‘Star Wars:’ The Experience Will Be the Largest Officially Licensed Exhibition the Franchise Has Ever Assembled
The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia will world-premiere the 18,000-square-foot, RFID-powered show in February 2027, timed to the franchise’s 50th anniversary.
Summary
Lucasfilm, Disney Consumer Products, MDSX, and The Franklin Institute have partnered to build Star Wars: The Experience, an 18,000-square-foot exhibition making its exclusive world premiere in Philadelphia on February 13, 2027
Billed as the largest and most comprehensive behind-the-scenes Star Wars exhibition to date, the show features screen-used props, original costumes, and interconnected immersive galleries spanning from the original trilogy to the latest films
An RFID-powered system threads through the entire experience, delivering a personalized, interactive journey tailored to each visitor
Star Wars: The Experience is officially set to open at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on February 13, 2027, marking the franchise’s official 50th anniversary with what its creators are calling the largest and most comprehensive behind-the-scenes exhibition the Star Wars galaxy has ever seen.
The exhibition is a joint production between The Franklin Institute, MDSX, Lucasfilm, and Disney Consumer Products. It spans 18,000 square feet of visually rich, interconnected galleries designed to move visitors through the creative machinery behind five decades of Star Wars storytelling. Screen-used artifacts and original costumes anchor the physical experience, with pieces drawn from across the full collection, touching every era from the 1977 original trilogy through to the franchise’s most recent entries.
What separates the exhibition from a conventional prop showcase is its technological backbone. An RFID-powered system runs through the entire footprint, enabling a personalized, interactive layer that shifts depending on the visitor. The Franklin Institute describes the result as a “cinematic journey,” suggesting the experience is built to feel less like a museum walkthrough and more like an active passage through the franchise’s production history, with each guest’s path shaped by their own engagement.
The venue choice carries weight of its own. The Franklin Institute is one of the oldest and most prominent science museums in the United States, and it has a track record of hosting large-scale, culturally significant exhibitions. Philadelphia gets the world premiere exclusively, meaning this is the only place on Earth to see the exhibition at launch.
The February 2027 opening positions the show squarely within the Star Wars 50th anniversary year, transforming the exhibition into both a retrospective and a cultural event. For a franchise that first screened in 1977 and has since expanded into one of the most far-reaching entertainment properties in history, the milestone demands a physical footprint to match.
Franklin Institute members will receive first access to presale tickets beginning October 2026, with public ticket sales opening in November 2026. Star Wars: The Experience requires a separate exhibition ticket, though it includes general admission to the museum.
