Star Wars Episode VIII Set to Dominate December 2017 as Ready Player One Moves Over.
In addition to Avatar 2, another high-profile movie has shifted release dates from December 2017 to 2018 following Star Wars Episode VIII‘s delay – Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. With this in mind, it looks as though Episode VIII is going to have a monopoly over the December box office just like The Force Awakens did.
Steven Spielberg’s READY PLAYER ONE backs down from STAR WARS EPISODE VII, moves from Dec. 15, 2017 to March 30, 2018.
— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) February 9, 2016
Looks like Player One is going to have to wait, huh? …Yeah, that was terrible. Sorry. Anyway, the only other major releases that are currently scheduled for Episode VIII‘s release frame are The Six Billion Dollar Man, The Croods 2, The Greatest Showman On Earth, and a new Disney animated fairy tale – but I get the feeling that a few of these are going to move around a little as well (particularly Disney’s animated film). It seems that without two high-profile releases to contend with, Episode VIII is going to have minimal competition next year, meaning that it has a real shot at performing about as well as The Force Awakens did (and possibly even better internationally).
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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
This is hilarious.
They JUST sent out the casting calls for RP1 anyway! Give Spielberg the time he needs to do the book justice – it IS a massive undertaking; the pop-culture references ALONE will probably fall mainly by the wayside. (But I am looking forward to the ‘Tomb of Horrors / Joust’ segment!)
It will be amazing if done right, Nostalgia done properly and not cynically like with VII.
everything is transpiring as i have foreseen it…
Star Wars sucks. I’m not going to watch star wars 8.
I am glad you took time to come and tell us that. It means a lot.
Take the professor in the back and plug him into the hyperdrive.
is that you george? 😉
Will (average) people (not us) go to see future Star Wars movies as many times as they went to TFA? One could argue it both ways. I lean towards no, because the novelty and hype won’t be the same with them coming out with Star Wars movies every 12 months.
The second movie of the past two Star Wars trilogies have all made considerably less money than the lead offs. No reason to flip out if that is the case again.
I think it will make less money, but it will still be a powerhouse. I think it will be comperable to the Avengers films which come ever few years. The first one destroyed records, but even after the hype and novelty had worn off the second one still did quite well even if it didn’t match the first. On the postitve side though this new film might appeal to newcomers more since it will be much less “nostalgia heavy” the way TFA was and pretty much centrally focus on the new story and characters set up in episode 7.
I miss Star Wars summer experience , hoping episode 9 would come on May 2019.
Not gonna happen. That would be great, but it’s not gonna happen.
Summer season wasn’t nearly as loaded back when the OT & PT were in theaters. They didn’t really have a ton of competition, at least in the early days.
December releases make so much sense it’s not even funny – nothing else worth seeing, AND we get Star Wars for Christmas!
Best.
Present.
Ever!
Um, The Matrix/Spiderman/Batman Begins?
We’re speaking in general. Besides, citing 3 examples over 3 years doth not a loaded summer schedule make.
1999:
To claim that many of those were major blockbusters is a bit of a stretch…
Granted, 2005 proved to be the toughest competition, but I’m certain that we can all agree that much of that may have had to do with the general audience (and hardcore fans) being a bit fed up with SW proving to be on a downward (read: shitty) trajectory at that point. “Prequelitis” as it were.
But 99 & 02 not so much, other than Spider-Man, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Regardless, the current summer lineups of the past few years, and looking forward are much more loaded with what can truly be considered “Blockbuster” type films…and many of those owned by Disney as well. There’s no compelling reason for them to release another of their own films to compete against another of their own. December makes sense, especially considering other studios are seemingly going out of their way now to avoid releasing any big-budget film against SW in December.
It’s a business…and right now, SW in December makes good business sense.
A few of them were sleepers and there are many more but that’s just what I got via a quick search. Even if they were not made to be tentpoles they still had A-Listers, huge budgets, and came out in the middle of the blockbuster season.
I think there was far less competition in the 70’s and 80’s with the OT but there were still some classics that came out around the same time as well.
Until the studios get smart and start giving SW some competition during that time period. I think Rogue One will make money off the base of TFA but like with the MCU films, I think even some fans will get tired of the series and the “next big thing” or hot trend will be able to take it head on in December.
Disney has a solid relationship with both James Cameron and Steven Spileberg. I’m sure Disney gave them both ample warning. It sounds like neither were going to make their release dates anyways.
Star Wars Episode 8 is going to be a low-profile bomb!
-No One Ever
you know if it makes less then TFA the industry “experts” will be asking what went wrong.
Seriously. It’ll be just like Avengers 2’s “disappointing” $1.4 billion…
Not ready player one…
Star Wars is so great, that no movie dares to make some competition against it.
Ready Player Whaaaaaat?
Great book! The novel had far more heart than TFA’s. If Speilburg can bring some of his old magic back then I’m looking forward to this one more than VIII. Especially if they are going to find more ways to shoe horn Finn into duels for the sake of selling more toys.