Disney delays Mulan indefinitely, pushes back Avatar sequels and new Star Wars trilogy by a year
Black Widow is still set for Nov. 6.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Disney has delayed the release of Mulan again.
Disney has announced a new movie schedule, with the theatrical release of Mulan now pushed back indefinitely amid the coronavirus pandemic. It's listed as "unset," after previously being delayed to Aug. 21. The sequels to James Cameron's Avatar have all been pushed back by a year each, Disney said Thursday, with the new Star Wars trilogy and an unnamed Disney live action movie getting the same fate.
Mulan was initially slated to be released in March, but due to the spread of COVID-19 was delayed to July and then to August. Directed by Niki Caro and starring Yifei Liu as Mulan, the movie pulled in strong, positive reviews by critics who got to see it prior to theaters shutting down due to the pandemic.
The three untitled Star Wars films will now release in December 2023, December 2025 and December 2027. Avatar 2 has been moved from Dec. 17, 2021 to Dec. 16, 2022; Avatar 3 from Dec. 22, 2023 to Dec. 20, 2024; Avatar 4 from Dec. 19, 2025 to Dec. 18, 2026; and Avatar 5 from Dec. 17, 2027 to Dec. 22, 2028.
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"Due to COVID-19, we were forced into an unexpected lengthy delay in starting the live-action filming we are currently doing in New Zealand," Cameron said in a statement Thursday. "The pandemic is still preventing us from being allowed to recommence most of our virtual production work on stages in Los Angeles."
Marvel's Black Widow is still set for Nov. 6, and New Mutants for Aug. 28, however.
Also delayed are The Empty Man, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Death on the Nile, The French Dispatch, The Last Duel, Antlers and two other untitled 20th Century movies. As previously announced, Disney pushed The Jungle Cruise to 2021.
It comes as movie theaters AMC, Regal and CineMark have postponed their reopenings as more theatrical releases are delayed.
