In 2023, three Marvel movies are planned. The Marvels, a sequel to 2019's Captain Marvel, was set open on February 17th, 2023 while the Ant-Man trilogy capper, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, was set to open on July 28th, 2023 while James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was still set to debut in theaters on May 5th, 2023. While GOTG Vol. 3 will stick to it's current release date, it's been announced that due to Quantumania simply being closer to being complete in it's production, it will take the February 17th release date while The Marvels will have the supper opening of July 28th.
That news hails from Variety while Deadline broke the news that Jon Watts is no longer directing the MCU's Fantastic Four film. After having previously directed all three of the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man films, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige confirmed the news of his amicable departure due to the director wanting to take a break from superhero movies, having directed only Spider-Man films since Homecoming in 2016. Feige had this to say on Watts departure.
"Collaborating with Jon on the Spider-Man films has been a true pleasure. We were looking forward to continuing our work with him to bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU but understand and are supportive of his reasons for stepping away. We are optimistic that we will have the opportunity to work together again at some point down the road."
Watts had his own parting words as well:
"Making three Spider-Man films was an incredible and life changing experience for me. I’m eternally grateful to have been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for seven years. I’m hopeful we’ll work together again and I can’t wait to see the amazing vision for Fantastic Four brought to life."
Outside of Marvel, Watts is currently developing a movie starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney in 2021 that Apple Original Films won in a massive bidding war. That story is said to follow two lone-wolf fixers assigned to the same job. So, in other words, the young director is far from out of work but moving on to take on greater cinematic challenges. Stay tuned!
I really hope I can find enough time to fit all of this capeshit in.
can't wait to see how they woke the shit out of the fantastic four