Walt Disney Studios has changed the release dates of two of its upcoming big franchise films: Star Wars: Episode VIII and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Star Wars fans are going to have to wait an additional seven months to see the sequel to Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the Mouse House has bumped the release date from May 26, 2017 to December 15, 2017. The Force Awakens was released in December and scored phenomenal success over the winter holidays, prompting Disney to move Star Wars VIII to a December berth also.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens holds numerous records including the highest grossing domestic release of all time ($861+ million).
Filming’s expected to begin on Star Wars: Episode VIII in February 2016 in London. Rian Johnson (Looper) wrote the screenplay and is directing, with J.J. Abrams, Tom Karnowski, and Jason McGatlin executive producing. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman are involved as producers.
The May 26, 2017 release date slot was filled by Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The fifth film of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was previously scheduled to sail into theaters on July 7, 2017 but now will open in May, the same month Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides launched in theaters.
Johnny Depp is reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, Orlando Bloom returns as Will Turner, and Geoffrey Rush is back as Barbossa. The cast also includes Javier Bardem as Captain Salazar. Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg directed the new Pirates film with Jerry Bruckheimer producing.
The Plot: “Thrust into an all-new adventure, a down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow finds the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost pirates led by his old nemesis, the terrifying Captain Salazar (Bardem), escape from the Devil’s Triangle, determined to kill every pirate at sea…including him. Captain Jack’s only hope of survival lies in seeking out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact that bestows upon its possessor total control over the seas.”
