Following the tepid box office response to Solo: A Star Wars Story, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a hiatus for the franchise. After Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, there won’t be another Star Wars film for three years. But in the meantime, Disney will put its other newly acquired franchise in a prime holiday slot.
Disney has announced that James Cameron’s Avatar 2 will now be released on December 17, 2021. It had previously been slated to premiere in December 2020 when it was on Fox’s schedule. Disney picked up the rights earlier this year when it closed its merger with Fox.
An untitled Star Wars movie will follow on December 16, 2022. That will allow Disney to give its best December dates to both Avatar and Star Wars in alternate years. In 2023, Avatar 3 will arrive on December 22. Star Wars will then return on December 20, 2024. Avatar 4 will follow on December 19, 2025, with a third untitled Star Wars arriving on December 18, 2026. Finally, Avatar 5 will close out the current schedule on December 17, 2027.
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Presumably the untitled Star Wars films are the previously announced trilogies by director Rian Johnson or Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss. Disney and Lucasfilm have yet to reveal specifics about either of the planned trilogies.
Are you excited to know that Avatar and Star Wars movies will dominate the month of December for the next decade or so? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
