Image: Disney/The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Disney has released its schedule of new movies and TV shows coming to Disney+ this August. Theres some good stuff on there, including the originalX-Men movie,Ant-Man and the Wasp and the 2017 remake ofBeauty and the Beast. But whats nowhere to be seen isThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the first of the studios high-profile Marvel Cinematic Universe shows.

And thats not too surprising. Production on the show, which follows Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in the wake of the events ofAvengers: Endgamehad to shut down due to the coronavirus. Although it started back up eventually, apparently it wasnt in time to get the series out in time for August.

Disney is working on other Marvel shows, likeWandaVisionandLoki. The studio was also teasing that the former could be out this year, but with this news, you wonder if it too wont be pushed back. We were always gonna get to a point where the coronavirus started delaying new shows, and it looks like that point has arrived.

As long asthe second season ofThe Mandaloriancomes out this year, Ill be happy; so far as I can tell, most of all of that was shot before the pandemic started shutting everything down, so it should hopefully be alright. Its scheduled for October, but Id take November. Theres no new release date forThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierset as of yet.

As long as were talking about Marvels misfortunes, did you know that US attorney general William Barr called them out in a speech yesterday for censoring their movies in order to appease China, which is the worlds second-largest film market? Hollywood now regularly censors its own movies to appease the Chinese Communist Party, the worlds most powerful violator of human rights, he said. This censorship infects not only versions of movies that are released in China, but also many that are shown in American theaters to American audiences.

As an example, Barr pointed to Disneys decision to rethink the character of the Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton inDoctor StrangeandAvengers: Endgame. In the comics, this character is Tibetan, but because Tibet is a hot-button issue for China, she was made Celtic for the movie. TheDoctor Strangewriter admittedthis was done to avoid angering China, since if they do, its possible the country wont allow the film into Chinese theaters.

Its no secret that China is a huge deal for movie studios, and its true that lots of them clip and edit their films for that market, or even alter them at the outset likeDoctor Strange. Chinese government censors dont need to say a word, because Hollywood is doing their work for them, Barr claimed. Whether the US government wants to crack down on that sort of thing remains to be seen.

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h/tThe Hollywood Reporter

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is officially delayed on Disney+ - Winter is Coming