Release Dates Revealed For ‘Star Wars Episode IX,’ ‘Frozen 2,’ ‘Indiana Jones 5′ and More
Hold onto your winter hats, your lightsabers and your whips; Disney just announced the official release dates for Frozen 2, Star Wars: Episode IX and Indiana Jones 5.
As part of a massive announcement of Disney's cinematic plans for the next four years, the Mouse House revealed its planned release dates for some of the most anticipated sequels under its umbrella.
Just a little over a week when the world got its first true look at Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Disney and Lucasfilm revealed Star Wars: Episode IX would be hitting theaters May 24, 2019. The third chapter of the new trilogy will be helmed by Colin Trevorrow, and the May release date is a bit of a return to the original film's release on May 25, 1977. It is odd that the Christmas season debut is being abandoned, but it is a nice nod to the franchise's roots nonetheless.
Not to be outdone, another classic Lucasfilm property will find its way back to theaters just one year later. The subtitleless Indiana Jones 5 arrives on July 20, 2020, just in time to honor the adventure series' 40th anniversary in 2021. Both Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are indeed returning for Indy's next installment, though one can only guess when the film will take place and whether or not Ford will be able to do any whip cracking by the time shooting begins in the next 18 months or so.
Though not quite as epic in its lineage as Star Wars or Indiana Jones, the Frozen franchise took on a life all its own after breaking out in 2013. Frozen 2 was actually announced a few years ago, but we haven't heard much about the planned follow-up since 2016. Now we know for certain that Anna, Elsa, Olaf and Kristoff will be back on November 27, 2019.
Disney has typically released a major animated feature during the Thanksgiving holiday, and that trend doesn't appear to be changing much at all based on the release details offered by the company. As you can see in the above press release, Coco arrives this year, Wreck It Ralph gets another go in 2018, Gigantic hits in 2020, and an untitled animated feature comes in 2021.
You'll also notice that after Star Wars: Episode IX there are no such films on the docket in 2020 or 2021. That's likely to change over the course of the next few years, whether with new anthology films or the continuation of the Skywalker Saga in some shape or form. We'll just have to keep our ears to the ground while we wait to see what happens in after 2019's sequel.
There are plenty of untitled Marvel movies in the mix too, but without any actual names to tie to them, they don't seem all that worthy of attention just yet. Perhaps after we know the status of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a post Avengers: Infinity War world, we'll change our tune.