Disney has just shaken up its entire release calendar, and it's not good news for the Marvel Cinematic Universe...depending on how you look at it.
Since Bob Iger returned as Disney CEO, it appears the pressure has been taken off Marvel Studios to deliver as much theatrical and streaming content as possible. After negative reviews and lower-than-expected box office takings for a number of titles, the MCU now appears to be back to prioritising quality over quantity.
So, what's just changed?
We'll start with the good news. On that front, Deadpool 3 has shifted from November 8, 2024 to May 3, 2024. That means we're getting the threequel six months sooner than expected, but it's all downhill from here.
Due to that change, Captain America: Brave New World has moved to August 26, 2024. That's led to Thunderbolts being pushed to December 20, 2024, making it only the second MCU movie (Spider-Man: No Way Home is the other) to open over the holidays.
As for Blade, that's gone to February 14, 2025, while Fantastic Four has slipped to May 2, 2025.
When it comes to the next Avengers movies, those are also coming quite a bit later than expected. The Kang Dynasty goes from May 2, 2025 to May 1, 2026, while Secret Wars jumps from May 1, 2026 to May 7, 2027. Yes, they've each been delayed by a whole year.
We had wondered if that might be the case with the Multiverse Saga now a little more spread out and we're sure the ongoing WGA strike is a big contributing factor to these changes as well (in fact, if that's not resolved soon, more could follow). Additional time to make these movies as great as possible is no bad thing, however.
Disney has also made big changes to its Avatar and Star Wars plans. You can find those new release dates by clicking here.
Stay tuned for updates.