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https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-delays-mulan-indeinitely-postpones-star-wars-and--sequels-11595539586

BUSINESS Disney Delays ‘’ Indefinitely, Postpones ‘’ and ‘Avatar’ Sequels Uncertainty reigns in Hollywood as studios, theaters, repeatedly push back openings

This is the third time Disney has had to change its release plans for “Mulan.” PHOTO: JASIN BOLANDDISNEYASSOCIATED PRESS

By R.T. Watson and Erich Schwartzel July 23, 2020 526 pm ET

Walt Disney Co. DIS -0.57% ▲ is making massive changes to its movie-release schedule, including canceling the planned August release of “Mulan,” as the coronavirus pandemic continues to roil Hollywood.

Disney said on Thursday it is not only forgoing its planned Aug. 21 premiere of the live- action remake of the animated classic, but is also delaying the release of future installments in the “Avatar” and “Star Wars” series by a year. While “Mulan” doesn’t yet have a new date, Disney said it was moving its next “Avatar” and “Star Wars” movies by around a year each, to 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Hollywood studios have been forced in recent months into a game of wait and see as the effects of the coronavirus upend plans to reopen the economy. This is the third time Disney has had to change its release plans for “Mulan.” However, this is the first time Disney canceled one date without providing a new one.

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“Over the last few months, it’s become clear that nothing can be set in stone when it comes to how we release films during this global health crisis,” said a Disney spokesperson by email.

Similar delays at other major Hollywood studios have already forced exhibitors such as AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. to postpone their scheduled reopenings. No major release is now on the calendar until early September, and some exhibitors consider that to be overly optimistic, making it unclear when consumers might return to auditoriums. Some Hollywood executives privately say they don’t expect major releases to come out until at least 2021.

Earlier this week AT&T Inc.’s Warner Bros. delayed its coming science-fiction thriller “Tenet” indefinitely. The studio is expected to select a new date soon, and when it does, it is likely the $200 million film will open first overseas and then domestically, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The calendar reshuffling changes nearly a decade’s worth of release plans Disney had set for two of its most vital franchises.

Four sequels to “Avatar,” James ’s 2009 blockbuster, were moved back a year, meaning “Avatar 2” will premiere in 2022 and “Avatar 5” in 2028. Disney acquired the franchise in its 2019 purchase of the entertainment assets of . Following the debut of the new “Star Wars” trilogy in 2023, Disney is aiming to premiere the second and third installments of the series in 2025 and 2027, respectively. Fans and analysts are watching the series closely to see what direction Disney takes the space- opera in after mixed reactions followed a trio of movies that concluded last year with “The Rise of Skywalker.”

Depending on how quickly the U.S. can get the coronavirus under control —paving the way for theaters to reopen at full capacity—Disney may also have to revisit its existing release plans for the latter part of this year. The studio plans to debut both the Marvel superhero spinoff “Black Widow” and original animated feature film “Soul” in November. Several films developed by Fox before Disney acquired the studio are also on the books for late 2020.

Disney’s highest-profile plan for the end of the year is to release Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake on Dec. 18.

A Disney spokesman didn’t immediately comment on whether the studio was contemplating scheduling changes for “Black Widow,” “Soul,” “West Side Story” or the Fox titles.

Write to Erich Schwartzel at [email protected]

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