Prepare for a major release date shake-up at Disney, ok? It likely would have happened regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lucasfilm is pushing their “Star Wars” films back a year. Is that because plans have changed, and new ones have been made? That seems to be the case. Disney and Bob Iger have talked about “Star Wars” taking a break from cinemas for a minute and that was going to be the case anyhow. The next “Star Wars” film wasn’t scheduled until December 2022 and given Rian Johnson appears to be making “Knives Out” sequels instead of his mooted “Star War” trilogy, so no one really knew what that film would be.
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The plot thickens a little bit now as Lucasfilm has revealed a trio of new “Star Wars” dates, debuting around Christmas every year starting in 2023.. The first of three films will launch on Dec. 22, 2023, and two follow-ups will hit theaters Dec. 19, 2025, and Dec. 17, 2027.
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What will those films be? Will it be Johnson’s aforementioned trilogy? That’s really unclear, and more than likely, the first of those films is probably the untitled “Star Wars” film that “Thor: Ragnarok” filmmaker Taika Waiti is developing. Maybe the other two dates are one of the Johnson movies? Who knows, but he appears to be shifting focus to his successful “Knives Out” trilogy and many have speculated that given the shabby treatment ‘The Last Jedi’ storytelling was given in the subpar ‘Rise Of Skywalker,’ he’s not exactly itching to rejoining Lucasfilm, but who knows.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 has delayed James Cameron yet again. His long-delayed follow-ups to Avatar” will now be released every other December starting in 2022 as follows: “Avatar 2” (Dec. 16, 2022), “Avatar 3” (Dec. 20, 2024), “Avatar 4” (Dec. 18, 2026) and “Avatar 5” (Dec. 22, 2028). That will be a whopping 13 years after the first “Avatar” that debuted in 2009 and those who say “Avatar” has no culture footprint and is doomed to fail have just received a lot more ammo.
Lastly, as expected, given “Tenet” has vacated its August release date, Disney has pulled “Mulan” off the schedule and the film is now set to a TBD date. Disney shifted several other film’s dates as well. “The Personal History of David Copperfield is now set for an August 28, 202 via Searchlight Pictures and one wonders if that means a VOD date given the uncertainty of the theatrical industry opening up in August. Once scheduled for this December, Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel,” starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, is now due Oct. 15, 2021.
Lastly, “Death on the Nile” has been shifted back two weeks to Oct. 23, 2020, and the supernatural horror film “The Empty Man” will release on Dec. 4, 2020. Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” has also been removed from Disney’s release calendar entirely and, the horror film “Antlers” has been postponed until Feb. 19, 2021. Adjust your calendars accordingly, but given the way the Trump admin has botched the COVID-19 response, you’d be wise to use pencil instead of pen. [Variety]