Studios are escalating the tentpole race, claiming dibs on the best dates into late 2018 as big bets grow ever more important to the bottom line.
Sony has already set a May 4, 2018, date for "Amazing Spider-Man 4," and slotted several animation projects that year, too. Disney has designated opening days that year for several Marvel and Pixar movies, and Fox has locked up dates for its animated movies.
Those three studios have taken the long view on movie scheduling to the extreme this summer, planting early flags on dates in 2016, 2017 and as far off as the week before Christmas 2018.