By Matthew Moorcroft

It was only a matter of time, but the first studio to be hit by the WGA strikes is Disney, who just announced a massive shift to their schedules by moving a large chunk of their films. The main targets appear to be Marvel, Star Wars, and Avatar, all of which got hit with delays in regards to their production schedules and releases, though Disney also took this chance to date some other films they have had brewing for a little bit now.

For Marvel, these changes include:

Deadpool 3 – moves up from November 8th, 2024 to May 3rd, 2024
Captain America: Brave New World – delayed from May 3rd, 2024 to July 26th, 2024
Thunderbolts – delayed from July 26th, 2024 to December 20th, 2024
Blade – delayed from September 6th, 2024 to February 14th, 2025
Fantastic Four – delayed from February 14th, 2025 to May 2nd, 2025
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty – delayed from May 2nd, 2025 to May 1st, 2026
Avengers: Secret Wars – delayed from May 1st, 2026 to May 7th, 2027

What’s interesting about Marvel’s changes is less how their entire slate got pushed – that was to be expected. Marvel’s initial plans always seemed a bit of “easier said then done” on paper and now they are reaping the consequences of that. Instead, it’s Deadpool 3 taking center stage as their big summer movie for 2024, which is a fascinating decision. Deadpool 3 seems to be having the smoothest production of the bunch, and while time will tell if it will pay off – I feel like a strike movie Deadpool could be a disaster – having an R rated film kick off summer is a nice change of pace.

For Star Wars, these changes include:

Untitled Star Wars – delayed from December 19th, 2025 to May 22nd, 2026
Untitled Star Wars – dated on December 18th, 2026

So… two Star Wars movies in one year huh? Yeah, good luck with that. Lucasfilm film has been struggling to get a new project off the ground for a while now and while it seems like they finally have some movement going on a couple of features I doubt they will be able to keep two films in one year. A Star Wars film is also still dated for December 17th, 2027, so that would make three films – aka the three films that were announced at Celebration a couple of months ago.

For Avatar, these changes include:

Avatar 3 – delayed from December 20th, 2024 to December 19th, 2025
Avatar 4 – delayed from December 18th, 2026 to December 21st, 2029
Avatar 5 – delayed from December 22nd, 2028 to December 19th, 2031

Well, we kind of knew this was coming huh? Cameron’s insane need to perfection is admirable and he deserves time to cook, so to speak, even if it’s disappointing we have to wait so long for more. The delay for Avatar 4 is particularly rough, as that film appears to have been delayed due to it haven’t completed filming yet. Still, Avatar 3‘s delays only seemed to be for VFX purposes which is good, so that film is likely going to be ready on time.

Some other, random changes:

Untitled Alien film – dated on August 16th, 2024
The Amateur – dated on November 8th, 2024
Moana – dated on June 27th, 2025

Ok, so the Moana live action film gets a date, as Disney’s fast track of that has been all over the news and trades. The new Alien film which comes from Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead 2013, Don’t Breathe) is a nice thing to see, and I’m glad that it’s not coming to streaming like I feared it would. Not sure what The Amateur is, but it seems to be some kind of thriller with Rami Malek. Interesting, though I don’t know enough about it to be excited.

Disney has a host of other films incoming, but those weren’t touched. Other studios are likely to follow suit in the weeks to come – who will bite next? WB? Universal? Paramount? We shall see.