Yet another change to the Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios lineup as both studios announced yesterday two more changes to their superhero release date slate.
First up, Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness directed by Sam Raimi will be delayed to March 25th, 2022 which would suggest that production is going to be pushed into early 2021 (possibly January-February).
HN Entertainment had previously confirmed Marvel was aiming to shoot the sequel at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England this year. However, the new release date would suggest that the studio is being realistic and pushing the shoot into 2021 instead.
Raimi will be directing from a script penned by Jade Halley Barlett and Michael Waldron (Loki, Rick & Morty).
We had been speculation for the last couple of weeks that Sony Pictures would move Spider-Man 3 out of the summer of 2021, given that it was looking less and less likely that production would begin this summer as originally planned.
They had recently moved Morbius to March 19th, 2021, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage to June 25th, 2021, Sony has finally officially bumped Spider-Man 3 from July 16th, 2021 to November 5th, 2021. That fall spot previously held by Thor: Love & Thunder and more recently Doctor Strange 2 before their moves to 2022.
Sony had also given Uncharted a release date in October 2021, both dates feel like placeholders until the studio ultimately figures out what they’re doing and if they’ll even be able to resume productions in 2020.
Jon Watts returns after directing Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Tom Holland recently was unsure if Uncharted or Spider-Man 3 would be his next shoot, the former had been ready to go in Germany when production shut down on day one of filming.
Uncharted has now taken Spider-Man 3’s vacant spot on July 16th, 2021 a potential sign it will shoot first.
There had been plenty of fan speculation about the villains and supporting heroes in the third Spider-Man film, but none have been officially announced by Sony/Marvel or confirmed by industry outlets.
If filming doesn’t end up beginning in the fall/winter there is a good chance that Spider-Man 3 will get bumped to a release date in 2022 given how post-production schedules work and filming moving to 2021.
Shang-Chi is another MCU film that might have to resume in 2021 and would likely knock that release date into 2022 as well. Multiple Marvel Studios films including Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2, and Thor 4 seeing their shoots bumped to 2021 it could delay the filming for things like Ant-Man 3, Black Panther 2, and Captain Marvel 2 that had been planning on shooting next year.