‘Mulan’ delayed indefinitely, ‘Avatar’, ‘Star Wars’ releases extended by a year as Disney shakes up calendar
Disney has reportedly taken ‘Mulan’ off the theatrical release calendar. The live-action retelling of the 1998 animated film, directed by Niki Caro, was all set to release on August 21. But the coronavirus pandemic led to it being pushed out of the calendar altogether. Earlier it was set for release in March. Following that, it was once again pushed to July 24. But now, the fate of ‘Mulan’ seems uncertain.
Disney has not provided any comments regarding ‘Mulan’ beyond saying that the film is being “undated”.
“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.
‘Mulan’ is not the only film that’s part of Disney's release calendar shake-up. All currently scheduled ‘Avatar’ and ‘Star Wars’ films have been delayed by a year. ‘Avatar 2’ will now open in December 2022 instead of December 2021.
Earlier on May 22, it was reported that the production for the ‘Avatar’ sequel would begin again the following week in New Zealand. “Our #Avatar sets are ready -- and we couldn’t be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week,” producer Jon Landau wrote on Instagram in May. ‘Avatar 2’, directed by James Cameron was set for release on December 17, 2021. Reportedly, however, the director is filming four sequels of the 2009 global hit simultaneously. The third, fourth, and fifth films were scheduled for December 2023, December 2025, and December 2027 releases.
According to a CNBC report, ‘Avatar 3’ is now scheduled for a December 20, 2024, release. ‘Avatar 4’ will arrive on December 18, 2026. ‘Avatar 5’ is now slated for a December 22, 2028, release.
Additionally three untitled ‘Star Wars’ films have been moved to December 22, 2023, December 19, 2025, and December 17, 2027, respectively. ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’ is now moving to August 28. ‘Death on the Nile’ will debut on October 23. ‘The Empty Man’ will arrive on December 4. ‘The French Dispatch’ is yet to be put on the calendar. ‘Antlers’ is now scheduled for February 19, 2021. And ‘The Last Duel’ will arrive on October 15, 2021.
The ‘Mulan’ and ‘Avatar 2’ delay comes in the wake of Warner Bros. delaying Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ indefinitely. While Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich announced that the company “will share a new 2020 release date imminently for Tenet,” there’s no concrete date attached to the film.
“We’re grateful for the support we’ve received from exhibitors and remain steadfast in our commitment to the theatrical experience around the world,” Emmerich said. “Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to proliferate, causing us to reevaluate our release dates.”
Either film cannot simply be released without proper theater availability, given how grand their scales are. According to a report on The Verge, before the pandemic, both ‘Mulan’ and ‘Tenet’ could have passed $1 billion at the global box office. Making ‘Mulan’, ‘Avatar 2’, or ‘Tenet’ a digital exclusive will likely bring that projected revenue down considerably.