The Force Awakens reigned supreme during 2015, which is a pretty impressive feat considering it was only released in December of last year. Producers Lucasfilm and Disney still have many irons in the fire though, with a number of spin-off titles in the works, like the highly coveted Han Solo flick, plus Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, set for 16 December 2016. 

Shifting focus to the mainstream franchise however, the producers have announced a change in the release date of Episode VIII, pushing it back from the original date of 26 May 2017 to 15 December 2017.

While some might be worried that things aren't going smoothly for the film, as postponements in release usually mean so, the Star Wars official blog pointed out that a similar move was taken for The Force Awakens. According to the blog post, the shift in release date is motivated by the fact that Disney does not want Episode VIII to get lost in the flood of summer films that debut during May, June and July in the States. 

It seems a pretty logical move, given how well The Force Awakens performed last month, raking in more than $1 billion within the first 12 days of opening. Either way, hopefully South Africans get to see it in cinemas before the rest of the world, as was the case with The Force Awakens.