Well, that was unexpected. Coming out of the critical and financial success of Black Panther, Marvel Studios announced through Twitter today that their next film, the gargantuan crossover film Avengers: Infinity War, will release on April 27 rather than the original date of May 4.
The news came from a cutesy Twitter interaction between the official Marvel Studios account and star Robert Downey Jr.
That’s a FANTASTIC idea! Done.
Avengers: #InfinityWar in theaters everywhere April 27th. pic.twitter.com/n5JhJWpnqc
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) March 1, 2018
This move gives Infinity War a bit of distance from another Disney blockbuster, Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is bizarrely set for a May 25 release date. There will be no Marvel/LucasFilm cannibalism here. Not to mention, Marvel Studios has some new competition with Fox’s Deadpool 2 moving from June 1 to May 18.
This is, of course, excellent news for Marvel fans, and bad news for anyone who has a movie coming out on that same day. Rom coms and animated children’s films will be crushed under the weight of Infinity War’s star billings alone.