Disney just waved a white flag of surrender as the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down.
After several delays, Mulan has been officially pulled from Disney’s release schedule, which means the remake of the animated classic will not be testing the waters as the first major blockbuster to open in August. The move is not entirely unexpected, considering it arrives just a few days after Warner Bros. blinked and postponed the release of Tenet without providing a future date. Like Mulan, the Christopher Nolan film was also set to premiere in August. Via Deadline:
“Over the last few months, it’s become clear that nothing can be set in stone when it comes to how we release films during this global health crisis, and today that means pausing our release plans for ‘Mulan’ as we assess how we can most effectively bring this film to audiences around the world,” a Disney spokesperson said.
Additionally, Disney also pushed back the release date for all of its upcoming Star Wars and Avatar films. Each installment in those franchises have been pushed back exactly one year, which makes the current Avatar release schedule as follows:
December 6, 2022 – Avatar 2
December 22, 2023 – Untitled Star Wars: Part 1
December 20, 2024 – Avatar 3
December 19, 2025 – Untitled Star Wars: Part 2
December 18, 2026 – Avatar 4
December 17, 2027 – Untitled Star Wars: Part 3
December 22, 2028 – Avatar 5
In the meantime, Disney has notably not altered the release dates for its upcoming Marvel films Black Widow and The Eternals. Presently, Black Widow is set to debut in November after abandoning its April release date, but should that film be delayed again, it would almost certainly push The Eternals further into 2021.
Given Disney waited just a few weeks before Mulan‘s release to move its premiere, it stands to reason that the studio is waiting to see if conditions improve before making a similar decision for Black Widow.
(Via Deadline)
