Why Doctor Strange 2 Was Delayed (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Look on the bright side. People will once again have a reason to say “Blame Spider-Man 3.”

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Readers, it looks like everything’s coming up Allstate for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Sam Raimi is officially back in the Marvel movie director’s chair and taking over directorial duties from Scott Derrickson, who is producing

Which probably means Danny Elfman will be doing the music for the movie, officially giving him a theme song that’s actually worth remembering.

As I’ve stated in my video about the topic back when he was being courted, I’m of course still worried that considering the “creative differences” that caused Derrickson to step down that Sam Raimi will once again end up in another creative vice grip similar to the one Avi Arad had him in for Spider-Man 3 and the one he was gonna be under if he stayed on board for Spider-Man 4.

But, considering that Arad’s current influence in the MCU is through the solo Spidey films at Sony

And that Kevin Feige was able to beat both Arad and his buddy Ike Perlmutter as far as having the most say in what’s going on in Marvel as a whole

I feel...a bit more confident that Marvel Studios is gonna do right by Raimi.

Y’know, unless Disney tells Feige to execute Order 66 on his ass if it gets too Evil Dead-y.

Now there’s already been some shake-ups with the release dates of Phase 4 because of 2020’s health and safety crisis.

As I reported in my video about how I think Phases 4 and 5 should just merge together because of the situation, pretty much every movie currently slated for Phase 4 of the MCU has shifted down one date, starting with 2020’s Black Widow and ending with Thor: Love and Thunder being next door neighbors with the 2022 sequel to Black Panther.

Each movie took the release date originally given to the Marvel Studios movie that’s supposed to come out after it, which meant Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness would be given Thor: Love and Thunder’s original release date of November 5 2021, while IT was rescheduled to be released February 18 2022.

Now considering that Sam Raimi was close to signing on to Doctor Strange at the time, seeing this shift in the release dates kinda put a lot of people -- me included -- at ease, considering the start of production was quickly approaching back when the movie had its original release date.

But NOW...things have CHANGED. (Pause) AGAIN!

/Because the “now directed by Sam Raimi Phase 4 Marvel Studios film” Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been delayed by an extra 4 months. It’ll be joining Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther 2, and Captain Marvel 2 in 2022 on the previously unannounced date of March 25th/

Now I know what you’re thinking:

But La’Ron, what does this have to do with what you said in the opening of this video?

A-HA! I’m glad you asked!

The reason WHY Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was delayed this time around, has EVERYTHING to do with what I said in the opening of this video!

The extended delay of Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is all thanks...to Spider-Man 3.

More specifically, the third solo Spider-Man movie that takes place in the MCU following the events of Far From Home.

Listen, just because I’m no advocate of dad puns doesn’t mean I’m immediately resisting the use of wordplay when I have the opportunity. Get over yourselves.

Y’see, for the longest, Sony never announced whether or not the follow-up to Far From Home would ALSO be delayed; it kept its original date for the longest time since the initial announcement of Marvel Studios’ game of Release Date Dominos.

Then on April 24th, Sony announced that a lot of their Spider-Man projects -- both with and without the help of Marvel Studios -- would be delayed because of the current health and safety crisis.

The sequel to Into The Spider-Verse with Miles Morales is now being released on October 7, 2022

/And the 3rd MCU Spider-Man movie -- which originally had the release date of July 16, 2020 -- has now been delayed to November 5, 2021/

Gee! I wonder why that date sounds so familia--hey, wait a second!

Now, normally this wouldn’t be such a big deal. Marvel Studios has released their own movies the same month and/or day as other studios with the film rights to Marvel characters plenty of times before, and have still come out on top.

The reason why this is the exception to the rule however, is because due to the new rules and regulations of Disney’s deal with Sony regarding Spider-Man’s involvement in the MCU, Disney is now more financially invested in this Spider-Man movie than they were beforehand.

Disney’s gonna get 25% of the profits generated by this up-and-coming Spider-Man movie according to the new deal the studios agreed to in order to keep Spidey in the MCU for a bit longer. But, ALSO according to said new deal, Disney has to provide 25% of the film's budget in order to make that happen.

And despite the movie being co-produced and consulted by Marvel Studios, it’s still a Sony film at the end of the day, and they have the final say on when it will be distributed.

Not Marvel Studios, not Disney. SONY.

So in order to maximize the movie’s potential to make them as much money as possible, Disney had no choice but to have Marvel Studios do possibly one last release date delay

And that involved moving the release date of Thor: Love and Thunder UP one week, and pushing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to March 25, 2022

Thankfully, considering how important the narrative of the movie will be to the future of the MCU, it looks like Marvel Studios shifting the order of the releases won’t impact the overall narrative of Phase 4-slash-5.

Something tells me that as long as WandaVision and Loki come out on Disney+ before Multiverse comes out in theaters, everything should still be smooth sailing for MCU watchers that care about not having its flow of continuity interrupted.

As for me? (Shrugs) Awesome.

Considering how important this movie is to the future of the MCU, and how good of a filmmaker Raimi has proven to be with superhero films -- especially when it comes to heroes and villains that he truly cares about and is given the opportunity show that creativity on screen -- the more time Raimi gets to make the movie his own, the better.

Which I REALLY hope Disney allows him to do

So it’s like I said at the beginning of this video; if you want someone or something to blame as to why Raimi’s Multiverse of Madness is delayed, blame the third Spider-Man movie

Because I certainly am! (Mouths “thank you”)

But, I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:

Write in the comment section below how YOU feel about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness giving up its release date for the third Spider-Man movie

Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of class, if whether or not you believe Disney will allow Sam Raimi the creative freedom necessary to make this Doctor Strange sequel something TRULY special.

Whichever one you decide to answer, I’d LOVE to know your thoughts.