Star Wars Episode VII could be delayed

Disney has been pretty insistent that Episode VII will make its December 2015 release date despite the injury to Harrison Ford. New rumors circling around the project are contradicting this saying it's very likely the film won't make the release date.

Harrison Ford was released from a London hospital today after receiving surgery for a broken leg sustained on the set. We learned last week that the injury would sideline Ford for a minimum of 8 weeks. Disney immediately came out to make a statement saying the release date was not in jeopardy and that filming was set to resume as normal. ScreenCrush is claiming that a production meeting in England raised concerns and proposed a delay of the film's release to allow Ford proper time to recuperate.
Disney has not commented on this incident again, so take this as a rumor. Either way there is bound to be some scheduling issues with Ford out of the picture for two months. He apparently had a major role in the film, so unless they can do a quick re-write to incorporate the injury or back-off his involvement, I'm sure the usage of body doubles is bound to happen unless they are willing to delay production.

This isn't the first time this has happened, either. As many online are stating, a similar event happened during filming of Iron Man 3 when Robert Downey Jr. broke his ankle on set. Filming shut down for a week and then resumed with the usage of body doubles for wide shots and scenes that didn't involve Downey so he could heal as much as possible.
If they do wind up having to delay the release it would be somewhat funny and ironic because director J.J. Abrams initially had squabbles with Disney over the release date. He claimed a December 2015 release was too quick and they needed to delay to 2016. If they slap a delay on Episode VII I don't think Abrams will necessarily be unhappy. It might be a blessing in disguise.

Star Wars team seeks to delay Episode VII

Last week we got some pretty major news that Michael Arndt had been replaced with Lawrence Kasdan and J.J. Abrams for the Star Wars: Episode VII script. This comes just about a year after Disney announced their purchase of Lucasfilm and the announcement of a seventh Star Wars film. We now have news that the Star Wars team has requested a delay of the film until 2015, but was shut down by Disney.

There is still no official release date for Episode VII, however Disney is constantly hammering their intent for a 2015 release. It has been rumored as of late that the film will be released in December 2015 for a Christmas release. However, with the current script rewrite and no solid casting news, the deadline is cutting very close because filming is supposed to start in London in early 2014.
The word is that producer Kathleen Kennedy and the rest of the creative team has requested a delay for the film until 2016 and was promptly denied by Disney. The speculation is Disney CEO Bob Iger is adamant about the 2015 release due to pressure from the shareholders and demand for merchandising and revenue by 2015. This also could be due to rumors that Tomorrowland at Disneyland will be revamped and redesigned as a so-called "Star Wars Land" with a new speeder bike attraction and a life size Millenium Falcon. Similar rumors are circulating at Disneyworld in Florida for a Star Wars addition to the Hollywood Studios park.
However, some are suggesting that J.J. Abrams is confident in the 2015 release and it is primarily Kennedy that is pushing for the delay. The two are apparently working in sync with the casting, though. There is also a rumor that Michael Arndt had treated Disney to a 50-page script for a seventh film before Lucasfilm was even purchased, so this new trilogy has been in the works for quite sometime already.

I am doubting this is all due to tension between Kennedy and Abrams. She has been a longtime producer for Steven Spielberg and has been on several high pressure projects, so I think she knows what she is doing. Hopefully this pressure will give Disney some sense and not release a half-assed project for once. I am still not fully on board to this new Star Wars movie and if it sucks because Disney rushed it I am going to be even more upset.