Disney plants Mouse Flag in more future release dates for upcoming titles

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Disney is not messing around when it comes to some of the big live-action titles they have coming on the horizon, and today they let the rest of the movie industry know by staking their claim on a number of future release dates for those motion pictures. Basically, they served notice to the other movie studios that they should plan to stay away from certain times on the release date calendar or risk being massacred at the box office by those family fare dollars The Mouse accumulates in large doses. 

The dates Disney called dibs on are as follows:

• July 28, 2017
• April 6, 2018
• August 3, 2018
• December 25, 2018
• December 20, 2019

That's in addition to November 2, 2018 and November 8, 2019, which they had previously planted their flag in for untitled live-action fairy tale films. Therefore, The Mouse is looking at four such movies in 2018, and that doesn't even take into account what they have on the agenda from Pixar, Marvel Studios, STAR WARS or Disney Animation. Damn… Looks like a banner year is on tap for the company come 2018, given their recent track record in all of those areas.

Disney hasn't announced which of their films in development would land where yet, but they do have a number of pictures that would certainly be in the conversation for each date, starting with THE JUNGLE BOOK 2 (which theoretically could be ready before Warner Bros. version of THE JUNGLE BOOK, set for October 2018, if things come together quickly). Also in the mix would be CRUELLA (starring Emma Stone), Ava DuVernay's A WRINKLE IN TIME, Tim Burton's DUMBO, THE JUNGLE CRUISE (headlined by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), the MARY POPPINS sequel, MALEFICENT 2 and a Tinker Bell film that would star Reese Witherspoon. And even then, Disney has it well within their power to capture more dates as needed, if several of these films progress to warrant it. 

Disney is ready to dominate with the brand quality they've been establishing in a major way in recent years, perhaps better than they've ever had it in the company's history, which is really saying something. And don't forget all the ancillary dollars that accompany any of those pictures becoming successful along the way. Disney means dollars right now and for the forseeable future. Much respect to The Mouse for what they're accomplishing at the moment. They're killing it.