Disney Chairman/CEO Bob Iger has confirmed that Rian Johnson's Star Wars Episode VIII will hit theaters in 2017 and that Star Wars Episode IX will follow in 2019, according to Get Your Geek On.  David Gremillion from GYOG, who is a Disney stockholder, received the companies' annual shareholder's report, which included a statement from Iger on the future of the Star Wars franchise:
star-wars-the-force-awakens-image-31 As one of the few people allowed to visit the set during filming….and one of the fewer who’s seen most of the footage…I can assure the millions of Star Wars fans who have spent the last decade hoping for a new movie this one will be worth the wait. And it’s only the beginning of a new era of exceptional Star Wars storytelling; next year we’ll release our first standalone movie based on these characters, followed by Star Wars: Episode VIII in 2017, and we’ll finish this trilogy with Episode IX in 2019.
This isn't exactly a surprise.  It's been widely believed that that we would see a Star Wars film every year beginning with The Force Awakens, and that assumption makes a lot of sense given the effort Disney has put into quickly finding talented directors to helm the sequels and spin-offs, but it's exciting to get some confirmation of the studio's intended release timeline nonetheless.
Episode VII, J.J. AbramsStar Wars: The Force Awakens will hit theaters December 18th this year, and the first standalone Star Wars film will open the following year on December 16th, 2016.  And now we can all rest easy knowing that it won't be long after until we get our next intergalactic fix. star-wars-the-force-awakens-stormtrooper-wallpaper