By Addi Lee
On Friday, April 3, Disney released a new schedule of release dates for almost a dozen highly anticipated movies. The rationale behind moving release is simple: production of these movies has been stalled due to Covid-19 and movie theaters around the world are shuttered amid Stay-at-Home orders worldwide. One movie, Artemis Fowl, is being pushed due to the pandemic. Originally set to be released August 9, 2019, the release date was then pushed back to May 21, 2020 due to reasons unrelated to Covid-19. However, as movies theaters closed and shelter-in-place orders became more widespread, Disney decided to release the film on Disney+ rather than wait for the reopening of movie theaters.
Due to the unique circumstances, Disney has also changed the timeline to all of the upcoming additions to the Marvel series, including, Black Widow. It was expected in late spring to early summer of 2020 but has been pushed to November 6. The worst part of this is, the domino effect pushing every other Marvel movie back at least three months as well, since each production is so costly and time consuming.
Disney was planning on adding to the Marvel universe by releasing a new movie, The Eternals, based on the comic book series. But it is being pushed back till February 2021, which is taking the release date of another new superhero film, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This film, which is Marvel’s first ever asian led film, is being pushed to May 2021. It is even planned to start the recently popular Awkwafina, who has made appearances in other recent blockbusters like Crazy Rich Asians, Ocean’s 8, and Jumanji: The Next Level.
Lastly within the Marvel universe, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is now set to release November 5, 2021 rather than May and, the long anticipated, Thor: Love and Thunder is then pushed to February 18, 2022.
Two other Disney movies are being pushed a full year due to movement of the Marvel movie release timeline. Jungle Cruise, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Emily Blunt, is set to release July 30th, 2021. In addition, the fifth Indiana Jones movie, which was just announced, is now set to release July 2022.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the Disney company as a whole, closing their parks, pushing production of their movies, and overall dropping their profits. But, it’s not just Disney. The movie industry, as a whole, is taking a hit since production of movies is stopped, theaters are closed, and everyone is pushed to online viewing on services like Hulu, HBO Go, and Netflix. Even after stay-at-home orders are lifted, movie theaters have still been losing customers lately, and that isn’t going to change, especially due to recent circumstances and online streaming services becoming much more preferred. This just goes to show how much this unique time is effecting so much more than just everyday life, but changing the movie industry forever.
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