By Creative Media Times

Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios’ summer tentpole “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is set to make its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, where its set to screen out of competition.

The highly-anticipated second Star Wars spin-off is set to premiere at the prestigious festival on May 15, 2018, that is ten full days before its official release in the United States on May 25, 2018.

The premiere is certainly a surprise given that the Cannes Film Fest is known to platform artsy highbrow films than Hollywood blockbusters. But that is actually not always the case. In fact, George Lucas’ “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” officially premiered on the same day thirteen years ago at the festival.

Directed by Ron Howard and produced by Lucasfilm from a screenplay by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, the film is an origin story of the iconic character and focuses on his adventures, with Alden Ehrenreich playing the younger version of the title character. Also in the film are Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Joonas Suotamo.

Cannes Film Festival will run from May 8 to 19, with the competition jury headed by Cate Blanchett. Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller “Everybody Knows” starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem is scheduled to open the festival.