It was rumoured for a while, but last week brought confirmation that STAR WARS: EPISODE VII would be getting an 18th December, 2015 release, as opposed to making its originally planned summer 2015 bow. Now, speaking to IGN, Disney CEO Bog Iger gave the reasons for this move.

Iger proclaimed, “This is obviously one of the most important films that we are working on right now. And one of the things that was very important to us is that we give the creative team, J.J. Abrams and his writing team, the time to design, write and produce the film so we can optimize quality, so they can create a great film.”

He added, “At one point we considered the summer of 2015, but it felt like, particularly with some changes we made in the writing team, that was going to create a bit of a rush and I didn’t think that was optimal for obvious reasons. So Christmas 2015 became the date.”

To make this all look a little more credible, Iger closed by pointing out that AVATAR was also released on 18th December and became the highest-grossing film ever. “Hopefully that brings good luck,” he quipped.

So, no mention of the fact that the House of Mouse has also got AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON coming out in summer 2015 then? No mention of wanting to make the most of two varying box office periods? No mention of the film’s initial screenwriter, Michael Arnt, having left the project?

Either way, we’ll be front and centre when EPISODE VII does arrive.

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