Disney’s long-range theatrical calendar is starting to look like a map of where the company still feels safest: recognizable, sequel-friendly territory. On Friday, the studio shifted one untitled Marvel Studios film from February 18, 2028, to July 28, 2028, while also setting two more unnamed Marvel releases for May 4, 2029, and July 13, 2029. None of those films has a title yet, but the move gives Marvel three new public placeholders beyond the current “Avengers” runway and keeps Disney’s post-2027 board full of expensive, familiar real estate.
The timing is not accidental, either. The new dates arrive a day after “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” reportedly racked up 718.6 million online views for its trailer and blew past the previous 24-hour record. Marvel and Disney haven’t announced what any of these new 2028 and 2029 titles actually are. Still, fans are obviously going to start filling in the blanks themselves now that the studio has started laying down fresh markers that go far beyond 2027’s “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
And there are only so many obvious candidates. Michael Lesslie was first hired to write Marvel’s “X-Men” movie in 2024, and by mid-2025, Jake Schreier was being lined up to direct it. “Black Panther 3” is the other title hovering over any conversation like this: Ryan Coogler confirmed last November that it is his next movie, after previously revealing that he had written a role for Denzel Washington in the sequel. That still doesn’t mean one of these dates belongs to mutants and another to Wakanda—Disney hasn’t said that—but those are the two biggest Marvel features publicly in motion once the current “Avengers” business clears out of the way.
The bigger Disney picture is just as revealing. At this week’s shareholder meeting, new CEO Josh D’Amaro announced that “Lilo & Stitch 2” will open on May 26, 2028, with “Incredibles 3” following on June 16, 2028. That means Disney spent the middle of this week doing two things at once: giving Pixar and Disney’s live-action remake machine premium summer 2028 slots, then going back into the calendar and stretching Marvel deeper into 2029. Add in the already-announced 2029 return of “Coco 2,” and the shape of the studio’s strategy becomes pretty hard to miss.
None of this means Disney has given up on originals. The company would say otherwise, and Pixar still has original films on the way. But when the studio starts planting flags this far out, the calendar usually tells the truth before the press release does. Disney wants franchise ballast, brand recognition, and tentpoles it can market globally years in advance. That doesn’t make any of these mystery Marvel slots bad news—somewhere farther in the development wings is a third “Doctor Strange” film and a “Shang Chi” sequel—but it does underline where the company’s confidence still lies.
For now, the titles remain blank spaces. What Disney has actually revealed are dates, and dates have a way of doing their own storytelling in Hollywood. The next real clue probably won’t come from another placeholder. It’ll come when Marvel starts naming what survives the post- “Secret Wars” board, and Disney decides which of these slots are worth turning into real movies on paper.
Here’s how it all nets out:
** previously dated
Untitled Disney – February 18, 2028
“Incredibles 3” – June 16, 2028
Untitled Disney – November 10, 2028
Untitled Disney – February 16, 2029
Untitled Disney – March 9, 2029
Untitled Disney – May 25, 2029
Untitled Disney – August 3, 2029
Untitled Disney – October 5, 2029
Untitled Disney – November 9, 2029
“Coco 2” – TBD 2029
Untitled Marvel – May 5, 2028**
Untitled Marvel – July 28, 2028
Untitled Marvel -December 15, 2028**
Untitled Marvel – May 4, 2029
Untitled Marvel – July 13, 2029
Untitled Disney Animation – June 15, 2029
Untitled Pixar – November 21, 2029
