Rethinking The December Theatrical Release Date

You’ve probably read the rumor that Episode VII will be the first Star Wars movie to see a holiday release.  Specifically the date December 15th was cited.  As pointed out by our own CJ, December 15th, 2015 is a Tuesday.  Theatrical releases almost never fall on a Tuesday.  Theatrical releases are typically Friday and less commonly Wednesday.  But there IS a type of release that almost always falls on a Tuesday.  The vast majority of home video releases fall on Tuesdays.  We suspect that the grapevine of whispers that produced this rumor got the theatrical and home video releases confused.

A summer theatrical release with a December home video release makes so much sense that it almost has to be the case.  It will allow Disney to maximize the return on Episode VII.  They will get the benefit of the summer box office which usually sees the biggest returns, and they will position themselves for a boost in home video sales due to the holiday gift giving season.  I would heavily wager that 12/15/2015 is the target date for the DVD and Blu-ray release and not the theatrical release.