The biggest player in the entertainment industry has finally made some decisions. Disney has decided when it’ll be releasing its plethora of delayed movies, including Black Widow, Mulan, Artemis Fowl, Jungle Cruise, and Free Man. The delay of just one of the films for the studio has basically caused a massive domino effect that is going to impact every scheduled Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film and most of Disney’s other releases.
The biggest impact is from Black Widow, which was originally supposed to have already landed on May 1 and is now moving to Nov. 6. However, that was when Eternals was supposed to land, so a massive chain reaction is occurring pushing almost every known MCU movie back. Eternals is moving to Feb. 12, 2021, where Shang-Chi was originally sitting. Shang-Chi now moves to May 7, 2021, where Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was sitting. That film, in turn, is going to hit on Nov. 5, 2021, where Thor: Love And Thunder was, which is moving to Feb. 18, 2022. That date had an untitled Marvel film releasing then, but given there was no word on what the movie was, it now has no release date.
There’s also the next Spider-Man‘s release date to consider, which will have to be worked out with Sony. The only release date not changing for the MCU is Black Panther 2, which is still sitting on May 6 2022. Captain Marvel 2 is now plugged in for July 8, 2022 though. The coronavirus has now impacted the release dates of movies more than two years away.
Outside of the MCU, Disney has made a host of other moves. The two biggest are Mulan now releasing on July 24 (pushing Jungle Cruise to July 30, 2021) and Artemis Fowl moving straight to Disney+ for release. That film, based on a series of successful YA novels, was a hopeful franchise for Disney, so its move to streaming may be a hint at Disney playing it safe in a time of uncertainty. The only Disney summer release to not move is Pixar’s Soul, which still maintains its June 19 release date.
That’s not the end of the rescheduling mayhem, however, as Disney is moving its 20th Century releases around as well. The video game-focused Free Guy, which stars Ryan Reynolds playing a suddenly aware NPC, is shifting from July 3 to Dec. 11. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch is moving from July 24 to Oct. 16, and the fifth Indiana Jones movie is jumping from July 9, 2021 to July 29, 2022.
In the ultimate slap to the face, the perpetually delayed The New Mutants continues to have no release date at all. That movie just can’t catch a break.
