Disney announced major shifts to their theatrical release calendar on Tuesday, including delays for six Marvel films and official release dates for Kenneth Branagh’s next Hercule Poirot film, among others.
On the Marvel slate, the delays include Mahershala Ali-led “Blade” film being pushed back by nearly a full year, from November 23, 2023 to September 6, 2024. The new release date announcement comes shortly after the film’s production went on hold until early next year after director Bassam Tariq exited the film in September. The project currently does not yet have a director attached.
The other delayed Marvel films include the untitled third “Deadpool” film, which will see star Ryan Reynolds joined by Hugh Jackman, who reprises his role as Wolverine for the first time since the “X-Men” film and character rights were reacquired by Marvel Studios. The film, initially set for “Blade’s” new release date, has been pushed back two months to November 8, 2024. The hotly anticipated “Fantastic Four” reboot has been moved from “Deadpool’s” new date to February 14, 2025, while an untitled Marvel film previously set for then has been moved to November 7, 2025.
“Avengers: Secret Wars,” — the final film in Marvel Studios’ planned “Phase Six,” has been moved to May 1, 2026, while an untitled Marvel film set for that date has been removed from the schedule. “Secret Wars” will now release almost exactly a year after “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” which is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and retains its original release date of May 2, 2025. Previously, the two “Avengers” films would’ve been released a mere six months from each other.
In terms of additions to the calendar, Disney announced that “Chevalier,” a biopic starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. as 18th-century French Caribbean composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges, will be released by Searchlight Pictures on April 7 next year. Directed by Stephen Williams with Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton, and Minnie Driver rounding out the cast, the film had its world premiere last month out of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Disney also announced that two 20th Century films — “A Haunting in Venice” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” — will be released Sept. 23, 2023 and May 24, 2024. Based on the 1969 Agatha Christie novel “Hallowe’en Party,” “A Haunting in Venice” is the third film starring Branagh as detective Hercule Poirot, following this year’s “Death on the Nile” and 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express.” The recently announced film will feature Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh and Camille Cotten costar alongside Branagh, who directs. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” a sequel to director Matt Reeves’ successful “War for the Planet of the Apes” trilogy, will be directed by Wes Ball, with Owen Teague leading the cast.
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