The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has once again forced Disney to change their film release slate for 2020 and 2021. With COVID-19 numbers on the rise across the U.S. and major areas like New York and Los Angeles having yet to reopen their movie theaters, it's become crystal clear Hollywood will have to abandon any thought of a traditional fall season in 2020. It's a hard blow to the industry in a year that has already been ravaged by the virus and hasn't seen a film play wide since theaters originally shuttered their doors in March. Fact of the matter is, though, people's health comes first and it's just not safe for them to be watching movies on the big screen (non-drive-ins, anyway) right now.
Because of this, studios have begun to either delay their remaining 2020 films (again, in many cases) to 2021 or, in the case of Warner Bros. and Tenet, put them on indefinite hold while they explore a new release strategy. This week alone, major Paramount tentpoles like A Quiet Place Part II and Top Gun: Maverick moved out of 2020 altogether, and were subsequently rescheduled for next spring and summer. Elsewhere, Orion Pictures announced it still intends to release Bill & Ted Face the Music in just over a month, but will make it available to watch in select theaters and on VOD on the same day.
Once again, though, it was Disney that had the most release date changes to unveil this week, between their in-studio productions and acquisitions from Fox. Here's a breakdown of all their announcements.
Mulan
Disney's live-action reimagining of their animated Mulan movie was only a couple weeks out from hitting theaters when the COVID-19 lockdowns began in March, prompting the studio to delay the film to July a few weeks later (in a move that, even then, seemed overly optimistic). After pushing it again to mid-August when Tenet abandoned its original July 17 release date, Disney has now removed Mulan from its release slate entirely. The studio has already spent a lot on the movie's marketing campaign (including, a costly Super Bowl TV spot in January), so it's a smart move on their part to hold off on announcing anything else, lest they bleed any more cash on promoting it for a release date that's unlikely to stick. As for the idea of Mulan going directly to Disney+: it's still unlikely to happen after all these delays, given the studio's need to recoup something on their $200 million epic.
The French Dispatch
Prior to the coronavirus lockdowns, Disney had planned on releasing The French Dispatch (the latest original project from writer and director Wes Anderson) in the summer, before later postponing it to the fall. They've since removed it from their release slate (along with Mulan), as they continue to monitor the situation to get a better idea of when, exactly, films might be able to begin playing wide domestically again. Lucky for them, there's a good deal of flexibility with this one: Anderson's movies tend to play the same at the box office no matter when they're released, and even something like The Grand Budapest Hotel became a serious awards contender despite hitting theaters in March. With the Academy having extended this year's eligibility period well into 2021 because of the pandemic, it's possible Disney is holding off on rescheduling this one until they know for certain whether they'll be able to give The French Dispatch an Oscar push this winter or not.
The Last Duel
Ridley Scott's adaptation of Eric Jager's historical book The Last Duel (an account of the final officially recognized duel fought in France in the 14th century) was originally positioned to serve as a major Oscar contender for the Mouse House this year. However, with filming only part-way done (after production shut-down in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic) and the movie's December 25 limited release no longer looking tenable, Disney has gone and shuffled The Last Duel back to October 15, 2021 instead. In theory, this will allow the period drama to premiere on the film festival circuit and build up buzz before going into either wide or semi-wide release against Halloween Kills (which is the only other movie scheduled for the same day right now). Obviously, Scott's new offering and the Halloween sequel are targeting very different crowds, so there shouldn't be a lot of overlap between them.
Avatar 2-5
Once again, James Cameron's Avatar sequels have been delayed, albeit this time for reasons that have less to do with the actual films. Cameron and his crew were able to continue virtual production on the movies throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns and have since resumed physical shooting on Avatar 2 in New Zealand, so they might've been able to hit their previous release dates as planned despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Problem is, Disney needs to make space for not only the 2020 films that've now been postponed to 2021, but also the ones that're still scheduled for November and December, but will most likely have to move too. So, as it stands, the Avatar sequels have all been delayed by a year and will now arrive on December 16, 2022 (Avatar 2), December 20, 2024 (Avatar 3), December 18, 2026 (Avatar 4), and December 22, 2028 (Avatar 4)... probably?
Next Three Star Wars Movies
For the bulk of the 2020s, Disney's plan is to alternate yearly between Avatar sequels and new Star Wars movies, including the one Taika Waititi has been officially confirmed to direct and co-write. With the Avatar sequels having all been delayed by twelve months, this has led to the Mouse House doing the same for its next three scheduled adventures in a galaxy far, far away, beginning with the first one on December 22, 2023 and the latter two on December 19, 2025 and December 17, 2027. In truth, the franchise might benefit from an extended break on the big screen, following the divisive response to Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy. For the next four years, the property will instead live on with Disney+ series The Mandalorian and the upcoming Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi shows, along with Clone Wars spinoff The Bad Batch and the mystery series from Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland.
Death on the Nile
Curiously, Disney has yet to pull Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile (a sequel to his previous Agatha Christie murder-mystery adaptation, Murder on the Orient Express) from 2020 and has merely delayed it two weeks from its previous release date to October 23, 2020. In fairness, it's not the only studio still holding out hope movies could begin playing in wide release domestically again as soon as October, what with Warner Bros. and Paramount keeping, respectively, Wonder Woman 1984 and their G.I. Joe reboot Snake Eyes scheduled for that month for the time being. The House of Mouse doesn't seem too concerned about bouncing Branagh's Hercule Poirot movie around in general, having already delayed it once before from its original release date in December 2019 (in the wake of its Fox purchase). That's to say, don't be surprised if Death on the Nile is postponed - again - sometime within the next two months or so.
Other Movies
On the smaller side of things, the Mouse House has decided to keep The Personal History of David Copperfield (which was initially slated to premiere stateside back in May) in 2020 for the time being, having delayed it a mere two weeks next month to August 28 and setting it to open in a limited rollout, rather than nationwide. Crime-horror thriller The Empty Man (another Fox acquisition) is likewise staying put in 2020, but will now open on December 4 (maybe) rather than August 7, as previously planned. Elsewhere, Scott Cooper's Searchlight Pictures horror film Antlers has finally secured a new release after being postponed from its previous date in the spring, and is currently scheduled to arrive on February 19, 2021.
Lastly, the studio also pulled a pair of untitled Fox-turned 20th Century films from their previous release dates on October 1 and October 22, 2021, while at the same time shuffling a live-action Disney project from November 19, 2021 back four weeks to December 17 that same year. It has since been announced the December 2021 date will go to the next Spider-Man MCU movie, ahead of the film beginning production later than previously-hoped in the fall.