Disney delays Marvel Cinematic Universe, Indiana Jones films

Disney pushed back multiple Marvel superhero films and delayed an Indiana Jones sequel by almost a year in the latest reshuffle of its release calendar Monday.

Movies such as ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ all take place within the same interconnected Marvel cinematic universe.

That means a delay to one title often causes a domino effect across the wildly popular, multibillion-dollar-grossing series.

Many of the films were previously postponed by film set shutdowns early in the pandemic, with insiders telling Variety the latest changes were also due to production delays.

The eagerly awaited new ‘Black Panther’ film will now arrive in November 2022. Producers have said that the late Chadwick Boseman’s lead role will not be recast for the sequel.

ALSO READ: Is Disney+ finally coming to South Africa?

Additional Marvel superhero films including ‘The Marvels’ and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ were also delayed by a few months, going into 2023.

Meanwhile, the fifth instalment of the ‘Indiana Jones’ action franchise was shunted from July 2022 to June 2023.

Returning star Harrison Ford will be 81 years old when the title hits theaters, if the new release date holds.

Ford first took on the role of archaeologist Indiana Jones in 1981’s ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ – just a few years after achieving global fame as Han Solo in the original ‘Star Wars’ film.

Production on the latest film was delayed this summer when Ford suffered a shoulder injury on set.

READ NEXT: Marvel Cinematic Universe explained for South African Marvel ‘lite’ fans