Disney Shifts ‘Mulan’ and ‘Jungle Book’ Release Dates
Amidst companywide plans to furlough many non-union employees, Disney is also reconfiguring its release calendar in light of the coronavirus pandemic. They’d already postponed several movies — but now they’ve redated many of them as well.
First and foremost is Mulan, which was supposed to open on March 27, 2020. The film will now come out on July 24. This in and of itself feels like an optimistic guess of when movie theaters will be open again. Will theaters really be back up and running in three months? No one knows. But at least right now, it feels a little early.
Far more reasonable is the move Disney made with its adaptation of its long-running Jungle Cruise ride. The film version, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, will now open on July 30, 2021. It was originally scheduled to open on July 24 of this summer. Now that’s Mulan’s home. (For now.)
These moves coincide with a complete reconfiguring of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Black Widow on down. Disney has also postponed the next Indiana Jones, and will release Artemis Fowl straight to Disney+ instead of putting in theaters at all. From their Searchlight division, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch has been pushed back from this summer to October. Everywhere you look, movies are getting pushed back. Right now the big question is when will it stop? There doesn’t appear to be any end in sight for the time being.
Gallery — Ranking Disney’s Live-Action Remakes: