Disney Officially Moves ‘Indy 5’ To 2021 And Pits ‘Mary Poppins’ Against ‘Aquaman’ And ‘Bumblebee’

Disney has confirmed what was rumored recently and announced (via THR) that “Indiana Jones 5” will miss its 2020 release date, instead being released on July 9, 2021. Along with the news of ‘Indy 5’ coming in three years, the company also had some other date changes to announce, and one, in particular, will create a very interesting holiday season.

READ MORE: Steven Spielberg Thinks Indiana Jones’ Future Might Be Female

As we reported two weeks ago, Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones 5,” which is the apparent swan song for actor Harrison Ford’s version of the character, has hired Jonathan Kasdan as a new writer, which means there is no way the production will begin in enough time to meet the 2020 release date. Instead, Disney is giving Spielberg an extra year to figure it out and present it to audiences. If ‘Indy 5’ makes the July 9, 2021 release, it will be 4 days before Ford’s 79th birthday.

Also announced is the release date for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Disney theme park ride feature “Jungle Cruise,” which will hit theaters on October 11, 2019. Angelina Jolie’s long-awaited “Maleficent 2” will now hit see release on May 29, 2020. Jolie’s film is currently in production now, so there’s plenty of time between now and the 2020 release date.

However, buried in the report under all that news is the fact that the upcoming “Mary Poppins Returns” will move a week ahead, being released on December 19. That’s big news for rival studios Warner Bros. and Universal, as they are set to release “Aquaman” and “Bumblebee,” respectively, on December 21. That creates quite the logjam in the holiday season. While Emily Blunt’s ‘Poppins’ is clearly going after a younger audience, having three big blockbusters within three days of each other normally spells doom for films.

This may mean that we could be seeing a release date shakeup for WB’s “Aquaman” or Universal’s “Bumblebee” soon, as both those films are banking on huge box office receipts. In the case of “Aquaman,” WB is worried about the future of their DC superhero slate, and with “Bumblebee,” Universal is attempting to revive their “Transformers” series that is on a very steep decline. Granted, the Christmas time frame is perhaps the best to release this many blockbusters, as there is usually less competition, but with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, the meeting of ‘Poppins,’ “Aquaman,” and “Bumblebee” could be dangerous for the three studios.