established patterns for how they handle the new films, rarely straying from their strategy. It would appear they're sticking to the old game plan for Rogue One, since it now appears April 4, 2017 is when Jyn Erso steals the Death Star plans in your living room.
Star Wars News Net caught wind of an online Best Buy listing for the Rogue One Blu-ray, and it's in line with the earlier reports of an April release. Going by traditional industry practices, it seems that the movie will come out on digital towards the end of March, roughly one week before the physical media is in stores. Now, audiences will be interested in learning about all the retailer exclusives (Steelbooks, etc.) before making a purchase.
It makes all the sense in the world for the Rogue One book to be officially closed the first week of April. Star Wars Celebration 2017 runs from April 13 - 16 in Orlando, and it's expected that will be the launching pad for the Last Jedi marketing campaign. With all the attention being focused on Episode VIII, Lucasfilm will want the home media release of Rogue One to already be out of the way. Plus, this presents the studio with the opportunity to sell Rogue One Blu-rays at Celebration, where attendees will be looking for anything they can get their hands on. Perhaps there will be some kind of exclusive packaging at the convention for collectors.
Many will be curious to see if a 3D version of the film is sold in April. Lucasfilm controversially waited until November 2016 to release the Force Awakens 3D Blu-ray, which included all-new special features (including a commentary by director J.J. Abrams). One would hope that the studio learned their lesson, but from a certain point of view, it was a savvy business decision to capitalize on holiday shopping. Time will tell when the Rogue One crew takes flight in the third dimension, but at least they'll be coming home shortly.
Source: Star Wars News Net
