Disney is firming up its plans for Star Wars after The Rise of Skywalker, while giving director James Cameron a bit more time to finish up his ambitious Avatar sequels.
The House of Mouse put its new ownership of 20th Century Fox to use for the first time on Tuesday (May 7) by announcing plans to alternate releases of Star Wars and Avatar films each December beginning in 2021.
The big news is that Disney has officially set release dates for three untitled Star Wars movies — December 16, 2022, December 20, 2024 and December 18, 2026 (via Variety).
No details were revealed about what these films will be, but there's plenty of speculation they are The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson's previously-announced trilogy set in "a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored".
It's worth noting that Lucasfilm is also working with Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss on their own films set in the Star Wars universe.
Whichever movies these new release dates are for, the three-year gap between them and The Rise of Skywalker confirms Disney boss Bob Iger's recent comments that the franchise will go on "a bit of a hiatus" from cinemas after this year.
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Alternating Decembers with Star Wars will be James Cameron's Avatar sequels, albeit with a slight delay. Disney announced on Tuesday that Avatar 2 will move from December 18, 2020 to December 17, 2021.
That creates a domino effect where Avatar 3 slides to December 22, 2023, and then Avatar 4 and 5 follow on December 19, 2025 and December 17, 2027 respectively. The shift is intriguing since lead actress Zoe Saldana revealed last summer that she'd already finished shooting Avatar 3.
Disney exec Cathleen Taff announced all of the scheduling changes on Tuesday: "We're excited to put in place a robust and diverse slate that lays the foundation of our long-term strategy, bringing together a breadth of films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Fox, Fox Searchlight, and Blue Sky Studios to create an extraordinary collection of cinematic experiences for audiences around the world.
"With a strong summer already in place, we are eager to carry that momentum forward over the coming years thanks to a creative wellspring of bold and imaginative stories coming from our world-class studios — including several new chapters of two revered franchises, Avatar and Star Wars."
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
