Marvel announces new release dates for delayed movies

LOS ANGELES: The Walt Disney Co. has overhauled its release schedule by moving the dates of half a dozen Marvel movies in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Black Widow, the Marvel entry starring Scarlett Johansson, had been set to kick off the summer movie season. Instead, Disney said it will now open November 6. These delays have unique ramifications for Marvel movies because of their interconnection. With Black Widow on the move, that meant a domino effect, pushing most all upcoming Marvel releases back at least three months.

Black Widow took the release date of The Eternals, which now moves to February 21 next year. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings departs that February date for May 7, 2021. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness shifts from next May to November 5, 2021. Thor: Love and Thunder is pushed three months, to February 18, 2022.

Disney is not abandoning the summer completely. Live-action adaptation Mulan, which been scheduled for March and already had its red carpet premiere, will now open July 24. The company has not moved the Pixar release Soul from its June 19 release date but subject to movie theaters being reopened by then and the pandemic subsiding.

#BlackWidow in theaters November 6 pic.twitter.com/vPi6YMeTMC

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) April 3, 2020

While Disney shifted nearly all of its big-budget movies, it’s going to send one to its streaming service. The Kenneth Branagh-directed science fiction adventure adaptation Artemis Fowl will go to Disney Plus instead of opening in theaters.

The movie had originally been slated for release last August but had been rescheduled for May of this year. Major studios have chosen to delay their top releases rather than push them to digital release and sacrifice box-office revenue.

Jungle Cruise starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt is being pushed back a full year to July 30, 2021. The release of the fifth Indiana Jones movie, which Steven Spielberg last month departed as director with James Mangold replacing him, is also being delayed a full year, to July 2022. Harrison Ford will be 80 years old by then.

Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch is also postponed from July to Oct. 16. The Walt Disney Co. has announced they will start furloughing some workers in two weeks at its theme parks resorts in Florida and California.

 

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Updated! #ThorLoveAndThunder is releasing Feb. 18, 2022 and #BlackPanther 2 is releasing May 6, 2022. Which #Marvel movie are you most excited to see?

A post shared by Rotten Tomatoes (@rottentomatoes) on Apr 3, 2020 at 5:36pm PDT