Breaking news from Variety, as the site is reporting that Star Wars: Episode VIII is now being pushed back from its May 2017 release to the end of that year…
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According to Variety, Disney/Lucasfilm is moving Star Wars: Episode VIII from its original May 26, 2017 date to December 15, 2017. That’s just two days shy of a full two years from the December 17, 2015 premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As for now, there has been no official reason or explanation given for the delay, but Variety is reporting that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will take the May 26, 2017, which was previously set for July 7, 2017.
As for Star Wars: Episode VIII, and its delay, the film is currently in pre-production and is set to begin principle photography in London (Pinewood Studios), in February. Directory Rian Johnson (Brick and Looper) is taking the helm of the Star Wars franchise from uber director J.J. Abrams, who re-started it all with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
One can only guess to the reason for the delay, but I would imagine there will be some news as to those reasons, in the coming days and weeks, leading up to Episode VIII‘s taking over at Pinewood.
The good thing is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is coming out this Christmas, so it won’t seem as such a long stretch between films, but the the excitement for Episode VIII may be slightly diminished, since it was originally slated to premiere in theaters worldwide, roughly five months after Rogue One.
Tell us how you feel about this delay, and what you think the reasoning behind it is, in the comments and on social media.