'Star Wars: Episode 8' Release Date Postponed, Film Could Lose Against 'Avatar 2'?
"Star Wars" fans will wait a little bit longer before the sequel to "Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens." On Tuesday, Lucasfilm and Disney announced that "Star Wars: Episode VIII" will be pushed back for a late release date in December, per CNN Money.
The news outlet said that instead of the scheduled May 26, 2017, fans will again spend the holiday season with a new "Star Wars" film on Dec. 15, 2017. Entertainment Weekly notes that "Star Wars: Episode VIII" was supposed to start filming in U.K. this month but principal photography will still push through in February.
According to a statement by Lucasfilm, as per Entertainment Weekly, that with this move, the company expects to achieve the same rate of success that "Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens" has received. The first "Star Wars" installment gained a lot of traction in the box office with a record high of $859 million in local cinemas and $1.8 billion worldwide, per CNN Money. Just like "The Force Awakens," Lucasfilm is replicating the same release date for "Star Wars: Episode VIII."
Meanwhile, because of the sudden change of schedule in release date, Forbes reports that there is a battle brewing between "Star Wars: Episode VIII" and "Avatar 2." The two major film franchise will be tailing each other in December, with "Star Wars" releasing a week earlier before "Avatar 2" is released.
The publication notes that if "Avatar" director James Cameron finishes on its scheduled release date and will not be thrown off guard of Lucasfilm's recent change of heart for the "Star Wars: Episode VIII" release, then the two "wholly original" will battle it out against each other in box office cinemas. "Star Wars: Episode 7 -- The Force Awakens" is seeing an approximate $2 billion worldwide sales, which is still a long way to go to catch up with "Avatar's" $2.788 billion revenue.
Forbes speculate that there is a chance that "Star Wars" may lose to "Avatar" when they battle head-to-head in December because of the former's lack in overseas sales. The outlet explains that even though the recent "Star Wars" film was a massive hit, the majority of its viewers are those exposed to the 35-year-old classic, and those who are not familiar with it, will just treat it as another well-polished sci-fi film. On the other hand, "Avatar" opens up a new world of Pandora to viewers without basing it to a classic franchise to gain traction. This means that if ever the two releases in December, they will individually have separate markets to get their sales. "Avatar 2" may become a hit overseas while "Star Wars: Episode VIII" will cover the American market.