Bingowings said:

George was preparing The Star Wars long before 1976 though...I think??

I imagine some of his Flash Gordon adaptation ideas ended up in the final film too.

To bring something fresh to the table probably does take a bit of time.

He was, and we now know that EpIV was ORIGINALLY supposed to come out in Christmas of '76 and they weren't ready. I'm gonna guess that even with a Dec '15 release they'll be well into EpVIII and it could potentially be released in May. But, who knows. I just want a released film, and a good one. May-Dec….doesn't matter.