Star Wars: Episode VIII, written and directed by Rian Johnson, was originally supposed to be a summer movie release. Not so much anymore as Disney announced today that the eighth Star Wars film will now occupy a similar date as Episode VII, December 15, 2017.
We can see why Lucasfilm and The Mouse House moved the film after the extraordinary success that Star Wars: The Force Awakens had with its release last month on December 18. The film has made $861 million domestically and is the third biggest global release ever with $1.887 billion internationally.
Releasing a film during that holiday season is a windfall, it appears, and Disney and Lucasfilm appear to want the same for the film’s sequel. People have more time during the holidays, it appears, and therefore much of that repeat business that makes a film an out-of-this-world blockbuster like Star Wars: The Force Awakens can be credited to that. How many summer movies have you seen more than once?
The move also has some reverberation with another Disney franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean. The Johnny Depp starring fifth film in that series will now take Star Wars: Episode VIII’s old spot of May 26, 2017. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was originally going to land on July 7, 2017.