With Friday’s announcement that J J Abrams has been signed to direct the first installment of Disney’s new Star Wars trilogy, we all just assumed that the film was finally on track for its already announced 2015 release. However, that might not necessarily be the case.
Buried deep in the Hollywood Reporter‘s story on Disney’s announcement of Abrams’ hiring is the following –
Episode VII is set for release in 2015, but sources say Abrams has not committed to that release date, meaning the date could be changed if the development process requires it.
While I am sure that Disney would love to have the film in theaters when they originally announced it would be, I am sure that they know that Abrams does things in his own good, sweet time. Remember that his 2009 Star Trek was delayed from the summer to December in order to finish it to his specifications. That film’s follow up has taken almost four years to get to theaters.
If Episode VII does get pushed back out of 2015, it might not be the worse thing to happen. That summer already has both The Avengers 2 and Justice League penciled in. Avengers 2 should be depositing a ton of money in Disney’s bank account. With Episode VII in 2016, Disney has the potential to have the top grossing film of the year two years in a row. I imagine that it would look nice on the spreadsheets to have that kind of box office two years in a row.
