Disney has officially updated its release schedule for the foreseeable future, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic putting Hollywood on hold. For the most part, they’ve managed to preserve their original plans as much as possible, with many key blockbusters now simply falling a few months later in the year than expected. There’s a different story when it comes to Artemis Fowl, however, as that’s no longer getting a cinematic run at all.
Variety reports that Disney has decided to remove the upcoming young adult fantasy movie from its intended release of May 29th. That’s no surprise, given the current closure of theaters, but the additional confirmation that it will instead arrive on Disney Plus definitely is. The studio has yet to reveal exactly when we can expect the film, directed by Thor filmmaker Kenneth Branagh, to land on the streaming service, but it’ll be going straight to the platform and skipping cinemas.
Based on a popular series of British children’s books by Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl has been knocking around at Disney for a long while, with development beginning all the way back in 2001. In 2015, Branagh was hired to helm and things finally got cooking from there. It was initially due to drop in August last year, before being moved to its previous May date.
Back in November, fans at last got their first look at the movie and the reaction was universally negative, with many blasting Disney for changing things from the source material so much that it might as well not have the same title. The early bad press had led it to be widely agreed that the film was likely going to bomb at the box office, so Disney probably weighed that up when electing to move Artemis Fowl to a streaming release only.