The ink is barely dry on the page but already moves are being made to fold in 20th Century Fox film releases within the wider Disney schedule. Fox have been tweaking release dates, and The Hollywood Reporter have done some digging to line up the schedules and show that these heavyweight Fox releases now fit neatly within the wider Disney slate.
In recent days, 20th Century Fox has been quietly been rearranging its release calendar, no doubt in anticipation of the $70 billion-plus Disney-21st Century Fox marriage. Late last week, Fox pushed back the release of Death on the Nile, a star-studded sequel to Murder on the Orient Express, from Dec. 20, 2019 to Oct. 2, 2020.
In its earlier date, Nile would have opened opposite Disney and Lucasfilm’s untitled Star Wars: Episode IX. Fox also pushed Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, from January to late May, while relocating the action-comedy Stuber from May to July.
Federal regulations prohibit Disney and Fox film executives from directly coordinating their efforts during the merger process, but the proverbial handwriting is on the wall. Soon — providing there are no 11th hour glitches — Disney will begin releasing titles from a scaled 20th Century Fox proper, Fox Searchlight and Fox 2000, furthering expanding its ever-growing marketshare.
Check out the article for the full picture. One thing’s for sure, the movie going landscape is set to shift seismically when the merger machine goes into top gear.