Lock your S-foils in attack position: Lucasfilm has announced that Star Wars: Episode VII will be arriving in theaters in time for Christmas 2015.

The official date—December 18, 2015—squares with previous hints and rumors about the movie's release. After all, with the film still in preproduction and without a finalized script or cast list, there's a tremendous amount of stuff to do. Just a few weeks ago, Lucasfilm released the news that Empire Strikes Back cowriter Lawrence Kasdan would be assisting with the script—news that was met at the Ars Orbiting HQ with quite a bit of excitement.

Various Internet sources have some or all of the original trilogy's trilogy of Hamill, Fisher, and Ford signed on to reprise their roles—although the rumor mill continues to churn with word that Ford held out on agreeing to participate until Lucasfilm guaranteed him at least a treatment of Indiana Jones 5.

Kasdan's involvement on the script side of things bodes well for fans of the grittier take he brought to Empire (and, if I may be permitted an editorial aside, Kasdan's lack of contribution to the ludicrous mess that is the Star Wars Expanded Universe is an incredibly good thing). However, sci-fi fans who grew up with Star Wars and aren't happy with the series' more child-friendly recent offerings should brace themselves for at least some disappointment; at its core, Star Wars films and most of their spin-offs have, since the beginning, been light space opera matinée fare written for this audience.

That kid-friendly focus almost certainly won't change in 2015. Even though Disney now owns Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy remains in control of the company and is responsible for managing the Star Wars brand. That brand has a tremendously long tail. Monster triple-A blockbuster movies don't often deviate too far from successful formulas, and Star Wars already has one of the most successful formulas of all.