While ‘Avatar 5’ Will Be Released In 2031 (No Joke), Disney Fills Movie Calendar Sooner Than Ever

Let James Cameron make new rules. That’s the benefit of directing three of the four biggest films of all time at the global box office: 2009’s Avatars2022 Avatar: The Way of Water and 1997 Titanic.

On Tuesday, Disney revealed that Cameron and his team need more time to make the next three installments of the hit franchise. The news wasn’t exactly a surprise, considering that release dates for the various Avatars the photos have already changed numerous times.

more immediately, Avatars 3 was postponed for one year from December 20, 2024 to December 19, 2025.

While that move was normal enough, many in Hollywood distribution circles couldn’t believe it when Disney revealed that the fourth Avatarswhich was supposed to debut in theaters on December 18, 2026, will instead be released on December 21, 2029, while Avatars 5previously slated for release on Dec. 22, 2028, it’s now dated for Dec. 19, 2031. The jokes have started flying, considering movies are rarely dated beyond three or four years, much less more than eight years, as in the case of Avatars 5.

“I started emailing people asking what they’re doing in 2031,” says a veteran distribution executive. “I told them, ‘Mark your calendars!'” adds another distributor, “I didn’t even know what to say.”

Humor aside, building a release calendar is serious business in the arms race to nab the most coveted dates for franchise installments and other events. In addition to well-known films, it has also become commonplace for a studio to come out with an untitled project before anyone else claims a much-coveted weekend or vacation.

“If planning ahead is a sign of confidence in movie theaters, then the studios are clearly committed to planting their flags in the sand for their higher profile, and in some cases as yet untitled, big-screen releases.” says box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore, who is the official recorder of calendar additions, as well as any changes.

THE Avatars the lineup was one of many high-profile moves Disney made to its calendar as the studio upped the ante in terms of how and when to date future films or reveal major course corrections.

Disney and Lucasfilm didn’t have one Star Wars in theaters from 2019 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. At the Star Wars celebration in April, Lucasfilm teased a feature film starring Daisy Ridley, another of The Mandalorian’There’s Dave Filoni and one by James Mangold that takes place thousands of years earlier in the timeline. On Tuesday, Lucasfilm moved a previously dated Star Wars film from December 2025 to May 22, 2026. Ridley’s feature is the most advanced in development and is likely to open on that date. And Lucasfilm revealed in Tuesday’s announcement that they’ve added a new one Star Wars function for only five months after: December 18, 2026. (Another Star Wars the film remains in its current date of December 17, 2027, so it was not mentioned in the announcement).

On the Marvel Studios front, Avengers: Kang Dynasty it was moved up one year to May 1, 2026. The film battled actor Jonathan Majors, who faces assault charges in New York, to be cast in the lead role. The continuation, Avengers: Secret Warsit was also moved up one year, to May 7, 2027.

Disney is the first major Hollywood studio to date movies to 2027 and beyond. But it might not be long before another studio joins the fun.

Observes Dergarabedian: “In an extended time frame that will see potential viewers transition from middle school to college in anticipation of Avatars 5the release calendar chessboard is already filling up.”