Disney gave its release schedule a good shuffle earlier today, setting dates for two new Star Wars movies while significantly delaying the release of its upcoming Avatar and Avengers sequels. Question for Disney: if the Avatar movies are meant to make us care about solving climate change, how are we supposed to do that when Avatar 3 isn’t coming out until 2025? Will the planet still be around then, or will we need to invest in a Na’vi body to house our consciousness?
At any rate, THR reports that Disney has overhauled its release schedule, pushing Avatar 3 back from 2024 to December 2025. Avatar 4 is now set for December 2029 and Avatar 5 for December 2031—a date that I cannot mentally process as anything but science fiction because I refuse to meaningfully engage with my own mortality. ANYWAY.
Disney has also delayed the next installments in the Avengers franchise, pushing Avengers: Kang Dynasty back a year to May 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars to 2027. Marvel Studios has yet to comment on the allegations against Jonathan Majors, whose multiverse villain Kang—introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania—is set to be the franchise’s next big bad. It’s unclear if Marvel plans on recasting the role, or if Kevin Feige will attempt to reconfigure the next phase with a different villain.
Speaking of Marvel, Disney has set new release dates for the following, delaying each by a few months:
- Captain America: Brave New World – July 26, 2024
- Thunderbolts – December 20, 2024
- Blade – February 14, 2025
- Fantastic Four – May 2, 2025
Meanwhile, Lucasfilm delayed the release of an untitled Star Wars movie from December 2025 to May 22, 2026 and additionally dated another Star Wars feature for December 18, 2026. Per THR, the summer release will likely be the Star Wars movie starring Daisy Ridley, reprising her role as Rey.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
