Twenty-two days after changing the release date on Pitch Perfect 3 back to July 21, 2017, Universal now is moving the film to the Christmas 2017 time frame with a launch on December 22. They wanna make sure they date this threequel right. When the follow-up to the $287.5M surprise hit of last summer was announced, July 21, 2017, was the target date. Then toward the end of September, Uni moved Pitch Perfect 3 to August 4, 2017. Then earlier this month, the studio moved it back to July 21 of next year.

Essentially, Pitch Perfect 3 leaves a crowded midsummer weekend behind where Luc Besson’s opus Valerian and the City of a Thousands Planets, Warner Bros’ Christopher Nolan title Dunkirk and 20th Century Fox’s feature toon The Story of Ferdinand are in play. Playing during the Christmas play period makes Pitch Perfect 3 the quintessential piece of counterprogramming for young girls in a Star Wars: Episode VIII-dominated marketplace. Other films debuting on December 22, 2017, are DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods 2 from Fox, Weinstein/Dimension’s The Six Billion Dollar Man and Warner Bros’ untitled PG-13 comedy. December 27 will bring Fox’s The Greatest Showman on Earth.

In a Star Wars-ruled holiday box office, there’s something to be said about good comedies rising to the top. That’s what Uni is banking on with Pitch Perfect 3 vs. Episode VIII, especially after the studio had success with Sisters ($87M domestic, $105M global) against Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Meanwhile, the Malcolm D. Lee comedy Girl Trip will take over Pitch Perfect 3‘s old date of July 21 after originally being parked at August 11, 2017. Will Packer is producing the movie, which centers on four lifelong friends who travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival. Sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there’s enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush. James Lopez, head of motion pictures for Will Packer Productions, is executive producing.