Star Wars: Episode VIII isn’t going to arrive in cinemas as soon as we’d hoped, a new statement on StarWars.com has confirmed.
Originally scheduled to be released in May 2017, Star Wars: Episode VIII will now arrive in cinemas on 15th December 2017. A statement was posted on the official Star Wars website explaining the new release date and suggesting that the strong performance of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the Christmas period could be the reason for the push back.
Today, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally scheduled for release in summer 2017, will now debut on December 15, 2017.
The move follows the extraordinary success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was the first Star Wars movie to premiere outside the traditional summer blockbuster window and smashed numerous records, including biggest domestic and global debuts of all time as well as the biggest domestic second and third weekends, en route to becoming the highest grossing domestic release of all time with over $861.3 million and the third biggest global release ever with $1.886.7 billion.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: Episode VIII is currently in preproduction and will begin principal photography in London next month. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman will produce and J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski will executive produce. Stay tuned for exciting updates in the coming weeks.
Source: StarWars.com
Since it opened in December 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken box office records around the world. The film was directed by J.J. Abrams and featured original trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill reprising their roles.
This December sees the release of spin-off film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is currently scheduled for 16th December. The film stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk and Jonathan Aris.
Are you disappointed that we’re going to have wait longer for Star Wars: Episode VIII?
