James Cameron's 'Avatar' sequels pushed back

James Camerons long-awaited and often delayed follow-up to "Avatar" has been pushed back by another year.

"Avatar 2" will now release internationally on December 17, 2021 instead of December 18, 2020 as originally planned.

The delay means that "Avatar 3" will open on December 22, 2023 as opposed to December 17, 2021 while "Avatar 4" will release on December 19, 2025 instead of December 20, 2024 and "Avatar 5" will open on December 17, 2027, reports variety.com.

The news comes as part of a larger shift in release dates unveiled by Walt Disney Studios. The company is moving around the debuts of various movies it inherited after buying the bulk of 21st Century Fox's film and television assets in a $71.3 billion mega-merger deal.

As part of the release date shake-up, Disney announced there will be three yet-untitled "Star Wars" movies.

They will hit theatres after "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" brings the Skywalker spin-off saga to a close in December this year.

The first of the new three films will hit the big screen on December 16, 2022. There will be two other follow-ups that will premiere on December 20, 2024 and December 18, 2026.

Following the success of "Avengers: Endgame", Disney has also adjusted a few upcoming Marvel releases. Fox's "The New Mutants" has been pushed back from August 2, 2019 to April 3, 2020.

Meanwhile, "Gambit", another Fox-owned project, was removed from the studio's schedule. The Channing Tatum-led spin-off was previously dated for March 13, 2020.

But that's not all. In 2020, Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" adaptation will open on December 18, while "Cruella", a live-action "101 Dalmatians" spin-off, will launch on December 23.

"Ad Astra", an astronaut drama starring Brad Pitt, will now release on September 20, 2019. "Artemis Fowel", scheduled for August 9, 2019, is now dated for May 29, 2020.

--IANS

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