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Star Wars: Episode VIII's Release Date Pushed Back


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Can't wait to see Star Wars: Episode VIII? Too bad, we'll have to wait longer.

Disney and Lucasfilm have announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally set for release May 26, 2017, is pushed back seven months. The new release date will be on Dec. 15, 2017.

According to Lucasfilm, the sequel, which picks up the story of Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren, was scheduled to begin filming this month in the U.K. and will start principal photography next month.

Until The Force Awakens, Star Wars movies were always summertime movies, with each of the original trilogy and prequels releasing in theaters on May, but now it seems that the saga will be a holiday phenomenon. Script delays pushed back The Force Awkaens from May 2015 to December 2015 release, and it seems that it's the same case for the next saga film.

Yesterday, it was reported that the script for the sequel is being rewritten forEpisode VIII, which is being written by writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper).

Lucasfilm said that the date shift was aimed at following the lead of The Force Awakens, which now holds the record for domestic box office at $859 million and is No. 3 on the worldwide chart with $1.9 billion – behind Titanic in second place with $2.2 billion and Avatar in the No. 1 spot with $2.8 billion.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which was originally scheduled to release on July 7, 2017, will now move into the May 2017 spot Episode VIII is vacating.

With the new release date, I think Episode VIII will probably perform better than if it was set to release on 2017 as it would have to compete with other summer blockbusters like Wonder Woman, War of the Planet of the Apes, Uncharted, and Despicable Me 3.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is still scheduled to release on Dec. 16, 2016. For the latest updates, you can check out the Rogue One fan page here.

Read:Han Solo Confirmed For Star Wars: Episode VIII?

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