Star Wars Episode VII Gets Official Release Date

Today Disney has announced the planned official release date for JJ Abrams' directed Star Wars: Episode VII as December 18, 2015. It was assumed for a while that the goal was a summer 2015 but most felt that date was unrealistic considering no meaningful pre-production has started on the film. Combined with that was a recent decision to switch writers from Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) to Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan (Eps III, IV). Along with the release date, Abrams explained the switch as a factor of time.

It became clear that given the time frame and given the process and the way the thing was going that working with Larry in this way was going to get us where we need to be and when we needed to be. Working with Larry Kasdan, especially on a Star Wars movie is kind of unbeatable. ...

Working with Michael was a wonderful experience and I couldn’t be a bigger fan of his or adore him more, He’s a wonderful guy and was incredibly helpful in the process. [This event] doesn’t preclude working with Michael again in the future, he is one of the best writers around.

The average production cycle of a big budget movie is around two years so the extra six or so months should provide the time he needed. It also has the bonus of removing Star Wars from a crowded summer season to the Holiday movie season which tends to be mostly crowded with Oscar bait.