Marvel Phase 4 Movies, Mulan, Indiana Jones 5, and Jungle Cruise get new release dates, while Artemis Fowl moves to Disney+ and The New Mutants get pulled from release.
Marvel Studios and Disney which distributes their output have announced their newly updated schedule for their upcoming releases. We all know that some of the biggest titles that were due from the studios had to be postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the rumors started going around that most, if not all of the postponed features would be heading to the Disney+ streaming network. Thankfully, common sense has prevailed and with the exception of one film, the movies WILL be hitting multiplexes, just not as planned, creating a big budget and high stakes game of movie shuffling.
The big news is Scarlett Johansson spin-off MCU movie ‘Black Widow‘ will hit the theatres on November 6th, 2020 and as predicted, takes the spot of ‘The Eternals‘, which moves back and will now debut on February 12, 2021, instead. This move means that the release schedule of the slate of Marvel movies has had to be adjusted to take into account the changes. ‘The Eternals‘ taking of the February spot means that the film that originally had the date, ‘Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Five Rings‘ will now open on May 7th, 2021. That depends on when the film restarts filming as the production shut down earlier than most of the other productions affected by the outbreak. Other films affected by the moves are ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness‘ that moves to November 5th, 2021. ‘Thor: Love And Thunder‘ which will now hit screens on February 28th, 2022. ‘Black Panther 2‘ will now pounce on audiences from May 8th, 2022. And ‘Captain Marvel 2‘ will fly into theatres two weeks earlier than planned on July 8th, 2022.
Disney does have other movies that are or were due for release this year that has also moved positions. Top lining these offerings are the Dwayne Johnson/ Emily Blunt starring ‘Jungle Cruise‘ which has now been moved back a whole year and will now sail onto screens on July 30th, 2021, while the live-action remake of ‘Mulan‘ which was due for release back in March will now open on July 24th THIS year. However, it isn’t such good news for another offering from the House Of Mouse as ‘Artemis Fowl‘ will no longer get a cinematic release and will instead premiere on Disney+.
Movies that Disney will be distributing that came with their acquisition of 20th Century Fox that will be opening include the Ryan Reynolds comedy ‘Free Guy‘ which moves from July 3rd to December 11th, the Steven Spielberg directed remake of ‘West Side Story‘ which holds its December 18th opening, the Ridley Scott film ‘The Last Duel‘ which, at present, keeps its December 25th opening date and the Wes Anderson film ‘The French Despatch‘ which moves from July 14th to an October 16th release. Sadly, there is no word on a new release slot for the much-delayed ‘The New Mutants‘. The film has been in limbo for over two years and was on the verge of finally opening before it was removed from the slate. Once again, this raises the possibility that the film will now most likely hit Disney+ and bypass theatres altogether. In addition, the fifth adventure for ‘Indiana Jones‘ has now been moved to an August 29th, 2022 release date (that’s assuming it ever gets made).
In other news, Universal has announced that its ‘Spiritual Sequel’ to Clive Barker’s ‘Candyman‘ called…well, ‘Candyman‘ has now been moved out of its announced June 12th spot and will now scare moviegoers on September 25th instead.
I hesitate to say it in case I’m tempting fate but IF and I do say IF nothing else changes, then we can at least have some semblance of a summer season and have the chance to see some of the blockbusters that we were expecting. It won’t obviously be anything near what we usually expect over the summer months but we can’t be too downhearted or despondent. The only problem I can foresee is that the month of November this year will be overcrowded with big-budget blockbuster entertainment. With ‘Black Widow‘ now joining the likes of ‘No Time To Die‘, ‘Godzilla Vs Kong‘ and the double bill of ‘Halloween Kills‘ and ‘Venom 2‘ that will still be playing in multiplexes, it will be an almighty scramble to recoup the missing millions and billions of dollars in lost revenue from the aborted summer season. With that in mind, it is feasible that at least one film will move out of November, either forward or be pushed back. I suspect that it will likely be ‘Godzilla Vs Kong‘ that will blink and move its release date. That way, it will give itself a better chance of having a big box office haul.
However, on a positive note, Marvel Studios moved quickly to release an updated version of the ‘Black Widow‘ poster confirming the new November release date. Check it out below:
If there are any further developments or announcements regarding this news, The Future Of The Force will bring it to you right here.
Stay safe and look after each other.
The Future of the Force. The future of pop culture writing.
Carl Roberts is a Senior Staff Writer and Books and Literature Correspondent for Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter @CarlRoberts2 where he uses the force frequently!
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Source: Disney
Author
Carl Roberts is the News Editor of The Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter where he uses the force frequently!
