We almost made it an entire week with only two Star Wars rumor stories, but alas, we’ve got one more to close out the week.  To be fair, this latest rumor does have some weight to it, if only to clear up confusion regarding the possibility of a release date delay.  As you well know, Harrison Ford recently injured his leg pretty badly on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII.  The actor will be out of commission for two months, which is a significant blow to the production as Han Solo is said to play a major role in director J.J. Abrams’ sequel.  On Monday, a rumor surfaced that filming could maybe be postponed due to the injury, but now word comes that Disney is adamant that Episode VII will be released on December 18, 2015—despite the fact that Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy have apparently been lobbying for a delay to May.  Hit the jump to read on.

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The folks over at Latino Review are reporting that the release date of Star Wars 7 will absolutely not be delayed.  Abrams and Kennedy apparently would like the release date to be pushed to May 4, 2016—putting the film back into the traditional Star Wars release date—but Disney CEO Bob Iger has given a firm “no.”

One may think that delaying the Star Wars sequel a mere five months isn’t a big deal, but it would actually be a huge deal.  You see, when Bob Iger announced that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm for a very hefty sum and would be moving forward with a new series of Star Wars films, he promised shareholders a Star Wars movie in 2015.  Disney is, first and foremost, a business, and they are counting on an enormous amount of profits from Star Wars merchandise due on shelves for the 2015 holiday season.  There's also the revenue from the movie as well.  This is and has always been the plan, and Iger doesn’t seem keen to deviate at this point.

As with all rumors, none of this is confirmed, but it is important to keep the business side of things in mind when speculating about things like release dates and production delays.  I’m not saying it’s right (I’d much rather have a good movie—the movie Abrams intended to make—rather than a movie that makes its initial release date).  But alas, it appears that Abrams and Kennedy will have to work around Ford’s injury and barrel towards Christmas 2015.

I’m sure Abrams realized that taking on Star Wars would be a herculean task when he signed on, but I wonder if, had he known what issues would arise (the script troubles, Ford’s injury, etc.), would he still have signed on?  I feel for the guy.  Hopefully it’ll be smooth sailing from here on out and it’ll all have been worth it come December 18, 2015.  At least Rian Johnson is already hard at work on Episode VIII, right?

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