What are the chances of the release getting moved back to May 2017?

If Lucasfilm would want to release Episode VIII in May 2017, they probably could. Post-production has started and John Williams will soon start recording music for the movie. However, with the enormous success of TFA in December (and January-February), Lucasfilm will stick with the date.

 

They won't change the planning they have there rythmn now. One movie in december every year.

 

It's Star Wars. The time of year is not going to make a bit of difference as to how much money it makes. Not that I think they actually will move it back.

 

You have to keep in mind that post-production takes a lot of time. Also, John Williams won't start recording the score itself, he will look through the rough cut to think about the possible score. Then he will write some notes. For TFA, John Williams started to work on the score on June 2014, the recording sessions started on July 2015. One year later.
Furthermore, there will be reshoots. Every big production has reshoots these days.

I would love to see EPVIII on May, but I don't think Lucasfilm will push the movie back to the original release date.

 

At the moment the Han Solo movie is set for May 25 2018. So not every movie is set for December.
http://www.comingsoon.net/movie/star-wars-anthology-han-solo-2018

 

*I'd rather they not....

I loved the December release for The Force Awakens. To go with my buddy on an cold dark December night to see Star Wars in the theater was great ..

 

logically... there's no way in a million years that they would alter the release date.

there are plenty of reasons for moving the date.. production falling behind, avoiding a clash with another movie etc, but i don't see why they would cut 7 months of build up and marketing even if the film was ready.

in saying that..... i ticked 'I think it will!!!'

what can i say? i'm not logical and i can't give a good reason as to why i think it will happen. it's a gut instinct... something fishy is going on over there at disney/lucasfilm.

 

EP VIII released in May 2017?

 

Good argument, and I agree ..

 

They've already got Guardians in early May. Then Pirates 5 in later May.

Don't forget once Episode VIII moved to December, a lot of other studios quickly moved their own movies away from there because of competing against Star Wars.

You also have to consider revenue from toys and such. This years Force Friday is Rogue One-centric. Next years will be Episode VIII-centric. This gives them maximum profit.

Not sure about how Han Solo merchandise will be played out.

 

looking at the release dates for all films next year... there aren't many months you would want to shoe-horn ep 8 into (if you wanted to move it of course)

the only sparse looking month for next year is... well... December.

wonder why that is?

they won't give up that slot

 

I feel like keeping December is in everyone's best interest. Yes, they'll have a lot of post-production time, but December ensures there's no "crunching" or bad decisions made. The only two sensible options seem to be May (the traditional SW month) or December (the new SW month), and to release it anywhere in between those months would feel off. If they were to go with May, they would lose a whole five months of time to polish the film.

 

Yep. Once TFA came out and people saw the profits. Then Disney moved Episode VIII to December and all the studios ran for cover.

Star Wars is now basically Disney's end of the year cleanup hitter. No more matter how they do during the year, they've got Star Wars at the end.

 

Something would have to happen to another movie that's already scheduled for May. There's too much money/marketing/planning involved for them to move a movie up less than a year from release date.

 

They know what they're doing - and don't forget, there could yet be reshoots. In other news, I can't believe I have to wait that long to see Episode VIII, but thank my lucky stars there isn't three years between Star Wars movies like there used to be. The wait between Empire and Jedi was something shocking.

 

No chance, I feel a star wars movie needs to be placed at the end of a year, 12 months of a anticipation, after TFA worth the wait.

 

I understand the speculation - they seem to be way ahead of where TFA was at this point. And if they really wanted to, they could probably push up the release. But Disney already has Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Pirate of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales scheduled for release in May. So not only would Disney have to shuffle their entire release schedule, but they would be moving Ep8 away from a slot that where it will have little competition (because other studios haven't wanted to go against it) into a very crowded release window.

 

Exactly. $tar War$ $ell$ be$t in December from now on. Hahaha.