Star Wars 7 Won’t Make 2015 Date; Disney Says No To 2016?

There have been a quite number of rumors surrounding the new installment in the Star Wars franchise, from cast, to story to release dates, which some claim will be in either November or December of 2015, in spite of Disney’s continuous claims that their target remains a Spring or Summer of 2015 premiere.

Well today a new one hits the press. Apparently some of THR’s sources close to the project are confirming that the new LucasFilm president and Star Wars: Episode VII executive producer Kathleen Kennedy as well as “most of the film’s creative team” have asked Disney to push back the release of the new installment to 2016, but Disney CEO Robert Iger seems adamant in maintaining the original release date of 2015, with director J.J. Abrams apparently “in sync with Iger’s desire”, thus why he joined writers.

THR is also claiming that the Oscar winning screenwriter Michael Arndt has done a 40 to 50 page story treatment for the new film, but it “isn’t close to ready” and that is why Abrams is now working with former Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi).

If the rumors are to be believed, then there are a couple of tie in issues. The first one is that the studios, aka Disney is this case is falling in the same trap the countless others fall in, which is that they are rushing to have something to put on the market, when they should let these big tentpole’s take their sweet but reasonable time to get properly made. Yes things being done until the last possible moment is part of the game but when you are making a $200 million plus movie things need to be right on the mark, script, special effects, etc… so by rushing it or sticking to an impossible to achieve release date, problems may surface, and no one wants another Jar Jar Binks on the screen. Issue number two and since I brought up Jar Jar, let’s not forget that Episode VII isn’t a prequel, a reboot or a remake; it’s the beginning and launching pad for a new franchise that builds up onto the previous ones, so things need to be thought out (script) for the long run, meaning the script or at least the overall story for all of the franchise needs to be, or should be done now, no one wants another screw-up franchise like the X-Men.

But before fans start jumping of bridges (don’t) let’s not forget that Abram’s was able to push back the release dates of both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness in order to allow the development of the franchise. 

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