It’s been widely speculated in fan circles that Lucasfilm may launch the marketing campaign for Solo: A Star Wars Story with a Super Bowl spot, but now we have The Hollywood Reporter weighing in. They don’t seem to have any special sources and are going with “widely expected,” though, so they might just be working off the same logic the rest of us are.
Still, with a May 25 release date, Solo is the first Star Wars film to release in May since 2005, and there’s no better (or more expensive) place to start the promotion than the biggest football game of the year. And Disney does generally promote a handful of their upcoming films during the game: 2017’s commercials included Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (April 19) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (May 26).
But this year, Disney may choose to advertise a film with less name recognition, like A Wrinkle in Time (March 9) – or those that are out sooner, like Black Panther (Feb. 16) or Avengers: Infinity War (May 4).
They could also launch Solo during the Winter Olympics, which run from February 9-25. There’s some precedent for that: Rogue One’s second trailer debuted during the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Super Bowl is Sunday, but if a Solo commercial/teaser/trailer is imminent, we’d likely hear for sure on Saturday. Almost every recent Star Wars trailer launch has been announced at least a day before, with the only exceptions being for those that debuted at Celebrations. If we don’t hear anything by then, I’d start placing your bets on Pyeongchang.