The Walt Disney Company revealed its new feature film release schedule following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox, and the revised list contains a number of surprises, including a trio of new Star Wars films and new release dates for James Cameron’s Avatar sequels.
Previously, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that theatrical Star Wars would be going on “hiatus” following Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, which debuts on December 20. It looks like that break won’t last too long. An untitled Star Wars feature is set to premiere on December 16, 2022, with similarly mysterious follow-ups coming on December 20, 2024, and December 18, 2026.
Disney did not say if those movies include any of its previously announced Star Wars projects or if they’re new, although The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson recently said that he’ll be getting to work on his new Star Wars trilogy after his next film, Knives Out, is finished. With Game of Thrones wrapping up in just a couple of weeks, Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss should have plenty of time to start working on their own Star Wars series as well.
Another Lucasfilm property, Indiana Jones, is scheduled for July 2021, marking the roguish archaeologist’s return to the big screen for the first time since 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Harrison Ford is expected to return for the film, which will likely be his last Indiana Jones adventure.
Disney’s new release schedule isn’t all good news for fans, however. James Cameron’s Avatar sequel has been pushed from its previous 2020 release date to December 17, 2021. New Avatar movies will come out every other year after that, bowing in December 2023, 2025, and 2027. In addition, the highly anticipated young-adult adaptation Artemis Fowl has been moved from August 2019 to May 2020.
The long-postponed X-Men spinoff New Mutants, which features Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams, Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton, and rising star Anya Taylor-Joy, has been delayed until April 3, 2020. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney will be following the record-setting Avengers: Endgame with two to three new Marvel movies every year through 2022. As with most of the films on Disney’s release list, the titles of the upcoming Marvel flicks are unknown, although we have some pretty good guesses.
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