The Force was with many Japanese, as well as visitors from abroad, at a “Star Wars” event on Friday where Lucasfilm announced that the next installation in the franchise will hit theaters in May 2027 starring Ryan Gosling. Appearing on stage before a lightsaber-waving crowd at Makuhari Messe center in…

CHIBA, Japan (AP) — The Force was with many Japanese, as well as visitors from abroad, at a “Star Wars” event on Friday where Lucasfilm announced that the next installation in the franchise will hit theaters in May 2027 starring Ryan Gosling.Appearing on stage before a lightsaber-waving crowd at Makuhari Messe center outside Tokyo, Gosling showed a photo of his childhood bedsheets, plastered with illustrations from the space epic created by George Lucas.“I guess I was dreaming about ‘ Star Wars ’ even before I saw the film,” Gosling said. Shawn Levy, who will direct the movie, told the crowd that “Star Wars: Starfighter” will not be a prequel or a sequel, but a new standalone adventure with new characters set several years after “Episode Nine.” Filming starts later this year, he said.Levy, who also directed the 2006 film “The Pink Panther” and the recent Netflix series “Stranger Things,” said little else, noting: “I can’t say much about it because I understand the rules.”Only the title was shown on a giant screen…

The Force was with many Japanese, as well as visitors from abroad, at a “Star Wars” event where Lucasfilm announced that the next installation in the franchise will hit theaters in May 2027 starring Ryan Gosling.