'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Could Get An Early Release Date In Summer 2015

Director J.J. Abrams might inadvertently have to reward all of the people responsible for leaking various character images and set photos from the upcoming movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The director is reportedly trying to get Disney to release the movie in the summer of 2015 rather than the winter.

According to MoviePilot, Abrams revealed at the Visual Effects Society Awards that he wants to release the highly anticipated seventh installment in the iconic science-fantasy franchise in the summer. This would be a very bold move as there’s stiff competition from films like “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Jurassic World.” If he sticks to his Dec. 18 scheduled release date, the film will easily be the biggest movie of that part of the calendar year. According to Movie Insider, the only releases that “Star Wars” would go up against are new titles like “Inferno,” “The Nest,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Trip” and the remake of “Point Break.”

Why the sudden urgency to release the film? The 48-year-old director has grown very concerned about the constant flow of leaks coming from the production phase. Very recently, the studio went as far as to request a subpoena against the photo sharing website ImageShack, where a user posted leaked images that revealed entirely too much about the character Kylo Ren.

Abrams is allegedly worried that, with six more months to go before fans get their first look at the new “Star Wars” film, all of the surprises he has in store for the audience will have been revealed on the Internet already. It’s worth mentioning that no one from either Abrams’ camp or Disney has been quoted on this matter, but reports from sites like ikwiz indicate that the Mouse House is taking the director’s early release idea very seriously. However, it seems unlikely that such a high-profile movie will be released so far in advance. In addition, Disney would likely want to avoid cannibalizing its own audience by releasing “Star Wars” alongside “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”

Is it possible that fans will get a chance to see the highly anticipated “Episode VII” six months ahead of schedule? If so, how will it stack up against other summer blockbusters? More on this story to come as it develops.