- Avengers: Doomsday could go head-to-head with one other enormous film in late 2026
- The Marvel movie’s launch was lately pushed again from May 2026 to December of that yr
- Florence Pugh is predicted to star in each motion pictures
It’s time to start out making ready for the 2026 version of Barbenheimer, everybody.
With Avengers: Doomsday being delayed till December 18, 2026, the highly-anticipated Marvel film is ready to do battle with one other large movie late subsequent yr.
The movie in query? Dune: Messiah, the third entry within the Denis Villeneuve-directed sci-fi epic franchise. At the time of publication, one other of 2026’s most fun new motion pictures can be set to land in theaters subsequent yr on December 18, and so long as Avengers 5 and Dune 3 preserve their present launch dates we might have one other Barnerheimer-style film viewing occasion on our arms.
For those that may want a reminder, Barbenheimer was the title bestowed on the occasion that noticed the Margo Robbie-starring Barbie movie and Christopher Nolan-directed Oppenheimer flick launched on the identical day in 2023. Their contrasting types and genres, coupled with the sheer quantity of expertise concerned in each productions, noticed many followers flock to their native theater to look at back-to-back screenings of those movies.
Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Messiah will not be as polarizing stylistically, however two of 2026’s hottest commodities occupy totally different genres. The fifth Avengers movie is certainly a comic book ebook/superhero film, whereas the Dune franchise – each Frank Herbert’s books and its film sequence namesake – sits squarely within the sci-fi realm.
In my view, that is sufficient to make sure they meet the standards first laid out by Barbenheimer. That being, the stark distinction between each movies is legitimate sufficient to create the same movie-based phenomenon occasion round them. Avengers: Dunesday, anybody?
Of course, none of this can matter if Avengers 5 suffers one other launch day setback. Alternatively, Warner Bros. Pictures and subsidiary studio Legendary may blink first and resolve to delay Dune: Messiah‘s personal launch so it is not compelled to compete with the cinematic juggernaut that’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
If Dune 3 and the second Marvel Phase 6 movie retain their present launch dates, although, Christmas 2026 is bound to be a contented (and money-spinning) one for Florence Pugh.
Pugh, who lately starred as Yelena Belova in one other MCU film in Thunderbolts*, was introduced as a part of the preliminary 27-strong forged for Avengers: Doomsday in late March. However, Pugh can be anticipated to reprise her function as Princess Irulan, who she first performed in Dune Part Two, in Dune: Messiah.
As lengthy as Irulan is a part of the latter’s forged, Pugh is ready to look in two of essentially the most anticipated movies that’ll launch earlier than the tip of 2026 – not unhealthy for somebody whose breakout function solely got here in 2019’s A24 people horror indie flick Midsommar, eh?
Realistically, although, I am unable to see Doomsday and Messiah releasing on the identical day.
Filming is not underway on the latter but, and will not be for a while. Meanwhile, because the 2023 Hollywood strikes, quite a few Marvel movies have been delayed a minimum of twice, so Doomsday might undergo the same destiny.
I’m unsure which film can be shunted again into 2027 however, as a lot as I need Avengers: Dunesday to be a factor, it is already trying like a pipe dream – and that is earlier than any extra launch date delays are probably introduced.
