Disney Books Five New Live-Action Release Dates

Walt Disney Studios has booked several new release dates for as-yet-unrevealed films. The movies are reportedly for “live action and fairy tale live action” films, which does not, as currently planned, include Marvel Studios or Lucasfilm movies.

July 28, 2017, once the release date of Spider-Man: Homecoming was given instead by Sony to Jumanji, now officially starring Dwayne Johnson, when they moved the former to July 7. Well, The Rock will have to do battle against a Disney film, as they’ve now booked the date.

Disney also booked April 6, 2018, August 3, 2018, and Christmas (a Tuesday) 2018 for more live-action films. December 20, 2019 was the last date booked in this new round.

December 22, 2017 was vacated – it was booked for a live action fairy tale, but now falls one week after Star Wars: Episode VIII.

The booked dates are interesting. While that July 2017 is the only one with a direct competition, the April and August 2018 dates show a clear desire to lock down the summer two years in advance. Those will be flanked by May and July Marvel films, and Toy Story 4 in June.

The late December dates in 2018 and 2019, meant as of now for live action films outside the scope of their two genre daughter studios, also indicates that as of now, Disney does not plan to release Star Wars movies around Christmas those years. That means we will likely see the Han Solo: Star Wars Story film and Star Wars: Episode IX be given May releases in 2018 and 2019 respectively, which was the original plan, for Star Wars movies to switch to May releases with Episode VIII (December 15, 2018 now).

No titles were attached to any of these dates, but several movies that fit the bill are awaiting release schedules: Cruella, A Wrinkle in Time, Jungle Cruise, Dumbo, Mary Poppins Untitled Sequel, Maleficent 2, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, The Jungle Book 2, and Tinker Bell have all been announced as in development by Disney, none with any release timeframe included.