Moviefone Editorial

Tag: Alien reboot

  • Disney Shuffling Release Dates for Marvel Movies and More

    The ongoing writers’ strike (and potential action from other guilds such as the actors’ union) is having a major impact on studio output. And Disney is not immune to changes in schedule. The company has announced that it is moving the release dates for a lot of its big upcoming movies, and that means we’ll all have to be patient when it comes to the likes of Marvel, James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ and the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy.

    MCU shifts

    Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios' 'The Falson and the Winter Soldier' exclusively on Disney+.
    Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ ‘The Falson and the Winter Soldier’ exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

    Marvel, of course, has been delaying some of its films’ production and that is having a domino effect for the highly connected cinematic universe, which relies on films to set up the next entries. Lest the tapestry all unravel, that means moving some movies back.

    ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ is moving to August 26th next year, which pushes ‘Thunderbolts’ to December 20th, 2024, ‘Blade’ to February 14th, 2025, and the still in-development ‘Fantastic Four’ to May 2nd, 2025.

    And because there is only so much space on the calendar (and Disney seemingly already takes up a third of it), that means the next giant, phase-ending team-up movies are also on the move. ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ will be bumped back a year, to May 1st, 2026, inheriting the release date for follow-up ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’, which itself is headed to May 7th, 2027.

    It’s not all delays for the MCU, though; ‘Deadpool 3’, which is in production, will move up from its original November 8th, 2024, date to May 3rd of that year.

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    More ‘Avatar’ delays

    'Avatar: The Way of Water' will be available exclusively to purchase on Digital March 28th.
    ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ will be available exclusively to purchase on Digital March 28th.

    Though James Cameron’s movies would seemingly not be impacted by a writers’ strike since their scripts are essentially finished, the series can’t avoid the release date shuffle.

    That means ‘Avatar’ fans, already well used to the waiting game, will see their patience tested further, since ‘Avatar 3’ has moved to December 19th, 2025, ‘Avatar 4’ to December 21st, 2029, and ‘Avatar 5’ all the way to December 19th, 2031! which means the apparent final movie will land 22 years after the original 2009 film.

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    New ‘Star Wars’ movie dates

    Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daisy Ridley at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
    (L to R) Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daisy Ridley at Star Wars Celebration 2023.

    Related Article: ‘Star Wars’ Movie News and a New ‘Indiana Jones’ Trailer Revealed at Star Wars Celebration

    If you were starting to wonder when we might ever see a new ‘Star Wars’ movie, then there’s good news.

    2026 will see two movies set in that galaxy far, far away from Lucasfilm, one on May 22nd, 2026 (not the fourth?) and another set for the more traditional recent slot of December 18th that year.

    A third film is reportedly headed our way on December 17th, 2027. Disney has yet to clarify any details of which of its in-development movies are taking those berths, but we can assume one is the Rey follow-up starring Daisy Ridley which has Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in the director’s chair and was confirmed at Star Wars Celebration. On the basis of that, we can also predict that Dave Filoni’s film and possibly James Mangold‘s movie might be in the other two slots.

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    Live-Action ‘Moana’ and more

    Dwayne Johnson announces live-action 'Moana.'
    Dwayne Johnson announces live-action ‘Moana.’ Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

    There are also dates on the calendar now for films that didn’t have them previously –– the live-action ‘Moana’ is set to surface on June 27th, 2025, while Fede Álvarez’ movie set in the ‘Alien’ universe is arriving on August 16th next year. Espionage thriller ‘The Amateur’, starring Rami Malek, is set for November next year.

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    Frustration ahead for film fans, then, but hopefully the movies will be worth the wait.

    Star Wars Celebration 2023.
    Star Wars Celebration 2023.

    Delayed Disney Movies: 

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  • Fede Alvarez Directing New ‘Alien’ Movie

    Prometheus Alien
    2012’s ‘Prometheus.’

    Though Ridley Scott has long been seen as the godfather of the ‘Alien’ movies and has been adding to the canon in recent years himself with the likes of ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Alien: Covenant’, he has never been afraid to hand it over to other directors, even if the results have been mixed.

    He’s apparently ready to do it again as The Hollywood Reporter has heard that ‘Don’t Breathe’ director Fede Alvarez is ready to make a stand-alone story for streaming service Hulu.

    Alvarez is apparently a huge fan of the movies that Scott helped launch way back in 1979 with the original ‘Alien’ and casually pitched a take to the director/producer that stuck in the elder filmmaker’s mind like an egg implanted in an unfortunate human’s chest.

    According to 20th Century Studios head Steve Asbell who spoke to the trade magazine, the company jumped at the idea “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch. It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”

    Dan O’Bannon wrote Scott’s original movie, a contained, haunted house horror story following the doomed crew of cargo spaceship Nostromo after they respond to a distress beacon and discover a mysterious creature that ends up laying eggs in and slaughtering most of them. Rude!

    The survivor of that crew, Ripley, and the actress who played her, Sigourney Weaver, became the human face of the franchise when James Cameron directed sequel, ‘Aliens’, in 1986, developing it into an action movie that became a massive cultural hit.

    Sigourney with gun
    Sigourney Weaver in 1986’s ‘Aliens.’

    That was followed by David Fincher’s controversial, darker ‘Alien 3’ and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s stylish yet far-from-universally liked ‘Alien: Resurrection.’ Fox attempted to keep things chugging along in Ripley-free fashion with two movies pitting the xenomorphs versus the Predators, but it was Scott who moved back towards the original timeline with his prequels.

    Alvarez is no stranger to adding to franchises (and finding new courses for them): he co-wrote and directed 2013’s ‘Evil Dead’ reboot and in 2018 made Lisbeth Salander movie ‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’.

    That sound you’re probably hearing (and yes, we’d guess it’ll be loud enough to hear it in space) is the “harrumph” from Neill Blomkamp fans after he worked up his own pitch for a new ‘Alien’ movie that would have featured Weaver’s character and more effectively following up ‘Aliens’ with a new story. Scott shot that one down and has instead embraced Alvarez’s take.

    And that’s not the only new ‘Alien’-linked project in the works, as ‘Fargo’ TV developer Noah Hawley has a small screen story headed our way via cable network FX. That one is reportedly an Earthbound tale set before Ripley’s time.

    With Disney’s former Fox arm 20th Century Studios now overseeing all these properties, the time was apparently right for a standalone that could fill part of the company’s brief to create movies for Hulu. How this will be received is still a mystery, though it’ll all hinge on how well Alvarez captures the feel of the movies while bringing something new.

    'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Producer Fede Alvarez.
    Director Fede Alvarez.
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