Disney Dates New ‘Star Wars’ Movie, Shifts ‘Deadpool 3’ and Entire Marvel Slate, Delays ‘Avatar’ Sequels Through 2031

Disney is shaking up its release calendar, adding a new Star Wars movie and Moana live-action adaptation to the schedule and delaying the next three Avatar movies by a year. At this rate, the fifth trip to Pandora will be released in 2031. Thats in eight years, for anyone who wants to know the math.

Among the highlights of the overhaul: A live-action Moana will be released on June 27, 2025; Deadpool 3 moved up from Nov. 8, 2024, to May 3, 2024; an untitled Star Wars movie is debuting on Dec. 18, 2026; Avatar 3 has shifted to Dec. 19, 2025; Avatar 4 to Dec. 21, 2029, and Avatar 5 to Dec. 19, 2031. Based on this timeline, the final Avatar movie is coming 22 years after the original 2009 blockbuster.

Other changes include a massive Marvel reshuffling. Captain America: Brave New World is moving from May 3, 2024, to July 26, 2024, which in turn is delaying Thunderbolts to Dec. 20, 2024, Blade to Feb. 14, 2025, and Fantastic Four to May 2, 2025. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is getting pushed back an entire year, from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026. Its taking the place of Avengers: Secret Wars, which is jumping from May 1, 2026, to May 7, 2027.

With the addition of a Star Wars film in December 2026, it means that two movies set in a galaxy far, far away will be released in that year. A separate Star Wars movie has been pushed from Dec. 19, 2025, to May 22, 2026. Another Star Wars film is set for Dec. 17, 2027. Disney hasnt clarified the premises of any of those installments.

Elsewhere, the new Alien movie, produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Fede Alvarez, will open on Aug. 16, 2024.

Production delays and the ongoing WGA strike are part of the reason behind the total overhaul of the release plan. Disney recently paused filming on Blade and Thunderbolts, which led to a ripple effect on the rest of the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In regards to Avatar, the space between the sequels will allow the post-production and visual effects department to continue expanding, developing and refining the different ecosystems across the vast world of Pandora.

Each Avatar film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect, producer Jon Landau wrote on Twitter. The team is hard at work and cant wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025.

Each Avatar film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect. The team is hard at work and can’t wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025. pic.twitter.com/DrFX01qzTa

Jon Landau (@jonlandau) June 13, 2023