Disney is reshuffling its movie release schedule, announcing a fresh “Star Wars” installment and the live-action version of “Moana”, and pushing back the release dates for the upcoming three “Avatar” sequels by a year. Consequently, the fifth “Avatar” film will now greet audiences in 2031, which is eight years away.
Key takeaways from the new schedule include the live-action version of “Moana” set for June 27, 2025, “Deadpool 3” advanced from Nov. 8, 2024, to May 3, 2024, and a new “Star Wars” film coming out on Dec. 18, 2026. The third, fourth, and fifth “Avatar” sequels have been rescheduled to Dec. 19, 2025, Dec. 21, 2029, and Dec. 19, 2031, respectively. Based on this timeline, the final sequel of “Avatar” will be launched 22 years after the original film debuted in 2009.
In other significant changes, several Marvel releases have been reshuffled. “Captain America: Brave New World” has been postponed from May 3, 2024, to July 26, 2024, pushing back “Thunderbolts” to Dec. 20, 2024, “Blade” to Feb. 14, 2025, and “Fantastic Four” to May 2, 2025. “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” has been delayed by a year, moving from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026, replacing “Avengers: Secret Wars”, which has been moved from May 1, 2026, to May 7, 2027.
The addition of a new “Star Wars” film in December 2026 indicates that fans can expect two releases from this franchise in that year. Another “Star Wars” film has been delayed from Dec. 19, 2025, to May 22, 2026, while another one is lined up for Dec. 17, 2027. Disney, however, has not provided any details about the storyline of these films.
In other news, a fresh “Alien” film, brought to you by Ridley Scott and directed by Fede Alvarez, is set to premiere on Aug. 16, 2024.
The reshuffling is a result of production delays and the ongoing WGA strike. Notably, filming for “Blade” and “Thunderbolts” was recently suspended by Disney, causing a domino effect on the other Marvel Cinematic Universe projects.
In terms of “Avatar”, the delay between the sequels provides the post-production and visual effects teams with more time to enhance, develop and polish the diverse ecosystems within the vast Pandora universe.
Each Avatar film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect. The team is hard at work and can’t wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025. pic.twitter.com/DrFX01qzTa
— Jon Landau (@jonlandau) June 13, 2023
Jon Landau, the producer, tweeted about the “Avatar” delays, saying, “Each ‘Avatar’ film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect. The team is hard at work and can’t wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025.”
