20th Century Fox has been busy marking its calendar with official release dates for many of its high profile franchise tentpole films.
Avatar sequels:
Along with Lightstorm Entertainment, Fox announced on Facebook the official release dates for all four of James Cameron’s long-gestating sequels to his 2009 mega-blockbuster, Avatar
The post reads, “Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels. The journey continues December 18, 2020, December 17, 2021, December 20, 2024 and December 19, 2025!” Directed by Cameron, the sequels have been confirmed to feature the return of stars Sam Worthington (The Shack), Zoë Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2), Stephen Lang (Don’t Breathe), and Sigourney Weaver (Finding Dory).
X-Men universe features:
2018 is shaping up to be the year of the mutants as Fox has slated three “mutant-verse” films for release throughout the year.
First, director Josh Boone’s New Mutants will hit theaters on April 13th with a cast that is set to include the return of James McAvoy’s Professor Charles Xavier, as well as newcomers in Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), and Nat Wolff (The Fault in Our Stars). The film will go up against one of Universal Studios’ classic monster universe reboots at the box office on the same date.
Next, Deadpool 2 will be trading up the original’s February release with an early Summer slot as the immensely anticipated sequel to the surprise 2016 hit will break the fourth wall in theaters everywhere on June 1st. Directed by David Leitch (John Wick) the film will have Ryan Reynolds return as the “Merc with a Mouth” with the newly cast sidekick in Josh Brolin‘s Cable.
Finally, the next X-Men: First Class-era sequel, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, will go up against Disney’s live-action Mulan on November 2nd. Beyond Simon Kinberg’s involvement, no other details on the film have been confirmed, but the title alone implies that the film will draw inspiration from the Dark Phoenix comic saga, previously adapted in Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand.
The Predator reboot:
Fox has also delayed Iron Man 3 director Shane Black’s The Predator reboot from February 9, 2018 to August 3, 2018. Two other films are set for release on that same date, including an untitled Disney live-action film and Holmes & Watson from Sony Pictures.
The Predator will feature a cast that includes Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay, and Edward James Olmos.