Amidst reports of a potential shakeup in their production process, Warner Bros. has announced a few release date shuffles. First and foremost, Wonder Woman will be arriving in theaters sooner than expected, as the Gal Gadot-fronted superhero film has been moved up from June 23, 2017 to June 2, 2017, where it will now square off directly against Sony’s likely R-rated Bad Boys 3 and the kid-friendly Captain Underpants. The first female-led superhero film of the modern era will tell the origin story of the titular character, following Diana Prince’s exploits during World War I with a cast that includes Chris Pine, Robin Wright, and Connie Nielsen. Production is just now wrapping up under the direction of Patty Jenkins, and while response to Batman v Superman has been lukewarm, spirits are high for Wonder Woman given that Gadot’s character was a major highlight of Zack Snyder’s dour superhero epic.

But Wonder Woman isn’t the only DC Comics adaptation undergoing a shift. Warner Bros. has also set dates for two untitled DC Extended Universe films on October 5, 2018 and November 1, 2019. While WB previously insinuated release dates for a slew of films, including The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg, the studio has only officially confirmed the dates as far as November 17, 2017 for Justice League. So while we assumed The Flash would be arriving in March 2018, it’s possible that film has moved to October, while Aquaman—previously eyed for July 2018—could be undergoing a push as far as November 2019. Or, more excitingly, maybe Warner Bros. is holding that November 2019 date for a Ben Affleck-directed standalone Batman movie.

At this point, these two dates are simply staked out for “Untitled DC Films”, but my guess is on The Flash—which has Seth Grahame-Smith set to write and direct—getting a bit of a delay so Warner Bros. can ensure that movie knocks it out of the park, and that the studio is hopeful Affleck agrees to make a Batman movie and are going ahead and staking out a November 2019 release date for the pic.

And in non-superhero Warner Bros. news, Andy Serkis’ directorial debut The Jungle Book (previously titled Jungle Book: Origins) has been delayed once again, pushed all the way from October 6, 2017 to October 19, 2018. The project is envisioned as an entirely motion-capture animated film, with a stellar cast that includes Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Naomie Harris, and last we heard filming had begun in March 2015. But possibly given the high praise being heaped on Disney’s own CG-centric The Jungle Book, Warner Bros. has opted to delay Serkis’ picture for the time-being. That seems like an incredibly long delay for a film that’s already been in front of cameras, but Serkis took to Facebook to assure fans that this is all for the best:

Andy Serkis:

I’ve got to say that personally I’m absolutely thrilled that Warner Brothers have changed the delivery date of Jungle Book: Origins. The ambition for this project is huge. What we are attempting is an unprecedented level of psychological and emotional nuance in morphing the phenomenal performances of our cast into the facial expressions of our animals. We are breaking new ground with realistic non-humanoid animal faces ,such as a panther or wolf, ensuring that they convincingly communicate with human language and emotion via performance capture, and are able to stand up to real scrutiny in richly complex dramatic scenes. So, every minute more that we have to evolve the technological pipeline will make all the difference…the evidence is there already and it’s off the chain exciting, so hang on in there…This is truly next generation storytelling, and it will be the real deal!

So it seems the delay has more to do with technological issues than anything story-related, which is good news. All in all, some interesting release date shifts for a studio that very much seems to be in a bit of a flux at the moment.

via Collider