‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Trailer Attached to ‘Hobbit 3′?

J.J. Abrams recently wrapped production on his hotly-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens with just over a year to go before its theatrical premiere in December 2015. The project has, much to the chagrin of fans, seen very little official information come out, leading to speculation and discussion over the various plot rumors that have been circulating the web for the past few months.

The reveal of the official subtitle led some to believe that that Disney/Lucasfilm was going to begin to raise the curtain and unleash the first wave of marketing. Just a couple of days ago, we got word of a possible description of the film’s first teaser trailer, with all signs indicating its release before 2014 is out. The prevailing theory has been that the Mouse House would attach it to their musical Into the Woods, but today, we’ve learned that it could be a different major December movie that will have the honors.

Star Wars 7 News is reporting that the Force Awakens teaser will debut in front of next month’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, citing a conversation that their own “Echo-7″ had with a theater manager. In a separate incident, a fan spoke with The Force Awakens‘ first assistant director Thomas Gormley, who conveyed similar information. The fan’s tweet regarding his talk has been deleted, but you can head over to /Film to see what he had to say about the matter.

UPDATE: /Film has updated its original rumor post on the Force Awakens teaser, saying:

Well, we’ve heard from a very credible source that, with 100% certainty, the Star Wars 7 trailer won’t debut with Peter Jackson’s latest The Hobbit film. There’s a very strong likelihood it will play with that film but according to the source, Disney has “bigger plans” for the trailer debut than a simple attachment. What does that mean? When will it happen? We honestly don’t know.

Could Disney/Lucasfilm be planning a media event for the Force Awakens trailer unveiling, a la “Marvel Day” last month? It’s not outside the realm of possibility…

As is the case with most Star Wars reports, it’s important to take this new development with a grain of salt, but from a certain point of view it does make sense. Battle of the Five Armies is expected to be one of the season’s biggest hits (more so than Into the Woods), so Disney would be reaching a wider audience if they went this route. In a way, this could also be perceived as a “passing of the torch” between esteemed franchises, as Jackson’s Middle-earth saga has dominated the mid-December time frame since Fellowship of the Ring came out in 2001 and is now giving way to Star Wars.

Not to mention, Star Wars and The Hobbit are two series that attract a similar viewership, so getting the chance to see a Force Awakens preview before Bilbo and Thorin’s final fight would only add to the excitement for the last chapter in the Hobbittrilogy. Five Armies is going to be the last real “event” experience for a while, so this is Disney’s last chance to use a comparable title as a launching point for the first Force Awakens footage.

Of course, our first glimpses of Episode VII will be an event all unto itself – no matter which film the teaser gets attached to. At this point, people just want to see something official from the film. We doubt many would care if it was playing in front of a musical picture or debuted on the Star Wars YouTube channel. After all we’ve heard what the film might be, everyone is just eager to see hints at what it actually is.

Regardless, it seems as if we’ll be getting the initial looks at the new Star Wars episode sometime in December. That enough is a cause for celebration and gives us something else to look forward to this holiday season. Whether it’s with prints of Into the Woods or the Hobbit finale, Mickey Mouse got us a heck of a Christmas gift this year. Hopefully the one he’s giving moviegoers next December is worth the wait.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be in theaters December 18, 2015.

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