Why Disney Had to Delay Almost Every Marvel Studios Movie in 2022 and 2023

In the most Monday of moves, Walt Disney Studios revamped virtually its entire release slate, pushing back most of its movies anywhere from a couple of months to a full year. As you might expect, all movies from Marvel Studios set for release in 2022 and beyond were impacted by the move. This time, the delays don’t have to do with worries about the performance of the box office or pandemic-related woes. Instead, as one Hollywood insider suggests, Marvel Studios filmmakers are being given more time to complete their respective projects.

The latest insight comes from Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro, who reassures exhibitors the movies will be released exclusively in theaters.

“Exhibition, no need to be alarmed: This has nothing to do with a change in distribution strategy for these films, I’m informed,” D’Alessandro wrote Monday. “There’s no Disney+ theatrical day-and-date going on, nor are Disney execs immediately concerned about the future of the global marketplace. It’s all on account of a domino effect going on with production and filmmakers. Some titles are contending with finishing scenarios while others are in production. This is how Disney is solving it, and when you come to think of it, most of the dates were already reserved by the studio for Marvel fare; they’re just moving titles from one slot to the next.”

Instead of opening on March 25, 2022, Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now opening on May 6th, nearly a full six months after Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters in December. Every movie after was pushed back an equal amount (or more).

Thor: Love and Thunder is then going from that May date to July 8, 2022, the date previously held by Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Black Panther sequel will now open on November 11, 2022, the date previously held by Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel sequel. The Marvels is now pushed from November to February 17, 2023. Finally, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was then pushed from the February date to July 28, 2023.

James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy threequel was the only film to keep its date on May 5, 2023.

Marvel’s next movie, Marvel’s Eternals, is due out November 5th.

Cover photo by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images