The release of “Star Wars: Episode VIII” has been delayed from May 2017 to December 2017.
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The original release date for Star Wars: Episode VIII was to be May 26, 2017 but will now be december 15, 2017.
With a December 2017 release date, this means Star Wars will have to compete directly against James Cameron’s Avatar 2 in the box office.
Noting the success of the Christmas day screening of the latest installment, and despite releasing all other Star Wars movies during summer, the Disney team explained the reason for the postponement in a blog post.
Its total global gross now stands at $1.8 billion, making it the third biggest movie of all time, behind Titanic at two, and Avatar. It will also be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman along with J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski as executive producers.
As mentioned, “The Force Awakens” is the first movie in the franchise that did not release in the summer. It’s now the highest-grossing movie in US history, and is also the third highest-grossing movie worldwide, with its current global cume standing at $1.88 billion.
The next film in the series, Episode VIII, is now in pre-production but the film is expected to start shooting later next month.
Episode VIII is reported to be in pre-production, with “principal photography” starting next month.
The pirate sequel starring Johnny Depp was originally earmarked for release on July 7, 2017. This weekend may well have the same result, only with no projected clear cut victor between Ride Along 2 and The Revenant this time – although The Force Awakens should beat newer films like Dirty Grandpa and The 5th Wave.
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The next Star Wars release will see the return of the main new characters introduced in The Force Awakens, interpreted by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac.
