The coronavirus has struck the entertainment world again, with Disney now announcing that upcoming releases Mulan, The New Mutants and Antlers have all been dropped from the release schedule for the time being. Mulan was due out on March 27th, New Mutants on April 3rd and Antlers on April 17th. There’s no word yet on when these films will be in theaters, but it’s likely they’ll be released in 2020. Or at least, we hope they will. At this point, though, no new dates have been announced.
According to Deadline, rescheduling of these titles is expected to be on a worldwide basis, which makes sense given that Disney had already frozen the Chinese release of Mulan. Considering that the pic had its world premiere just this week, it seems that the decision to cancel the planned release date was a hard one for Disney and will no doubt add costs to what has already been a major marketing campaign.
In the case of The New Mutants, the delay adds to a very lengthy set of problems for the movie, the last in the Fox X-Men franchise. However, for once the decision to push the film back isn’t to do with any worries over New Mutants‘ quality, with recent trailers suggesting that we had a lot to look forward to. Those hoping for a superhero fix may also have to deal with a Black Widow delay, although it may be that the MCU picture’s May release is just far enough away to keep it in contention to meet its original plan.
Finally, the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror film Antlers is the lesser-known of the three delayed releases, but was still shaping up to be an intriguing title. Disney’s decision to push back Mulan and others is in line with industry trends, with coronavirus already pushing back much-hyped releases such as No Time to Die, Fast & Furious 9 and A Quiet Place Part II, and closing Disney’s California parks. For now, we’re just waiting to hear of more confirmations of delays, although based on studio’s announcement, it’s going to be a pretty barren release slate over the next month or so.