The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, and with no end in sight, the movie industry is bracing itself for what could end up being one of the leanest years in history. Hollywood is already looking at a $20 billion shortfall in revenue this year, and Sony have even moved several of their high profile summer releases to next year, signaling that they expect the crisis to carry on for a good few months yet.
Even the seemingly-invulnerable Marvel Cinematic Universe has been impacted, with Black Widow’s May release being delayed indefinitely and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings having halted production. And now it seems as though Spider-Man 3 is set to be the next major comic book blockbuster to face scheduling issues.
Buried in the details of a new report about the huge number of movies facing lengthy delays is the reveal that Jon Watts’ threequel is no longer expecting to start shooting in July of this year, which could end up impacting the intended release date in July 2021.
“Blockbuster productions on pause include The Batman, an as-yet-untitled Spider-Man sequel and Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid remake.”
If Spider-Man 3 does end up hitting the pause button, the entirety of the MCU’s Phase Four lineup looks to be in jeopardy. We’ve already reported that the Black Widow delay could end up having a knock-on effect towards the similarly-affected The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, while questions have now been raised over Shang-Chi’s ability to be ready by next February. Production on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was also set to kick off in June, but that seems increasingly unlikely to go ahead now if the latest Spidey flick wasn’t set to get started until a month later.
