Next 'Star Wars' chapter starts shooting in London

As Star Wars:The Force Awakens continues to storm the global box office, the next chapter in the galactic saga got underway at Pinewood Studios in London.

Star Wars: Episode VIII began principal photography on Monday, Walt Disney Studios announced on Twitter, in a video, and on the movie's website.

The film is expected to be released Dec. 15, 2017.

"Rey took her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will continue her epic journey with Finn, Poe, and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the continuing Star Wars saga," the studio publicity statement said.

Episode VIII was written and will be directed by Rian Johnson, and continues the storylines introduced in Force.

Cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie and Andy Serkis are returning.

New cast members will include Oscar winners Benicio del Toro and Laura Dern, plus newcomer Kelly Marie Tran. So far, no word on their characters, but Del Toro is expected to play a villain.

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' crosses record $900 million mark

Fan excitement was, of course, out of this world. As with everything having to do with Star Wars, each incremental news development is treated as star-shattering.

Meanwhile, Force has entered new record box-office territory. Earlier this month, it became the only film in history to cross the $900 million mark domestically, as its global tally surged in excess of $2 billion.

The J.J. Abrams-directed film passed Avatar's record domestic box office of $760.5 million in January to claim the all-time No. 1 spot.

The famed Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire near London is where much of Force was filmed, and where leading man Harrison Ford was injured in an on-set mishap in June 2014, when he was struck by a hydraulic door on the Millennium Falcon, his character Han Solo's spaceship.

Ford, then 71, suffered a broken leg, was airlifted to a hospital and ended up on crutches, while shooting on the film was shut down for two weeks.

Last week, the British Health and Safety Executive, the United Kingdom's health authority, announced it will prosecute Foodles Production (UK), a subsidiary of Disney and the team that made Force, on four charges of violating workplace health-and-safety laws in connection with the accident.

UK 'Star Wars' producers charged for set mishap that hurt Harrison Ford