New 'Star Wars' trilogy kicks off in 2022; 'Avatar 2,' 'New Mutants' moved to next year
Now that Disney has moved into Fox's old digs, they've started rearranging the place. Disney, which acquired Fox's film and television studios in March, has announced a new slate of film releases that includes the dates for upcoming Star Wars, Avatar, Indiana Jones and Marvel sequels. Among the surprises: A new Star Wars trilogy debuts in 2022, and the first Avatar sequel has been moved back from next December to December 2021.
The next three Star Wars films will premiere on the pre-Christmas weekends of 2022, 2024, and 2026, respectively (following the conclusion of the Skywalker saga in this year's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). Disney's press release doesn't specify whether this new trilogy is the one being developed by The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson, the one being developed by Game of Thrones' David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, or something else altogether. The staggered same-date release does suggest that the titles will be connected. (Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy recently suggested as much, telling Entertainment Weekly that “as [Benioff and Weiss] finish Game of Thrones, they’re going to segue into Star Wars. ... They’re working very closely with Rian.”)
Filling in the gaps between Star Wars years, we'll have the four long-anticipated Avatar sequels. In development since 20th Century Fox's 2009 film smashed box-office records, the Avatar films have been continuously pushed back to accommodate director James Cameron's expansive, and expensive, vision for Pandora.
Besides Avatar 2, three other films have been pushed back. Fox's X-Men horror spin-off The New Mutants and Disney's fantasy film Artemis Fowl, both set to premiere this summer, will now open in the spring of next year. Ad Astra, Fox's prestige sci-fi film starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones, has been moved from May 24 (yes, two weeks from now) to Sept. 20.
In terms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney has two films a year lined up for the next three years — though they're not revealing which ones are dropping when. (Black Widow and The Eternals are expected to start filming this year, so bet on one of those for May 2020.) However, several planned films in Fox’s X-Men franchise have been removed from the schedule, including any new Deadpool films and Channing Tatum’s long-in-the-works Gambit.
Also on the calendar for 2020: Pixar's suburban-fantasy film Onward (March 6), Disney's live-action Mulan (March 27), the Bob's Burgers movie (July 17), Steven Spielberg's West Side Story (Dec. 18) and the live-action 101 Dalmatians spin-off Cruella starring Emma Stone (Dec. 23).
A fifth Indiana Jones film, also directed by Spielberg, is slated for July 2021. The Harrison Ford-starring franchise last appeared in theaters with 2008's divisive Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The newly announced slate of releases encompasses films from Walt Disney Pictures, Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight and Blue Sky Studios.
Here is the update slate through 2020:
Aladdin: May 24, 2019
Dark Phoenix: June 7, 2019
Toy Story 4: June 21, 2019
Stuber: July 12, 2019
The Lion King: July 19
The Art of Racing in the Rain: Aug. 9, 2019
Ready or Not: Aug. 23, 2019
Ad Astra: Sep. 20, 2019
The Woman in the Window: Oct. 4, 2019
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: Oct. 18, 2019
Ford V. Ferrari: Nov. 15, 2019
Frozen 2: Nov. 22, 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Dec. 20, 2019
Spies in Disguise: Christmas 2019
Underwater: Jan. 10, 2020
Untitled Kingsman movie: Feb. 14, 2020
Call of the Wild: Feb. 21, 2020
Onward: March 6, 2020
Mulan: March 27, 2020
The New Mutants: April 3, 2020
Artemis Fowl: May 29, 2020
West Side Story: Dec. 18, 2020
Cruella: Dec. 23, 2020
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