Disney Schedule Shifts: 'The Mandalorian And Grogu' Secures May 2026 'Star Wars' Slot, 'Moana' Remake Pushed A Year
Disney Schedule Shifts: 'The Mandalorian And Grogu' Secures May 2026 'Star Wars' Slot, 'Moana' Remake Pushed A Year
'Toy Story 5' gets one of Pixar’s favorite spots, and 'Tron: Ares' is Aangling for a fight
Disney’s CinemaCon presentation isn’t until Thursday, but they have some dates and clarifications to give in their release schedule over the next two years.
What’s likely biggest is that after February’s earnings call stated that The Mandalorian and Grogu, bringing the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian to the big screen, would have a 2026 release, it has been clarified as placed at the May 22 perch known since last summer. It is set to be the Star Wars franchise’s first film set for a May release since the underperforming Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018, which at the time was just weeks after Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2, made it seem that in a Marvel world that Star Wars, which had released the original and prequel trilogies on the same weekend but had released The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi in December, wasn’t going to thrive in May anymore. The Rise of Skywalker spent April to September 2017 on the equivalent 2019 weekend. Currently, there is no competition opening directly against it, but being such a coveted weekend that is likely to change.
The Moana live-action remake, as expected, is getting some distance away from Moana 2 following the sequel’s announcement of a November 27 release this year. Originally scheduled for June 27, 2025, it is now set to open July 10, 2026, giving the original film another year to age while still not hitting a full decade since its release. The remake currently has no direct competition opening against it. Toy Story 5, after similarly being given a 2026 release year on the same earnings call settles into Pixar’s June slot on June 19, which Inside Out had in 2015 and Soul was supposed to before 2020’s pandemic-based disruptions. Otherwise, every year since Toy Story 3 in 2010 a Pixar film has released on that weekend’s equivalent dates. Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema has a film they haven’t announced there.
The long-awaited third Tron film, Tron: Ares, has been set for October 10, 2025. That date is likely very familiar for any Avatar: The Last Airbender fan, because that’s the date the older Team Avatar film from Paramount Animation, Avatar Studios and Nickelodeon Movies and distributed by Paramount Pictures, is set to be released. Elsewhere, the Rami Malek-starring The Amateur from 20th Century Studios, which moved to November 8, 2024 after Deadpool & Wolverine moved up, is now set for April 11, 2025, where a Universal event film awaits. Searchlight and Annapurna Pictures’s Nightbitch, the horror comedy directed by Marielle Heller and starring Amy Adams, has been scheduled for a limited release on December 6.
Source: Deadline