Do you have plans for December 19, 2031? It's a Friday, in case that helps... That's the new release date for Avatar 5, so you can't say you didn't have advance notice!

Proving all the doubters wrong about the success of Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron will be busy for the next eight years. With CGI effects aplenty and Cameron's legendary attention to detail and desire to fulfill his visions unimpeded by pesky things like time, seeing a delay for all three future Avatar movies should surprise no one.

While you have your calendar out, let's talk about some other dates that Disney raised recently. They've rescheduled some movies and added some new ones. As one of the largest movie studios, they've now put the industry on notice of which dates for which their audiences will be busy. The writers' strike undoubtedly looms large on the industry right now, so these will not be the last release date changes we see, especially if the strike wears on.

Avatar Movies

Avatar 3 had a preminary release date of December 20, 2024, but it is now December 19, 2025. That means that Avatar 4 has been pushed as well, to December 21, 2029 (from December 2026). When you have four years between installments, you can see why the 2031 date for Avatar 5 isn't unrealistic.

Marvel Movies

The latest Captain America movie, Captain America: Brave New World, recently got a new title earlier this month, and now it has a new release date as well. Moving almost three months to the end of July 2024 means that Thunderbolts will get to the big screen in December 2024, Blade will be waiting for five months to be released in February 2025, and the long-awaited Fantastic Four has been pushed to May 2025 from that February.

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has been delayed an entire year, going from May 2025 to May 2026. That means that Avengers: Secret Wars had to make room by being patient for another year as well, which puts us at May 2027.

Star Wars Movies

The last movie in the Star Wars franchise was Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, which was released in 2019. Disney put the brakes on the franchise when it came to movie releases after it saturated the market and diverted its force energy into multiple TV series instead. While that was a good idea (they are quite enjoyable), that meant that movie fans have been waiting a while.

The first out of the gate will be in May 2026 with the release of Untitled Taika Waititi Star Wars Film, directed (of course) by Taika Waititi, who is best known for Thor: Love and Thunder and Thor: Ragnarok. Following that movie is the Untitled Star Wars Movie in December 2026, and a movie that we're going to call Star Wars: New Jedi Order (but doesn't have an official title) in December 2027.

Other Changes

Not every bit of news is a delay, however. Deadpool 3 from November 2024 to May 2024, so there's that. Moana (Live Action) now has a release date of June 27, 2025, with Dwayne Johnson expected to reprise his role as Maui. Alien: Romulus, the new 'Alien' franchise movie produced by Ridley Scott, will be released August 16, 2024.