Disney Reshuffles Future Movie Release Schedule

The Walt Disney Company has announced some major changes to their feature film calendar, [...]

The Walt Disney Company has announced some major changes to their feature film calendar, confirming the delay of several Marvel movies and even removing one live-action Disney film from the schedule entirely. A press release from Walt Disney Studios confirmed that an Untitled Marvel Movie set for October 7, 2022 has been delayed until October 6, 2023 and that an Untitled Marvel Movie set for November 3, 2023 has been delayed until November 10, 2023. The Untitled Disney Live-Action movie was scheduled to be released on October 6, 2023, the new home of a Marvel movie assumed to be Blade, has been "removed from schedule."

Other changes to the Disney schedule were from the 20th Century Side of things with an Untitled 20th Century dated for November 10, 2023, now the home of the second Untitled Marvel Movie, being removed from the release schedule entirely. Elsewhere the Searchlight movie The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a film about televangelists Tammy Faye Bakker and Jim Bakker with Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield in the roles, has been moved up a week from September 24, 2021 to September 17, 2021. Wes Anderson's new film The French Dispatch has also been set for release, arriving on October 22, 2021.

Given how far out some of these movies are it's unclear how Disney will model their releases since none of us are psychics (if you are, tell me what I'm about to write). The company previously indicated that its strategy of day and date releases in theaters and on Premier Access on Disney+ could very well continue into next year. So far this year they've released Ray and the Last Dragon with that model and intend to do the same with both Black Widow and Jungle Cruise.

"The Disney+ premier access strategy, one of the things it gives us right now, and we're grateful for this, is the ability to go ahead and try to release things into the market, and try to reprime the pump, if you will," CEO Bob Chapek said in the latest earnings call. "But at the same time know that for those consumers that are a little leery still about going into a packed theater, that they can go ahead and watch it in the safety and convenience of their home. In terms of going beyond this fiscal year, we've not announced exactly what our strategy is going to be in terms of which titles will be theatrical plus Disney+ Premier Access, which ones will be direct to Disney+ or which ones will go into Theatres, but know that we'll continue to watch the evolution of the recovery of the theatrical marketplace and we'll use that flexibility to make the right call at the right time."

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