Avatar and Avengers sequels delayed one after another... "Impact of Hollywood writers' strike"

Disney Releases Movie Release Schedule
Avatar Third Series Delayed by One Year

Walt Disney's blockbuster films 'Avatar', 'Avengers', and 'Star Wars' sequels will be delayed by about a year. This is interpreted as a disruption in the film production schedule due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike that began last month.

According to Bloomberg News and others on the 13th (local time), Disney released its movie release schedule on that day. According to this, the release of the third film in the 'Avatar' series has been postponed from the originally scheduled December next year to December 2025. Two more sequels after 'Avatar' have also been pushed back to December 2029 and December 2031, respectively.

Director James Cameron of the movie 'Avatar'
[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

As a result, James Cameron, who has been directing 'Avatar' since 2009, may not be able to produce the fourth and fifth sequels of Avatar. In fact, he has made such remarks in official settings. According to AP News, Cameron will be 77 years old when the fifth Avatar sequel, announced by Disney, is released in 2031. If the original plan had proceeded, he would have been 68 years old, five years younger.

In addition to Avatar, two films in Marvel Studios' 'Avengers' series have also had their release dates postponed to May 2026 and May 2027, respectively. The 'Star Wars' sequel is scheduled for release in May 2026, also delayed by about a year compared to the previous schedule.

Disney did not disclose the reasons for postponing the release dates of its major films. However, foreign media cited the ongoing WGA strike since last month as the reason. More than 11,500 Hollywood film and television writers belonging to the WGA have gone on a full strike after wage increase negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down.

Bloomberg forecasted that the delay in the release of Disney's blockbuster films is likely to impact the theater industry. The second film in the Avatar series, 'Avatar: The Way of Water', released in December last year, earned $2.3 billion (about 2.9 trillion won) in worldwide ticket sales, ranking third among the highest-grossing films of all time.

John Landau, the producer of this film, wrote on Twitter that day, "As filmmakers, it takes time to reach the quality level we pursue and that audiences expect," adding, "The team in charge is working hard, and we look forward to bringing audiences back to Pandora in December 2025."