‘Avatar’ and ‘Star Wars’ sequels\, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’\, among several releases delayed again

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‘Avatar’ and ‘Star Wars’ sequels, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, among several releases delayed again

James Cameron shared new concept art for ‘Avatar 2’ during a presentation at the 2020 CES event in Las Vegas  

Disney, Sony, Paramount have all rescheduled release dates of many big-budget films from 2020 to 2027

Audiences will have to wait a year more for a trip to Pandora or a galaxy far, far away as Disney has pushed all the sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar and the Star Wars franchise by a year.

Cameron reached out fans with a statement, detailing the move amid the changing COVID-19 situation across the world.

“There is no one more disappointed about this delay than me,” Cameron wrote on Instagram.

“What most of you likely don’t know is that the pandemic is still preventing us from being allowed to recommence most of our virtual production work on stage in Los Angeles. That work is just as critical to the films as the live-action work,” he added.

Avatar 2 has been moved from December 17, 2021, to December 16, 2022; Avatar 3 from December 22, 2023, to December 20, 2024; Avatar 4 from December 19, 2025, to December 18, 2026; and Avatar 5 from December 17, 2027, to December 22, 2028, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Theatres in most of the places remain shut in the US and the rest of the world as COVID-19 cases continue to climb everywhere.

Disney has also taken Mulan off the theatrical release calendar. The adventure epic, directed by Niki Caro, was previously scheduled to release on August 21, after being pushed from March to July.

“Over the last few months, it’s become clear that nothing can be set in stone when it comes to how we release films during this global health crisis, and today that means pausing our release plans for Mulan as we assess how we can most effectively bring this film to audiences around the world,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement.

Theatre owners had pinned their hope on the theatrical release of Mulan and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet to bring the audiences back to cinemas but both Disney and Warner Bros have made changes to the films’ release.

Earlier this week, Warner Bros took Tenet off its August 12 release date and said the film will get a staggered release globally, instead of waiting for all markets to reopen.

Disney said the next untitled Star Wars picture, previously dated for December 16, 2022, will now release on December 22, 2023, while the film after that has been shifted from December 20, 2024 to December 19, 2025. The third untitled film in the franchise will arrive in theatres on December 17, 2027 instead of December 18, 2026.

The Personal History of David Copperfield has been delayed by two weeks and now plans to open on August 28, 2020, while Death on the Nile has been shifted for two weeks to October 23, 2020. The French Dispatch, previously dated October 16, 2020, is now unset.

Meanwhile, the sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home has also been pushed to December 17, 2021 from its earlier scheduled release of November 5, 2021. Sony announced the shuffle in the release on Thursday night after a shakeup of Disney’s film slate.

Similarly, Tom Cruise’s much anticipated sequel to Top Gun and John Krasinski-directed A Quiet Place Two have been delayed by next year.

Both movies were part of a release date shakeup from Paramount on Thursday.

A Quiet Place Part 2, starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, will release in theaters on April 23, 2021, instead of September 6, 2020 while Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to 1986 classic, is now slated for July 2, 2021 instead of its original date of Dec. 23, 2020.

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