Always in motion, the future is, especially in the era of covid-19. And as a result Disney just made some major release date shuffles. Mulan, which was and Star Wars movies have been delayed one year.
That means Avatar 2, scheduled for release in December 2021, will now be out December 2022. The new Star Wars, originally scheduled for December 2022, is now December 2023. And on and on.
If you remember, Disney had dated Avatar and Star Wars movies to trade off Decembers beginning in 2021. That pattern will still happen, just a year later. That means we’ll get Star Wars movies in 2023, 2025, and 2027, and Avatar movies in 2022, 2024, 2026, and 2028.
While Star Wars is the biggest franchise name here, fans don’t even know what that movie is, who is writing it, directing it, nothing. The bigger story is probably Avatar. The Avatar sequels have, famously, been delayed many, many (many, many) times. In a statement on Instagram, director James Cameron said they were on track for next year but covid-19 changed that. You can read his full statement below.
As for Mulan, it had become very obvious over the past few weeks its August release date was not going to happen. What’s odd though is how Disney took the completed film off the schedule entirely.
“Over the last few months, it’s become clear that nothing can be set in stone when it comes to how we release films during this global health crisis, and today that means pausing our release plans for Mulan as we assess how we can most effectively bring this film to audiences around the world,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement obtained by the Hollywood Reporter.