Calculating the success of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', Disney has decided to make it a winter release as well.
- January 21, 2016
AceShowbiz -
"Star Wars: Episode VIII" is not going to arrive as soon as people expected. Disney and Lucasfilm have just announced that the highly-anticipated pic is being pushed back seven months, from Memorial Day weekend in 2017 to December 15 of that year.
There's no known reason for the delay but sources told THR that the success of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has inspired the execs to release "Episode VIII" over the year-end holidays as well. All "Star Wars" films always opened in summer until "The Force Awakens" experienced a script delay and challenged the tradition to open in December.
The new schedule will provide more time for the studio to work on the movie. Plus, Disney already has plenty of potential hits such as "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Cars 3" in its summer slate. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" will now open on "Episode VIII" old slot on May 26, 2017. The film starring Johnny Depp was previously scheduled to open on July 7 that year.
"Episode VIII" will be directed by Rian Johnson and will feature the new characters introduced in "The Force Awakens".
