Marvel Studios and Disney has announced a big shakeup of their release schedule for several of their upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 5 films. This shuffling of their release calendar will see the highly anticipated Fantastic Four opening three months earlier than previously announced but also both upcoming Avengers films – The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars – being delayed by a year among other moves.
The breakdown of changes is as follows –
Captain America: Brave New World previously scheduled for release on May 3, 2024 is being moved back two-and-a-half months to July 26, bumping Marvel’s Thunderbolts film from that date back to December 20, 2024. (That date was vacated by Avatar 3 in a series of shuffled release date also announced for that franchise today.)
Deadpool 3 is the only instance of a film being brought forward on Marvel’s schedule change-up, with fans now getting to see the movie six months earlier starting on May 3, 2024 instead of its original announced release date of November 8, 2024.
Blade, which had a premier date of September 6, 2024 is getting pushed back five months to February 14, 2025, while Fantastic Four, which did have that Valentine’s Day date, is getting pushed back three months to May 2, 2025.
With the Fantastic Four moving into its May 2, 2025 spot, The Avengers: Kang Dynasty falls back a year to open on May 1, 2026, while The Avengers: Secret Wars also slides back twelve months to open on May 7, 2027.
The moves on a majority of these films are in part due to the current ongoing Writers Guild strike. Captain America: Brave New World was already in production when the strike started on May 2, but has had filming disrupted by stoppages when teamsters wouldn’t report to work as it meant crossing WGA picketlines. Thunderbolts and Blade were both scheduled to start shooting this month, but the studio put the two productions on hold at the end of May when it looked like the strike wouldn’t be resolved before cameras would start rolling. These aren’t the only Marvel projects being disrupted by the strike as the Disney Plus TV series Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Daredevil: Born Again, and Wonder Man have all seen shutdowns as well.
Deadpool 3, however, is still currently shooting.
Meanwhile, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty screenwriter Jeff Loveness had reportedly left the project before the strike. Although Marvel and Disney had no comment on those reports, if he had departed, Marvel may not be able to proceed with the film until they hire a new writer, which they can only do once the strike has been resolved.
