Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Disney's 2020

A year ago, Disney's release schedule looked like this:

Untitled Disney live-action film - February 14, 2020
Untitled Pixar film - March 6, 2020
"Mulan," - March 27, 2020
Untitled Marvel Studios film - May 1, 2020
"Maleficent II" - May 29, 2020
Untitled Pixar film - June 19, 2020
Untitled Marvel Studios film - July 31, 2020
Untitled Disney live-action film - October 9, 2020
Untitled Marvel Studios film - November 6, 2020
Untitled Disney animated film - November 25, 2020
Untitled Disney live-action film - December 23, 2020   

I figured that we needed an update.  To keep things simple, I'm ignoring all the Fox projects that Disney has gained through the merger, like the live action "Call of the Wild." 

Right now, the schedule looks like this:

"Onward” - March 6, 2020
"Mulan," - March 27, 2020
“Black Widow” - May 1, 2020
“Artemis Fowl” – May 29, 2020 (delayed from 2019)
“Soul” - June 19, 2020
“Jungle Cruise” – July 24, 2020 (delayed from 2019)
“The One and Only Ivan” – August 14, 2020
Untitled Disney live-action film - October 9, 2020
“The Eternals” - November 6, 2020
"Raya and the Last Dragon" - November 25, 2020

So, we lost what was probably supposed to be "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" to some undetermined future date,  "Cruella" was in the December slot but got bumped to 2021, and the "Maleficent" sequel was moved up to 2019. Also, "Artemis Fowl" and "Jungle Cruise" were delayed from 2019  to 2020, and "The One and Only Ivan" got added to the slate. It is nots clear if "Ivan" was the Untitled Disney Live Action Film previously scheduled for February 14th, that has disappeared, or if this is a different project.  It's been difficult to keep them straight, with Disney's habit of dubbing every in-development project "Untitled." Some of the in-production ones too, actually.

I expect the October 9th film to move, since the slot is currently occupied by Fox's "Death on the Nile." "The Eternals" is also currently in the same November 6th slot as Fox's animated film "Ron's Gone Wrong," about a boy and his robot pal.  "Cruella" was likely moved to avoid Speilberg's "West Side Story." All the kinks from the recent merger are clearly still being sorted out. 

Now, compared to the insanely profitable 2019 slate that is closing in on $10 billion in receipts , 2020 is probably not going to do even half as well.  Even with the Fox titles, it'll be a stretch. The big Marvel film for next year is "Black Widow," and probably the only surefire moneymaker is superhero sequel "Venom 2."  There are a ton of original titles, including all the animated films and the wacky Rock star vehicle "Jungle Cruise." There are live action remakes of animated Disney classics, but of less popular titles "Mulan" and "101 Dalmatians."  Also a factor is that the launch of Disney Plus is going to be taking up a huge amount of the company's attention. Note that several of the less promising Disney titles in development have been turned into Disney Plus content, like the live action "Lady and the Tramp," and the Anna Kendrick Christmas movie, "Noelle." 

Investors and exhibitors may be nervous, but film fans should be happy, because this is a slate that is far, far more interesting than last year's.  Sure, most of these are adaptations, but there's every indication that they're adaptations that are willing to take more creative risks. "Mulan" is taking a very different, more action-oriented  approach to the original material. The Marvel films are riskier ventures like "The Eternals" and Spidey spinoff "Morbius." Even "Black Widow" is going to be this weird midquel spy film that I don't think anyone's really got their heads wrapped around yet.  

The films I'm most interested in are the ones I know almost nothing about, like PIXAR's "Soul," which will be Pete Docter's follow-up to "Inside Out," and the action comedy "Jungle Cruise" with Dwayne Johnson.  After the recent proliferation of sequels, it's honestly a relief to see the studio putting out anything that doesn't have a number in the title - even if some of them are inevitably going to be franchise starters themselves.       
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