We’re used to movie release date delays, but this is getting ridiculous. Two of Marvel’s 2023 blockbusters have swapped places in the box office calendar. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s new release date is Feb. 17, 2023, and The Marvels is now scheduled to hit theaters on July 28, 2023.
Several Marvel films have been pushed back over the past few years due to the COVID pandemic. When delays happen, Marvel’s owner, Disney, and other movie studios simply bump their films into slots held by their other films (for instance, Paramount moved Top Gun: Maverick into the weekend originally earmarked for Mission: Impossible). But it isn’t quite so straightforward for Marvel: the interconnected storylines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe mean they often have to stay in a specific order so they can set up the next film.
The episodic nature of the MCU is one of the things that keeps fans coming back, but it probably caused a few headaches in the scheduling department over the past couple of years. Apparently The Marvels, starring Brie Larson, and Quantumania, with Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, aren’t so closely linked that they can’t simply swap places. The Marvels is, however, tied into the TV show Ms. Marvel, which is expected to premiere on Disney Plus in June this year.
The next Marvel flick is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6, followed by Thor: Love and Thunder in July and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in November. Ant-Man 3 is now the first MCU flick of 2023, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May 2023. The Marvels is now the furthest out confirmed MCU theatrical release, as there’s no date yet for planned films starring Blade, Deadpool, the Fantastic Four and others.
