The rumor that has run rampant on Star Wars Web sites for weeks has been confirmed: Fox will not air The Phantom Menace on Sunday, April 29, as advertised.
The Fox network premiere of the Star Wars prequel is being pushed back to November.
“The Phantom Menace is moving to fall because it is such a great movie for the holidays,” according to Jonathan Hogan, a Fox network publicist. “The air date is to be determined.”
Variety cited a sluggish ad market as the rationale for the move. Ad revenue is expected to increase later in the year as the November sweeps spur the networks to polish their schedules.
Ad revenue may be one reason why the premiere has been delayed, but a handful of other considerations could be at play.
Menace producer Rick McCallum – talking at a recent press conference at JediCon, a Star Wars fan conference – leaked that the DVD for the film would be released “later this year.”
Fox declined to comment on whether Fox is aiming to time the film’s TV premiere around a marketing campaign staged by 20th Century Fox, the film’s distributor and Fox network partner.
Another reason for the delay could be the debut of the teaser trailer for Episode II. If history repeats itself, the trailer would hit theaters in late 2001 -the trailer for Episode I debuted in late 1998 – sending a fervor through the fan community. In 1998, Star Wars devotees filled theaters just to watch the Menace trailer, only to leave just after. The trailer premiere, along with the DVD release, could be enticing Fox to bide their time and further cash in come November.
