Disney+ is getting into the MCU game with original series in 2020, with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier set for an August 2020 premiere. Now, however, production has been halted due to the coronavirus, and it’s possible that some big changes have to happen to the original vision for the season. Here’s what’s happening.
Although The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has primarily been shooting in Atlanta, production shifted to Prague on Friday, March 6, according to Deadline. The shoot in Prague was reportedly to be finished within a week, but now the studio shut down production due to the coronavirus. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier team was called back to Atlanta, and there is no word if the Prague production will resume.
Considering the relatively short shoot in Prague, if The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was to finish in a week, I’m guessing the production team will simply scrap the plans for Prague and either change the story to fit somewhere in the United States or dress somewhere in Atlanta up to look like Prague. This could mean a big change for the original plan of the series, but nothing crippling.
At the very least, I’m guessing the release date for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (which was technically never specifically set other than August 2020) won’t have to be pushed back because of this delay. In fact, this isn’t even the first delay to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier thanks to outside factors.
That said, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier wouldn’t be the only high-profile project with a delayed premiere in the event of the Disney+ debut being pushed back due to coronavirus. The next James Bond film won’t hit the big screen until later this year rather than April, and TV productions like The Bachelorette and Amazing Race have both been impacted.
In fact, Season 33 of The Amazing Race was suspended, whereas The Bachelorette may just need to avoid overseas dates for Clare Crawley and her batch of suitors. Given that there is talk of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics being cancelled due to the coronavirus, the spread impacting the entertainment industry may not be over for quite a while.
Since the MCU series are among the most highly-anticipated coming to Disney+ in 2020 (and Disney+ could probably use some subscribers who are in for more than Baby Yoda), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier could be a very big deal for the Disney streaming service this year.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be the first of several original live-action MCU series on Disney+, with WandaVision releasing in December 2020 and Loki with Tom Hiddleston at some point after that. Yes, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is basically Disney+’s MCU equivalent of The Mandalorian as the streamer’s first live-action Star Wars series, and it probably won’t have something as immediately meme-able as Baby Yoda.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more on the TV, movies, and MCU front, and don’t forget to check out our 2020 midseason premiere schedule for more viewing options while waiting for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
