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May the fourth be with you! For reasons clear to every fan of the Star Wars universe, the fourth of May has become a crucial day on the yearly calendar. This is Star Wars Day, where fans of that famous galaxy far, far away celebrate through many weird and wonderful traditions.
For LucasArts, now part of Disney, it also represents an opportunity to jump on a trend with some big announcements, reveals and launches. And since this will be the first May the Fourth Star Wars Day since the Disney+ streaming service launched, there’s more content than usual to get excited about.
For over four decades, the Star Wars saga has made its way through cinemas and into the homes of millions of fans across the world. The ninth film in the main lineage of Star Wars movies, not including spin-offs, is The Rise of Skywalker.
It released in cinemas in late 2019 and usually wouldn’t be hitting video on-demand services as early as 4 May 2020. However, with the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, Disney+ is rushing the date forward to better serve consumer needs.
With the addition of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to Disney+, you can now stream all nine films from the series through the SVOD service. It joins a ton of other Star Wars related content on the format, most notably the new live action TV series The Mandalorian. In fact, also launching on Star Wars Day is a documentary diving into the creation of that series. It’s called Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian.
The Rise of Skywalker brings the battle between the light and dark sides of The Force to a head through the characters of Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) respectively. The former is an instrument wielded by Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and the latter a puppet of the returning Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Or are they?
The dynamic between these two characters is the compelling heart of the film, which jumps between exotic worlds and familiar characters at a breakneck pace. Some of the set pieces are truly breathtaking, particularly in 4K.
Fans are divided on whether the story concludes the nine-film saga fittingly or not, but there’s certainly no shortage of fan service to enjoy. Expect to see Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and plenty more along the way. Currently, it’s tracking at an audience score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Yes, Disney+ will stream The Rise of Skywalker in 4K. In fact, if you look at the list of 4K content on Disney, all nine films in the main lineage will now be available in UHD. So too is Solo: A Star Wars Story and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The TV series The Mandalorian is also available on Disney+ in 4K.
So, here’s some great news. If you’re new to the Disney+ service, you can access this 7-day free trial and watch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker for free. There is so much Star Wars content on the streaming TV service we doubt you could get through it all in your free trial period, but if The Force is with you, you could give it a shot.
If you continue with the service, Disney+ costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. There are no price tiers, so you get 4K, access to offline downloads, four concurrent streams and more within that price. It works on PC/laptop, Mac, iOS and Android devices, and PS4 and Xbox One game consoles. Alternatively, you can view it in your living room via Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick or Android TV, as well as some Samsung and LG TVs.
New content is always being added to the service, including planned Star Wars series based on the characters Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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