Deadpool 3 Loses May 2024 Release Date Because Studios Won't Bargain With Actors To End Strike

As Hollywood remains largely at a standstill, the 2024 movie calendar is getting a makeover, starting with "Deadpool 3." According to Deadline, the threequel will no longer be hitting theaters on May 3, 2024, as expected, with its new release date still up in the air. Though the "Deadpool" bump is officially being reported on today, some eagle-eyed consumers may have caught wind that something was up with the Ryan Reynolds-led movie back in August, when Disney's Q3 earnings paperwork left the movie off its list of key upcoming releases.

Deadline speculates that "Deadpool 3" could move to a July release date if another major would-be blockbuster, "Captain America: Brave New World," ends up grabbing back its own original May 3 release date and leaving that prime summer slot open. It seems to be too early to tell for certain, though, as there's reportedly still some work to be done on the follow-up to the R-rated 2016 hit and its sequel.

Release date switch-ups are becoming par for the course as the SAG-AFTRA strike that has shut down the industry for 97 days continues. Actors in the major guild are asking for streaming residuals and protections against artificial intelligence for the use of generating digital performances, among other things. The guild's membership reportedly waited months for the AMPTP, the organization representing companies like Netflix and Disney, to come to the table, but talks that began in early October eventually broke down. Just today, news broke that a group of A-listers including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, and Emma Stone proposed a potential quick fix that would allow them to pay higher dues that would help offset the new contract costs.

Until a new deal is reached, though, the return of Wade Wilson — and the reintroduction of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine – will have to wait. "Deadpool 3" began filming in May 2023, and director Shawn Levy told Deadline the movie was halfway through its shoot when it shut down in compliance with the strike. "It was a joy every day and that chemistry is as relentless as we all hoped it would be," Levy said of the two unexpected antihero co-stars. He also assured the outlet that, although "Deadpool 3" is the first installment in the franchise made under Marvel Studios instead of Fox, it's still going to be "raw, audacious, very much R-rated and we went to great lengths to not shoot it on sound stages with digital environments."

We'll keep you posted when we hear about the new release date for "Deadpool 3."