Disney shuffles around movie release date calendar – impacting Avatar, Marvel and Star Wars films

Stephen Porzio

Some blockbusters have received their first official release dates or will arrive sooner while many others have been delayed.

Disney has made some major changes to its theatrical release date calendar, which has impacted when fans can expect to see the upcoming entries in the Avatar, Marvel and Star Wars franchises.

On the positive side, as reported in a number of outlets, Deadpool 3 has had its release date pushed up from 8 November 2024 to 3 May 2024.

Meanwhile, Disney has issued the as-of-yet untitled Alien movie – directed by Fede Alverez (Don’t Breathe) and starring Cailee Spaeny (Devs, Mare of Easttown) – with a release date of 16 August 2024. It also announced that the live-action adaptation of the hit animated movie Moana will land in theatres on 27 June 2025.

On top of this, the company has added another as-of-yet-untitled Star Wars movie to its slate. That is set to hit cinemas on 18 December 2026.

This means there are now two Star Wars films scheduled for release that year, as another untitled entry in the franchise had its release date moved by Disney from 19 December 2025 to 22 May 2026.

A third mystery Star Wars movie is also set to arrive in theatres on 17 December 2027.

In terms of other delays, the next three movies in the Avatar franchise have had their release dates pushed back.

Avatar 3 has moved a year from 20 December 2024 to 19 December 2025, while Avatar 4 has moved three years from 18 December 2026 to 21 December 2029. Avatar 5 has also shifted three years from 22 December 2028 to 19 December 2031.

Commenting on this, Avatar franchise producer Jon Landau wrote on social media: “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.”

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

Also, delayed are several upcoming movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The recently retitled Captain America: Brave New World has been moved from 3 May 2024 to 26 July 2024, causing a chain reaction that has delayed the other future MCU entries Thunderbolts, Blade and Fantastic Four.

As well as these, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars are now set to come out a year later than originally intended.

It has been reported that the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike is a reason for Disney reshuffling its slate.

You can find the new release dates for the company’s major upcoming movies below.