Disney pulls the December 2026 Star Wars film off its future release schedule

The Walt Disney Company today updated their theatrical release schedule for the coming years, and included in the changes was the news that the Star Wars film previously scheduled for December 18, 2026 has now been removed. It has instead been replaced by Ice Age 6.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is still set to release on May 22, 2026, while Star Wars also has an untitled project scheduled for release on December 17, 2027. There has been no official word on what that next film would be, although most guesses have it being the Rey film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, which should be going into production in 2025.

While news like this might seem like a bigger deal given Lucasfilm’s spotty track record for actually seeing projects through to completion, this is pretty commonplace in the movie industry. Studios schedule release dates years in advance, and these dates very regularly shift around (often multiple times) prior to the release.

And in this specific instance, I think it could be a change for the better. Obviously I’d love to have more Star Wars as soon as possible, But these upcoming films are going to be pivotal to the future direction of the franchise. The last time Lucasfilm premiered two films close to each other was with The Last Jedi and Solo – the first being a huge box office success, and the latter being a huge box office disappointment. They aired five months apart, which would be slightly closer than the two films were scheduled for in 2026, but still a bit too close for comfort in my opinion – especially given how much is riding on this ‘re-launch’ of Star Wars on the big screen. Furthermore, even if two Star Wars films could theoretically both hit in the same year at the box office, 2026 is a loaded year and therefore movie-goers will likely be a bit more selective on which ones they check out.

But there is just something about Star Wars on the big screen in December that feels right, and I’m excited to have that return soon. That’s still slated for 2027, and hopefully as a sort of annual tradition afterwards.