The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) revealed a shake-up for its movie release calendar, resulting in a new “Moana” live-action adaptation being added to the schedule, while there are huge delays for multiple films within the Avatar, Avengers and Star Wars franchises.
Disney hasn’t offered an explanation behind the release date rearrangements, although the moves come as a writers' strike demanding higher pay and a stable pay structure, as well as fairer deals and contracts, hobbles the film and television industry.
Disney has moved James Cameron’s third “Avatar” movie from 2024 to December 2025, with the fourth film following in 2029. The release calendar of the company indicates the fifth installment in the franchise is now slated for 2031. Variety did the math and noted that based on this timeline, the final “Avatar” movie is coming 22 years after the original 2009 blockbuster.
According to box office pundits, “Avatar,” released in 2009, and “Avatar: The Way of Water,” released late last year, are two of the three highest-grossing films worldwide.
Among other highlights of the overhaul, a new instalment of the computer-animated musical fantasy action-adventure film “Moana” will be released on June 27, 2025; “Deadpool 3” moved up from November 8, 2024, to May 3, 2024; and an untitled “Star Wars” movie is debuting on December 18, 2026
Meanwhile, drastic delays are going to hit the Marvel movies with “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” getting pushed back an entire year, from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026. It’s taking the place of “Avengers: Secret Wars,” which is now jumping from May 1, 2026, to May 7, 2027.
Marvel star Jonathan Majors, who played Kang in Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” was arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend earlier this year and reportedly faces more accusations of abuse.
Disney has been tight-lipped about Majors’ legal troubles, but any project involving him is at risk, according to trade analysts who note that Majors is still “a big part of Marvel” and it is hard to determine what the studio has in mind for him and his character.
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