Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man has been set to kick off Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a little over a year now, and it had been expected to follow Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron in November 2015.
The studio is now reportedly moving the original November 6th release date up to July 31st, 2015, in a very interesting move that will see similar May-July release slots that Thor and Captain America had first time around in 2011.
2015 has been anticipated as the most blockbuster-heavy year in recent memory, and quite possibly of all time. Seeing Marvel shift Ant-Man to a prime summer slot clearly shows that they have a lot of faith in Wright and his project, which he’s been developing now for years, even before the studio started the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man back in 2008.
At the same time, since Marvel announced the little hero’s release date, Sony has tentatively set the US release date of Bond 24 for that November 6th slot in 2015. And after Skyfall opened to over $1bn. around the globe last year, it makes a fair bit of sense to shift Ant-Man up, and the summer slot seems like a perfect fit for Wright.
That July 31st slot will currently see the film opening against Fox and Tim Burton’s adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, adapted by Jane Goldman, who of course has had a string of successful movies in the past few years, with still more lined up.
Wright has been working on the script with past collaborator Joe Cornish (Tintin, Attack the Block) since day one, and Kevin Feige will of course be producing for the studio.
As of yet, there’s no word on who will be playing the eponymous hero. With the movie’s release date now moving up to July 2015, you can expect that casting to be announced sooner rather than later. The film remains the only officially-announced project slated for Phase Three, but as 2015 creeps closer and closer, that should be changing soon as well, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what else the studio has lined up for us in the next few years.
