Disney Removes Mulan and Wes Anderson’s French Dispatch from the Schedule, Sets New Dates for Star Wars and Avatar Sequels

Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Mulan is joining Tenet in release calendar limbo, as the live-action Disney remake follows Christopher Nolan’s thriller in abandoning its August release without a replacement date on the schedule.

The news comes hours after AMC Theatres, the largest exhibition circuit in the world, confirmed it would be delaying its domestic reopening to August.

Last week, Warner Bros. took the unusual step of removing Tenet from its theatrical release schedule without providing a new date. “We are not treating Tenet like a traditional global day-and-date release, and our upcoming marketing and distribution plans will reflect that,” said Warner Bros. Pictures Group Chair Toby Emmerich in a statement.

As opposed to Warner Bros., Disney did not provide any comment in removing Mulan from the calendar.

Despite the shift in dates, Disney is still on track to become the first major studio to launch a wide release since the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered cinemas around the world in March. The New Mutants, a title originally slated for release by 20th Century Fox, is currently scheduled to open on August 28.

On the specialty front, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, originally scheduled for October 16 under Searchlight Pictures (formerly Fox Searchlight), has also been removed from the release schedule. Disney’s Searchlight division will return to cinemas on August 28 with The Personal History of David Copperfield, previously slated for an August 14 release.

The other major release shifts from Disney include an additional year’s delay for the upcoming Avatar and Star Wars sequels, now expected to rech theaters on 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Disney’s latest update to its release calendar is listed below:

2020

8/28 – THE NEW MUTANTS

8/28 – THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD

9/18 – THE KING’S MAN

10/23 – DEATH ON THE NILE

11/6 – BLACK WIDOW

11/13 – DEEP WATER

11/20 – SOUL

12/4 – THE EMPTY MAN

12/11 – FREE GUY

12/18 – WEST SIDE STORY

2021

1/22 – EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE

2/12 – THE ETERNALS

2/19 – ANTLERS

3/12 – RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

4/9 – BOB’S BURGERS

4/23 – RON’S GONE WRONG

5/7 – SHANG CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

5/28 – CRUELLA

6/18 – UNTITLED [PIXAR]

7/9 – UNTITLED

7/30 – JUNGLE CRUISE

8/13 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

8/27 – THE BEATLES: GET BACK

9/10 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

10/15 – THE LAST DUEL

11/24 – UNTITLED [DISNEY ANIMATION]

12/3 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

12/17/21 UNTITLED

2022

1/7 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

1/14 – 20th NIMONA

2/11 – THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER

3/11 – UNTITLED [PIXAR]

3/25 – DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

4/8 – UNTITLED

5/6 – BLACK PANTHER 2

5/27 – UNTITLED

6/10 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

6/17 – UNTITLED [PIXAR]

7/8 – CAPTAIN MARVEL 2

7/29 – UNTITLED [INDIANA JONES]

8/12 – UNTITLED

9/16 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

10/7/22 Disney UNTITLED MARVEL

10/21 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

11/4 – UNTITLED

11/11 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

11/23 – UNTITLED [DISNEY ANIMATION]

12/16 – AVATAR 2

12/23 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

2023

1/13B- UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

2/17 – UNTITLED [MARVEL]

3/10 – UNTITLED

3/24 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

5/5 – UNTITLED [MARVEL]

5/26 – UNTITLED

6/9 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

6/16 – UNTITLED [PIXAR]

7/14 – UNTITLED

7/28 – UNTITLED [MARVEL]

8/11 – UNTITLED

9/15 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

10/6 – UNTITLED

10/20 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

11/3 – UNTITLED [MARVEL]

11/10 – UNTITLED [20TH CENTURY]

11/22/23 – UNTITLED [DISNEY ANIMATION]

12/15/23 – UNTITLED

12/22 – UNTITLED [STAR WARS]

2024

12/20 – AVATAR 3

2025

12/19 –UNTITLED [STAR WARS]

2026

12/18 – AVATAR 4

2027

12/17 – UNTITLED [STAR WARS]

2028

12/22 – AVATAR 5

UNSET

  • THE FRENCH DISPATCH
  • MULAN
  • THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios