Five stone pillars with movie posters (Eternals, Raya, Godzilla vs. Kong) rise through clouds under a stormy sky with lightning and a sunset. A fiery phoenix flies in the center.

From the moment the Disney-Fox merger was announced, just a month after the film (along with a distribution deal with their producer Locksmith Animation) was announced, the film was practically doomed. Several potential release dates, regardless of COVID, were scheduled against rival films it simply had no shot of competing against, showcasing that Disney clearly saw this film more than any other from Fox, as a Contractual Obligation Project: The original date of November 6th, 2020 would've seen film go up against Eternals, the first new-character film for the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-Avengers: Endgame; The next date, February 26th, 2021, would've seen the film go up against Old, which would've been a likely success even on that date, and would've been overwhelmed by the runs of Disney's own Raya and the Last Dragon (which it ironically still would've faced had it kept the November date, as it was originally scheduled within 3 weeks of it) and possibly even Godzilla vs. Kong; While the next date, April 23rd, would've seen the film go up against The Protege, had it stuck it could've ended up an unintentional Harsher in Hindsight date, coming at the time Disney ended up shutting down Blue Sky Studios, which likely would've led to backlash from animation fans as a result; See more