There was bad news for Star Wars fans after Disney announced it had pushed back the release of the next installment in the film franchise. Abrams’ film, which has so far grossed $1.887 billion worldwide – and counting – was the first “Star Wars” film to get a December release, with all previous installments opening in the summer.
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The release of “Star Wars: Episode VIII” has been delayed from May 2017 to December 2017.
It will feature the stars of The Force Awakens: Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega.
However, the studios revealed that principal photography for Star Wars Episode VIII will begin next month in February.
The original slated May release date has now been used for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, bringing it forward from July.
No specific reason for the delay has been made public, but there has been speculation that writer and director Rian Johnson wants more time to complete rewrites of the script.
Since it opened in December 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken box office records around the world.
The plan for the upcoming spin-off, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has not been altered by Disney, and it’ll be coming out on December 16th, 2016 as expected.
After the breathless ride that was The Force Awakens, many a Star Wars fan has been counting the days until Episode VIII is released in May 2017. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman will produce and J.J. Abrams, Tom Karnowski, and Jason McGatlin will executive produce. Yes, this is Star Wars, but a release date to December could have the same end-of-year success as its predecessor.
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Star Wars films used to be a lock for May, which Episode VIII was created to return to. It is also the third highest grossing movie globally, with over $1,886.7 billion collections.
