Disney delays release of new Star Wars movie

Episode VIII will now hit cinemas on 15 December 2017, seven months later than its anticipated debut date of 26 May 2017. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens officially became the biggest film of all time when it premiered at the end of past year, pulling in more than £600 million in the first five weeks.

The decision to delay the release of the film is so the makers can match the success and quality of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

Jef Sneider from The Wrap told Popcorn Talk claims that he heard Episode VIII’s director and writer, Rian Johnson, wants to change-up the screenplay. Cameron intends to film both the sequel to Avatar and two additional sequels all at once, and given the long production period – and even longer post-production stage – a December 2017 release does indeed seem unlikely. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman will produce and J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski will executive produce.

A spin-off, titled “Rogue One”, which will be set shortly before the events portrayed in the original 1977 “Star Wars” film, is set to reach screens on December 16.

“Episode VIII” will start filming in London in February and is expected to continue the tale of new characters Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and the villainous Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

The Force Awakens is now third on the worldwide box office chart with $1.9 billion dollars in sales, behind Titanic with $2.2 billion and Avatar with $2.8 billion.

The ninth episode of Star Wars is still planned for release on May 24, 2019.

One of his sons, Jake Kasdan, is directing Sony’s “Jumanji” reboot, which the studio announced this afternoon is being delayed from its initial release date (this December 25) to July 28, 2017 – the very summer that “Star Wars: Episode VIII” was previously positioned to dominate.