Disney CEO Bob Iger Explains The Decision Behind STAR WARS EPISODE VII's Release Date

So...who is the main character?

I'm excited to be back in a galaxy far, far away especially with Lucas far, far away from this project :P

Having Warcraft and Episode 7 be released on the same day will be a bloodbath. They need, NEED to push Warcraft or Star Wars to another date.

Disney missed a HUGE marketing date: May 4th 2016 would have been smarter.

I highly doubt no one from the general audience would see it. That's like saying everyone who has never played Assassins Creed won't go to see the movie when it comes out. The trailers, TV spots, and posters make it look good, they give the general audience who knows nothing some eye candy and a little bit of a story to expect.

@McFridayNight
Warcraft 1-2 were very popular RTS before starcraft and were the games of the year for a few years straight. Millions of people played it. Millions of people still play Starcraft Broodwar and SC2. Millions play WOW and Warcraft 3. Millions of people is quite a demographic and most probably includes the general audience. College Professors, Doctors, Lawyers, Civil Engineers, Students, Actors, Writers, Plumbers, all types of people play WoW. it is a very large demographic that include the General audience

@bonesmcgee Very well put.

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks Warcraft will pose any kind of threat to Star Wars is on drugs. I would bet money they end up moving it. I don't see it doing just real great anyway, because most video game movies don't do well.

Marvel has been owning the month of May since the first Spider-Man back in '02.

The only reason is money. It's released around Christmas so all the toys and merchandise come out for the holidays and people buy all kinds of stuff and stuff disneys wallet. Plain and simple.

Feels weird having a Christmas release date, considering all the other movies opened in May.

This does set up a Star Wars/Avatar clash in the holiday seasons every bit as big as the summer Marvel/DC clashes of late.

With Avatar kicking off in December 2016,2017 and 2018, the odds are that series will play against a main Star Wars trilogy film or one of the planned spin offs some time in that period.

Isnt the new James bond movie coming that weekend??or sis I miss something

@batmor, unless it's been moved, the Bond film comes out the first weekend in November. That's why Marvel moved Ant-Man from November to summer (although I still believe the odds are that Ant-Man will flop.)

As for those saying that Marvel now owns May, I'm calling BS. Yeah, they have in recent years, but I would bet money that if Star Wars had already claimed a May date, Marvel would have stayed at least a month away from it, and not just because Disney owns both companies. And yes, I have no doubt that kids wanting Star Wars toys for Christmas factored into the decision. Disney would be stupid to not take that into a consideration.

As for a possible Star Wars/Avatar showdown, just because Ep. VII is being released in December doesn't mean the others will, especially the stand-alones. And if there is a showdown, unless Ep. VII just sucks, Star Wars will wipe the floor with it. Avatar was that successful in large part because it was the first truly spectacular 3-D movie, and so many, including myself, just wanted to see it for the visuals. The story itself was, at best, boilerplate politically correct nonsense about the poor natives beating the oppressive imperialists. When the next ones come out, while they will probably still have impressive visual effects, the newness of it will be gone. People won't go just for that again. And the story is sounding even dumber, with the mean colonel somehow being brought back to life evidently (or maybe he has a twin brother too, like Jake did.) Avatar doesn't have near the child following (how many of you know a kid who has ever bought an Avatar toy?) either. Heck, even with only a cartoon out the past several years, Star Wars toys are still prominent at Walmart. And Avatar doesn't have the cult following either. Just compare the number of Star Wars costumes at various conventions with the number of Avatar costumes. No, the only chance Avatar would have against Star Wars would be if Abrams just completely screws Ep. VII up and makes it where no one wants to see the next one.