Disney has revealed a new release slate for upcoming films, dramatically changing up their movie calendar across all of their divisions. Let’s look at the new dates.
As the WGA strike continues (until studios decide to finally pay them what they’re worth) and it seems SAG and DGA could follow, it’s clear the previously set release dates for films just aren’t going to happen. As such, Disney just dropped a SLEW of new release dates. A shift like we haven’t seen since the initial wave of COVID delays.
There’s much to unpack here, so I’m going to try and make it as clear and simple as possible.
Marvel
Let’s start with all the Marvel shifts that just happened. Pretty much the whole slate/phase has been moved around.
Deadpool 3 – May 3, 2024 (From November 2024)
Captain America: Brave New World – July 26, 2024 (from May 2024)
Thunderbolts – December 20, 2024 (from July 2024)
Blade – February 14, 2025 (from September 2024)
Fantastic Four – May 2, 2025 (from February 2025)
Avengers: Kang Dynasty – May 1, 2026 (from May 2025)
Avengers: Secret Wars – May 7, 2027 (from May 2026)
Seeing the Avengers films pushed a full year isn’t terribly surprising as the scripts weren’t ready yet, but I’m really surprised to see Deadpool 3 get moved UP so many months. Guess they’re further along on that one than expected and have a lot of confidence in it.
Star Wars
Unsurprisingly, the upcoming Star Wars movies (recently revealed at Celebration) have also been pushed back. What IS surprising, however, are the dates they’ve been given:
Untitled Star Wars – May 22, 2026 (from December 2025)
Untitled Star Wars – December 18, 2026 (new date)
Untitled Star Wars – December 17, 2027 (unchanged)
That’s right, they’ve got two Star Wars films slated for the same year. Considering the December 2026 date is brand new this lines up with some previous reports that they were planning to have one film (Rey’s New Jedi Order) release in previous December 2025 slot, with Filoni’s Heir to the Empire likely in 2026.
I know there’s some hesitation here, as the last time films were released so close together (The Last Jedi and Solo), Solo got the short end of the stick. I’ve always contended, however, the problem wasn’t with the shorter time frame, but the fact Lucasfilm refused to do any marketing for Solo until TLJ was completely out of theaters…leaving them only 2-3 months of promo.
But whatever. I have more hope for these upcoming films and as far as I know, they’re still hoping to get cameras rolling on the Rey movie late this year, or early 2024.
Avatar
James Cameron’s Avatar franchise is no stranger to delays, and the remaining films in the saga have seen some pretty big shifts:
Avatar 3 – December 19, 2025 (from December 2024)
Avatar 4 – December 21, 2029 (from December 2026)
Avatar 5 – December 19, 2031 (from December 2028)
To be honest, I’m kinda surprised to see Avatar 3 shift back a year. Filming was completed alongside The Way of Water, and they’ve been deep into post-production on it for a while already. Regardless, they needed something to take the previous Star Wars slot and this fits the bill.
The biggest surprise here, is seeing the massive delays for Avatar 4 and 5 (which haven’t filmed yet). Three years is a solid delay, but hey…I waited 13 years for The Way of Water!
Misc. Disney
Other Disney/20th Century films got shifted around as well, with a handful of new release dates given including one for the upcoming Alien movie!
Untitled Alien Film – August 16, 2024
Untitled Disney – September 6, 2024
The Amateur – November 8, 2024
Untitled Disney – March 21, 2025 (from April 2025)
Moana (Live-Action) – June 27, 2025
Untitled Disney – July 25, 2025
Untitled Disney – August 8, 2025
Untitled Disney – November 7, 2025
Based off this, it looks like that new Alien movie is making the jump from streaming only (as originally announced) and heading to theaters. Considering how awesome Prey turned out to be; that’s a smart call.
Welp, get those calendars adjusted, but maybe mark it in pencil…just in case.
