Disney delays five Marvel movies, other major releases

Disney has pushed back several 2022 and 2023 film releases including Black Panther 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder.

In a press release Monday morning, the company shared an updated film release calendar up to 2028, with multiple Marvel movies pushed back by months and several untitled projects struck completely from the schedule.

The major updates are as follows:

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: May 6, 2022 (previously dated on March 25, 2022) Thor: Love and Thunder: July 8, 2022 (previously dated on May 6, 2022) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Nov. 11, 2022 (previously dated on July 8, 2022) The Marvels: Feb. 17, 2023 (previously dated on Nov. 11, 2022) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: July 28, 2023 (previously dated on Feb. 27, 2023)

A July 2022 untitled Indiana Jones movie will now move to June 2023, while an untitled Marvel project due in Nov. 2023 actually moved up by one week. Avatar 2 is still expected before the end of 2022, as are three more sequels by 2028.

Disney didn't give a reason for the delays, but they could be related to changing mask and vaccine mandates in U.S. theaters in particular, and to big-budget blockbusters not pulling in the usual numbers during the pandemic. Though Marvel's own Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings performed highly, even one lukewarm opening weekend could cost the company hundreds of millions. Large productions also put cast and crew members at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19, which costs the studio in production delays while safely quarantining or treating people.