Disney removes Mulan from release calendar, delays Avatar and Star Wars movies

Disney has pulled Mulan from its Aug. 21 release date. This marks the latest date change for the movie, which was originally supposed to come out March 27. Much like Warner Bros.’ Christopher Nolan movie, Tenet, Disney has not yet announced a concrete release date for Mulan.

As theaters around the globe shut their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, studios have elected to delay movies for months or release them direct-to-download. It’s unlikely that Disney will let its big titles like Mulan or Black Widow bypass theaters, but smaller movies like Artemis Fowl have landed on Disney Plus.

In addition to delaying Mulan, Disney also shook up its upcoming release schedule for a few big sequels in the works, most notably the upcoming Avatar follow ups and the unnamed Star Wars titles. Avatar 2 was supposed to be released in 2021, but has now been pushed to 2022. It was originally supposed to come out in 2014. The new slate of Avatar-projects is now:

• Avatar 2 (Dec. 16, 2022)
• Avatar 3 (Dec. 20, 2024)
• Avatar 4 (Dec. 18, 2026)
• Avatar 5 (Dec. 22, 2028)

Director James Cameron penned a heartfelt message to the Na’vi Nation.

As for the Star Wars movies, the first spinoff was supposed to come out in 2022 and was allegedly the project helmed by Taika Waititi. That has now been pushed to December 2023, with the other two movies on the slate jumping to December 2025 and December 2027.

Deadline reports that New Mutants (Aug. 28), The Personal History of David Copperfield (Aug. 28), The King’s Man (Sept. 18), Death on the Nile (bumped to Oct. 23), Black Widow (Nov. 6), Deep Water (Nov. 13), Soul (Nov. 20), The Empty Man (bumped to Dec. 4), Free Guy (Dec. 11), and West Side Story (Dec. 18) are still set to come out in 2020. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch has been removed from the schedule, and Antlers and The Last Duel have been bumped to 2021.