I've always been curious what the reasons were for Disney choosing December to release TFA, and if it had been so damaged as a brand that they had chosen their December release date to rehabilitate it.
Would Disney have enough confidence releasing TFA this summer against other big ticket blockbusters like MCU, Pixar etc.? Without the benefit of foresight coming into play, mind you.
And would they have confidence in releasing Episode VIII on its original summer date in 2017 had they managed to line their ducks in a row? I have no personal investment in how the reasons play out, other than I'm genuinely curious on the business end of things.
As Bobby Roberts said, they originally had it scheduled for May, then it was pushed to December because they needed the pre-production time. Then they made over
two billion dollars with the largest opening weekend ever, and the largest domestic take ever.
Despite this, Episode VIII was originally still scheduled for May 2017, but it too needed the extra development time ahead of production, so they moved to December, because that worked out pretty well last time around.
You're making summer sound like it's the holy grail for major releases, when (again, as Bobby pointed out), the three largest movies of all time opened in the same slot in December. The same window the Lord of the Rings films and all three Hobbit films also opened at.
The December release is literally the best time they could possibly release it. Competition is thin, schools are out, Christmas Eve and New Years are huge days for theaters, and January is a clear runway for long legs. There are no downsides to Disney taking that slot, and they took it because they had confidence that they would own the holidays with it, which they did.
Also, let's keep it civil.