The coronavirus pandemic has halted virtually all Hollywood productions for the foreseeable future, including everything on the sprawling slate from Marvel Studios. The production and schedule delays have caused a domino effect in release dates, something that could happen yet again should one rumor end up proving accurate. Proven scooper Charles Murphy took to his Murphy’s Multiverse blog on Saturday to unveil something he’d heard around his neck of the woods. According to Murphy, one potential timetable Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel Studios are looking at as a return to the studio lot places the company’s work picking back up in September, some six months from now.
If you’re keeping track at home, The Eternals has yet to have its round of reshoots โ something Feige himself has previously touted as a major part of the success behind Marvel movies. Then on top of that, both The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and WandaVision were both technically halted before completely finishing production, despite the latter hosting a wrap party at an Atlanta-area funhouse. Then you have projects like Loki and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings that hardly started principal photography before being put on hold.
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If this rumor, in particular, holds true, it stands to reason there could be another schedule shift at some point. Currently, Loki is set to hit Disney+ next Spring while Shang-Chi has been pushed to May. That’d give Loki six or seven months to film a whole season while it’d give eight months or so to Shang-Chi. Doable timeframes? Possibly, but certainly pushing it.
The lowest-hanging fruit of it all, of course, is the inevitable delay of Spider-Man 3. That’s currently set for release next July, meaning the film would have 10 months for pre-production, principal photography, and post-work, all tall order for any studio…whether it’s owned by Disney or not.
Marvel’s updated release schedule sees Black Widow arriving in theaters on November 6th. It is followed Eternals on February 12, 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on May 5 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on November 5, 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on February 18, 2022, Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022, and Captain Marvel 2 on July 8, 2022.
Should this prove accurate, how long do you think the Disney+ shows will be delayed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt!