Marvel's closing movie theaters indefinitely. These measures are a means of limiting close between individuals and slowing the spread of the infectious disease.
This year has already seen several high profile films push back their releases. No Time To Die, the next movie in the James Bond franchise, was the first film to push back its release date in response to the pandemic, but quickly more movies followed. Disney to re-evaluate their theatrical releases. In March, they announced that both Mulan and Black Widow, two of their most anticipated movies, wouldn't be releasing as planned. At the time, though, Disney didn't announce new release dates, choosing instead to wait and monitor the COVID-19 outbreak as it developed.
As of today, Disney is announcing their readjusted release slate, and in it, Eternals is being pushed back to February 12, 2021. Eternals' original November 6th release date is now reserved for Black Widow.
Of the MCU's next two films, Eternals is clearly the more unknown, but it will also be the first to explore a Deviants, the evil counterparts to the Eternals. The movie stars some notable talents like Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harrington, Richard Madden, and Kumail Nanjiani, and is directed by the relatively new Chloé Zhao, whose film The Rider seriously impressed Marvel execs.
Thanks to this release date shuffle, Eternals now moves into a very crowded 2021. Marvel alone is releasing four films, with Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2, and a currently untitled sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home ing Eternals. However, it's possible that even this schedule may need tweaking in the future. In addition to movies being unable to release during the pandemic, most productions have also been halted. This may lead to further delays as movies fall behind on filming and MCU is aiming to keep its extensive plans on track as much as possible.
Source: Disney
