Jungle Cruise, Mary Poppins Returns, Maleficent 2 Release Dates Changed

Disney spent its day shuffling movies around on its release schedule, swapping the dates for Jungle Cruise, Mary Poppins Returns, and Maleficent 2. 

First on the agenda, Disney moved its Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt-led Jungle Cruise from October 4, 2019 to October 11, 2019 (via ComingSoon). 

The film stars Johnson as Jack, the captain of the titular ship; Blunt as a passenger named Lily Houghton; Jack Whitehall as the brother of Blunt's character; Edgar Ramirez as a villain with a "conquistador background"; and Jesse Plemons as the yet-unnamed antagonist. Paul Giamatti and Quim Gutiérrez also star in the pic, which has The Shallows filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra attached as director, but no details on their characters have been revealed. 

Next up was a new release date for another Emily Blunt-starrer: Mary Poppins Returns. The much-talked about sequel was intended as a Christmas treat from the House of Mouse, set to launch on December 25. Now, the musical movie that succeeds the 1964 classic will open on Wednesday, December 19, allowing it extra time to shine at the box office. 

In addition Blunt, who portrays the titular magic nanny, Mary Poppins Returns features Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack, a former apprentice of Dick Van Dyke's Bert from the original film; Meryl Streep as Topsy Turvy-Poppins, Mary's kooky cousin; Colin Firth as William Weatherall Wilkins; Julie Walters as Ellen; and Angela Lansbury as The Balloon Lady. 

Another hotly anticipated follow-up film got stamped with a new debut date. Disney moved Maleficent 2, the sequel to director Robert Stromberg's 2014 original, to May 29, 2020. That window, as ComingSoon notes, was previously occupied by an "Untitled Disney Live Action" movie — and we know how many of those Disney has lined up. 

Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning will both return for the Joachim Rønning-directed Maleficent 2, reprising their respective roles as Maleficent and Princess Aurora. The two were recently spotted goofing around behind the scenes of the sequel, which also features Michelle Pfeiffer as Queen Ingrith, Harris Dickinson as Prince Phillip, Sam Riley as Diaval, Imelda Staunton as Knotgrass, Juno Temple as Thistlewit, Lesley Manville as Flittle, and Judith Shekoni as Shrike. Ed Skrein, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Robert Lindsay round out the cast. 

Studios re-dating films, sometimes even multiple times, is extremely common, and while it's good news that Mary Poppins Returns got pushed up and Jungle Cruise was only delayed by a week, Disney dropped the hammer when it concurrently confirmed that Indiana Jones 5 had been postponed from July 10, 2020 to July 9, 2021. Talk about a bummer of a summer. Thanks a lot, Mickey.