Early 2021 is not looking much different from 2020 for movies so far, especially after a new delay for 007’s No Time to Die has just set off a wave of most movie studios doing the same. Of course, included among those is Disney as one of the biggest players in the industry. Even the House of Mouse has now had to delay films including The King's ManBob's Burgers, and Guillermo Del Toro’s Antlers.

Disney has a big year ahead encompassing not only their previously planned 2020 releases but also some films which were scheduled for this year prior to the pandemic messing up the roadmap. On top of that, the existence of Disney Plus means that the studio always has the option of taking any of its productions or those owned by 20th Century Fox or Searchlight Pictures straight to streaming just like it did for Pixar’s Soul last Christmas.

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There is still not any information that might suggest there are further plans for streaming any of the delayed films on Disney Plus rather than releasing them in theaters. The Bob's Burgers movie was hit particularly hard by this news as showrunner Loren Bouchard has strongly pushed for a theatrical release for the Belcher family and the animated film now lacks any prospective dates for its premiere.

scarlett johansson black widow neon
Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

As for the rest of the films, The King's Man is now being moved from March 12 to August 20; Del Toro’s Antlers and Nightmare Alley to October 29 and December 3, respectively; and finally The Eyes of Tammy Faye should land in theaters on September 24. The announcement did not include other high profile movies like Black Widow or Raya and the Last Dragon.

From a strategic standpoint, Disney seems to be shying away from touching any movies until it’s deemed absolutely necessary, especially those with big budgets or almost guaranteed blockbuster potential like their Marvel exclusives. For example, Raya and the Last Dragon is less than two months away, a date that is already deemed unrealistic by other studios.

With such extreme measures being taken, like the Uncharted movie getting pushed back all the way to early 2022, there will likely be more delays on the way from Disney or even some unexpected film arrivals that might drive up even better numbers for Disney Plus.

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Source: The A.V. Club