StarWars.com has just announced the new official released date for Episode VIII. While it was previously announced to open in May of 2017, it has now been pushed back to December 15th 2017, and will follow in the footsteps of “The Force Awakens” and “Rogue One” of a winter release. Also revealed in the announcement is that principle photography will begin next month in London. Kathleen Kennedy previously said during “The Force Awakens” press tour that filming on Episode VIII would begin in January, but is now scheduled to start in February.
Here is the announcement from StarWars.com:
Today, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally scheduled for release in summer 2017, will now debut on December 15, 2017.
The move follows the extraordinary success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was the first Star Wars movie to premiere outside the traditional summer blockbuster window and smashed numerous records, including biggest domestic and global debuts of all time as well as the biggest domestic second and third weekends, en route to becoming the highest grossing domestic release of all time with over $861.3 million and the third biggest global release ever with $1,886.7 billion.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: Episode VIII is currently in preproduction and will begin principal photography in London next month. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman will produce and J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski will executive produce. Stay tuned for exciting updates in the coming weeks.
While it is disappointing to know that we’re gonna have to wait a little longer to see Episode VIII, and we won’t get to experience two “Star Wars” movies six months apart from each other, it does make sense to release it in December again after the mega success of “The Force Awakens.” But we were able to endure the long wait for “The Force Awakens,” so we should be JUST fine in the lead up to Episode VIII!
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