Disney decided to drop a release date bombshell today with new dates for a slew of major upcoming projects. We’ve already brought you the breaking news regarding release dates forFrozen 2,The Lion King, and of courseStar Wars: Episode IX, but there are plenty of other films of note. Briefly:
The biggest news here is the delay ofIndiana Jones 5, which is officially untitled.Steven Spielbergis set to direct,Harrison Fordis set to star, andDavid Koepp(Spider-Man,Jurassic Park) is apparentlypretty far along in the scripting phase. The issue, however, is that Spielberg has decided to sneak in one more movie first. The filmmaker is currently in post-production on the sci-fi epicReady Player One, opening in March 2018, and he had been prepping the religious dramaThe Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortaraas his next film withTony Kushner(Lincoln) penning the script andMark Rylancestarring. However, Spielbergis now squeezing in the timely “freedom of the press” dramaThe PostwithTom HanksandMeryl Streep, about the Watergate tapes.
That 20th Century Fox filmhas been given a December 2017 release dateand Spielberg will begin shooting imminently, but since that means he’ll be in post-production the rest of the year, likely busy with awards season duties,andfinishing post onReady Player One, the dramaThe Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortarahas likely been pushed to start production sometime in late spring or summer 2018. Which subsequently pushesIndiana Jones 5’s filming date back, thus the release date change here.
The other big announcement is thatGigantic, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ twist on theJack and the Beanstalktale, has been delayed a full two years. This doesn’t bode well for the current creative state of the film, which is being directed byNathan GrenoandCaptain MarvelandInside Outco-writerMeg LeFauve. But keep in mind thatFrozenwent through a rough creative period itself before becoming the modern day classic that it is.
As for the untitled movies, we don’t really know what they are just yet and the release date shifts aren’t significant enough to clue us into what’s being planned. We do know, however, that we have a new Pixar movie coming in 2021.
So the big takeaway here is that yes, Disney will continue to dominate just about every franchise and property you love for the foreseeable future. It’s a small world after all.
