Disney has just announced that Star Wars: Episode VII will be released December 18, 2015.
The date is a shift from the summer 2015 timeframe that the studio initially revealed earlier this year.
“We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture,” said Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.
Signs of a delay have slowly surfaced over the past few months as news of the production making progress stalled. To date, Disney has yet to reveal any actors for the film. Last month they announced that Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan took over as script writers. Michael Arndt was the first writer to handle penning the script.
A report late last month indicated that producer Kathleen Kennedy wanted to push the film to 2016, but Disney said no.
This will be the first time a Star Wars movie is not released in the summer time. All six previous films were released in the month of May.
In a statement the studio added that the film will begin shooting spring 2014. The film’s score will be composed by John Williams.
It remains to be seen how this will effect Episodes VIII and IX which are expected to debut in 2017 and 2019. Moreover, we don’t know what this means for the rumored Star Wars spinoff that Disney is apparently planning for 2016 and 2018.