Disney Won't Screen Star Wars: The Force Awakens Early for Awards and Press to Avoid Leaks

No one who is thinking about seeing Star Wars is waiting for the critics to weigh in on this film, whether with awards or with reviews, to decide whether to buy a ticket. This movie won't need awards to draw a crowd.

If you're hoping to avoid Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers, don't worry because it looks like Disney has got your back. The studio has opted not to screen JJ Abrams' movie early to Awards groups, choosing instead to keep the film under wraps for as long as possible.The National Board of Review will be announcing their shortlist on December 1st, but The Wrap reports that Disney will not be screening The Force Awakens for consideration. Other awards groups that Disney will be forfeiting include the New York Film Critics Circle Awards which land on Dec. 2nd, the LA Film Critics Association Honors on Dec. 6th and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which announces nominations on Dec. 9th.This move seems perfectly logical on all fronts. The Force Awakens is far from a shoe-in for any of these awards, but even if it was, winning would do very little to influence the hundreds of thousands of people that Disney is targeting to attend this movie. That's a sentiment shared by Marshall Fine of the New York Film Critics Circle.More interestingly, though. IndieWire is reporting that Disney won't even screen the movie early for regular press rounds, instead opting to keep the movie on almost total lock down until its release. However, with The Force Awakens hitting theaters in foreign markets on the 16th and 17th December, it's not yet clear how such an embargo would work, or if it's even necessary. We'd like to think the Press are far less likely to release spoilers on the internet than someone a regular moviegoer in France, and that's not a slight on the French, it's just common sense!Either way, if you really want to avoid spoilers for The Force Awakens, it seems that the best bet will be to bury your head firmly in the sand and avoid the Internet between December 16th and the date of your first screening.Via The Wrap