With the Coronavirus pandemic still prompting theaters to remain shut, Disney is delaying a number of its high-profile blockbusters, including Mulan, Avatar, and Star Wars.
This is just the latest delay for Mulan, Disney’s latest live-action remake of its animated film. The movie was set to hit theaters in March, but was pushed back to July 24th, only to be pushed back again to August 21st. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film now doesn’t have a release date. A Disney spokesperson told THR that the studio was “pausing our release plans for Mulan as we assess how we can most effectively bring this film to audiences around the world.” It seems likely that Disney is at least considering whether or not to release the film via its dedicated streaming service, Disney+, which it has already opted to do with its live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp.
Disney is also delaying its upcoming entries in its Avatar and Star Wars franchises. Avatar 2, which was scheduled to hit theaters on December 17th, 2021, will now debut a year later (what’s another year’s delay for this franchise?), with Avatars 3, 4, and 5 moving to 2024, 2026, and 2028 respectively. The next Star Wars film—it’s unclear which project this would be—was slated to hit theaters on December 16th, 2022, and will now bump back to 2023, with the other two moving to 2025 and 2027.
Disney is also delaying a slew of other upcoming releases, including Death on the Nile, The French Dispatch, and The Last Duel. Black Widow still appears to be on track to hit theaters on November 6th, 2020, but that could obviously change as well.
These moves aren’t a huge surprise, given that Warner Bros. has recently moved several of its major tentpole films around—Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was set to be released in August, but has been indefinitely delayed while the studio figures out when it’ll be safe to go to theaters again. Wonder Woman 1984 was also recently shifted from August to October, while the studio’s other tentpole films, Godzilla vs. Kong and The Matrix 4 were also delayed.
