I never took Thor to be the kind of guy who would take advantage of the troubles of others, but here he is, moving his release date up two weeks to fill the Spider-Man 4 hole. As we’ve told you, Spidey 4 has been delayed – indefinitely! – leaving its start of May release date wide open. A wide opening suddenly plugged by Mjolnir.
Paramount and Marvel have shifted Thor into the May 6, 2011 slot (despite the fact that Sony continues weakly protesting that they’re going to have a Spider-Man movie there), and that means a new tide has come in – Disney will be putting Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides into Thor‘s vacated May 20th. Pirates 4 previously had no date.
May 6 is the first weekend of the summer, so it’s a big strategic position. I like to also imagine it’s a really personal thing, with Kevin Feige sitting behind his desk with his fist clenched in triumph like when Kirk says “Fire!” during the Mutara Nebula scene in Wrath of Khan.