Marvel Schedules Movies Through 2019

The studio claims release dates, but doesn't say what they're releasing. 

By Jul. 19, 2014

Today Marvel announced five new release dates between now and 2019, but kept each of them open in terms of what movies will actually be placed on them. The most notable thing: they're opening three movies in 2017. The studio has been doing two movies a year up until now, but it's become clear that they would need to release more films annually if they wanted to introduce new franchises to replace the ones that are probably winding down. 

Here's the entire Marvel Studios release schedule for the next five years:

2014
August 1: Guardians of the Galaxy

2015
May 1: The Avengers: Age of Ultron
July 17: Ant-Man

2016
May 6: Captain America 3
July 8: Doctor Strange

2017
May 5: Untitled
July 27: Untitled
Nov. 3: Untitled

2018
July 6: Untitled (but almost certainly Avengers 3)
Nov. 2: Untitled

2019
May 3: Untitled

So what goes in those spots? I'd imagine that Thor 3 gets placed in one of the 2017 slots - May? If Thor and Captain America follow the Iron Man lead these will be the final films in this iteration, and I'm guessing Thor 3 will be Ragnarok or something similar. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (or Hulk and the Guardians of the Galaxy or whatever) will likely alos be in 2017 - leaving one mysterious open slot that year. That's the third Phase Three franchise, but what will it be?

I'd place money on either Black Panther or Captain Marvel (or Ms. Marvel - a lady Marvel of some kind), and I'd go heavy on Captain/Ms. Marvel. There are a lot of reasons why I'd go that way, but the biggest is that Marvel knows a white woman lead can make money, and The Hunger Games will end in 2016. Captain/Ms. Marvel can be perfectly positioed to pick up that slack. Hell, it can even be released in the Hunger Games November release slot. 

Here's my best guess as to how this schedule shakes out:

2014
August 1: Guardians of the Galaxy

2015
May 1: The Avengers: Age of Ultron
July 17: Ant-Man

2016
May 6: Captain America 3
July 8: Doctor Strange

2017
May 5: Thor 3
July 27: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Nov. 3: Captain/Ms. Marvel

2018
July 6: Avengers 3
Nov. 2: Unknown

2019
May 3: Unknown

I'm leaving those last two unknown because they're probably hinging on the box office of Ant-Man and Doctor Strange. If those films underperform Phase Four, which starts in 2018, will change. 

What do you think? Does my schedule look reasonable to you?

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