It’s one of several Marvel Studios films whose release dates change like dominoes falling. Captain America: Brave New World, originally scheduled for release on July 26, 2024, will now release on February 14, 2025 instead, and Blade has been pushed back from that date to November 7, 2025. Finally, Thunderbolts has been delayed from December 20, 2024 to July 25, 2025.
The delays mean Deadpool 3 is currently the only film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe scheduled to hit theaters next year, a big change after years of three or more films in the series being released annually. It will be interesting to see what impact the relative drought has on audiences’ waning interest in the superhero genre.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike, along with the Writers Guild of America strike that ended just weeks earlier, disrupted production schedules across Hollywood. Marvel Studios’ upcoming films were in various stages of production before the strikes. Filming on “Captain America: Brave New World” had reportedly already completed, leading some to speculate that the film would take the place of “Deadpool 3,” while Variety notes that production on “Blade” and “Thunderbolts” hasn’t started yet.
Beyond Marvel Studios, Disney has also announced a new release date for its CGI Lion King prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, which will now release on December 20, 2024 instead of July 5. Earlier this week, Sony Pictures announced that it would delay the release of its third film based on the Marvel character Venom from July 12, 2024 to November 8 of this year.