Star Wars Episode VII release date set for December 2015

Star Wars Episode VII release date will be December 18, 2015, the Walt Disney Company has announced.

Disney bought Lucasfilm, the company behind Star Wars, from creator George Lucas last year for $4 billion.

It has committed to making at least three new films in the series, one of the most successful franchises ever.

Disney announced the release date as it reported a better-than-expected 12% jump in net profit for the three months to 28 September.

It made a net profit of $1.39 billion during the quarter, up from $1.24 billion during the same period last year.

The company also reported that its net income for the financial year to September 28 jumped 8% from a year ago to $6.1 billion.

“We’re extremely pleased with our results for Fiscal 2013, delivering record revenue, net income and earnings per share for the third year in a row,” Robert Iger, chief executive of the firm, said in a statement.

Disney’s movie studio business saw a 7% jump in revenues during the fourth quarter.

Revenues rose to $1.5 billion during the period, helped mainly by the strong performance of Monsters University, which Disney said “partially offset” the weak showing of The Lone Ranger.

However, operating income at Disney’s cable network unit, which includes the ESPN sports channel, fell by 7% to $1.3 billion in the last quarter, which the firm said was due to the timing of some ESPN affiliate fee revenues.