'Star Wars: Episode IX' gets May 2019 release date: Disney

FILE PHOTO: Director J.J. Abrams (C), cast members John Boyega (L), Daisy Ridley (3rd L), Adam Driver (4th R) and Star Wars character R2-D2 (2nd L), stormtroopers, and BB-8 (4th L) attend a red carpet fan event for their upcoming movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Tokyo, Japan, December 10, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File Photo

(Reuters) - The final film in the new "Star Wars" trilogy, "Star Wars: Episode IX," will be released in May 2019, movie studio Walt Disney Co said on Tuesday. The May 24 release date marked a shift in strategy for Disney, whose two previous new entries in the sci-fi adventure have all been set for release in mid-December, during the winter holidays. Disney gave no details on "Star Wars: Episode IX," about which little is known except that it will be directed by Colin Trevorrow. "Episode IX" completes the trilogy that began after Disney bought George Lucas's Lucasfilm in a $4 billion deal in 2012. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which reunited the original cast of the first 1977 film, was released in December 2015, and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is due to open worldwide on Dec. 15, 2017. Disney on Tuesday also announced that another of its blockbuster franchise revivals, a new Indiana Jones movie starring Harrison Ford, had been pushed back by a year to July 2020. The studio gave no explanation for the change in the release date for the as-yet untitled film that had been originally scheduled for July 2019. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)