Spielberg vs. Star Wars: Dueling Movie Release Schedules
by EG
When Disney announced in late January that it was delaying the release of the sequel to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, the change set off a domino effect of release-date changes among potential blockbusters. When the dust cleared, Star Wars had December 2017 all to itself.
The change in the release date for Star Wars, from May 2017 to December, seems to be more of a strategic one than one caused by production problems. The overwhelming success of The Force Awakens in December 2015 showed Disney that the Christmas season is the prime time for a Star Wars release, and between the films of the planned central Star Wars trilogy and several spin-off films, Disney hopes to own December for the next several years.
The first consequence of the change was the shift of James Cameron's Avatar 2 from a December 2017 release. That film's release date was never set in stone, and a new date has not been announced, but a clash of titanic movie franchises won't happen in December 2017.
And then this week, Warner Bros. announced that it was moving the release of Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Ernest Cline's sci fi/fantasy novel, from December 2017 to March 2018. While the battle between Star Wars and Avatar would have been epic, Star Wars would have likely crushed Spielberg's film into nothingness, making Warner Bros.' move seem to be a very wise one indeed.