After Dunesday, Avengers: Secret Wars Will Be Competing In Theaters With Two Major Sequels

In the final weeks of the 2026 movies schedule, Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters, kicking off the beginning of the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga. Then this era will come to a close just a year later with the arrival of Avengers: Secret Wars. However, if you thought this upcoming Marvel movie was the only major release slotted for December 17, 2027, think again. Now there are not one, but two major sequels coming out that same day, giving this year’s “Dunesday” a run for its money.

For those who don’t know, “Dunesday” refers to how Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three are both coming out on December 16 (or “Pughsday,” if you prefer). Well, I can’t think of what December 17, 2027 will be nicknamed thanks to the latest calendar update. We already knew before today that Secret Wars would be going up against The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, but now Lionsgate has officially scheduled The Housemaid’s Secret on that same day.

That last movie is, of course, the sequel to Paul Feig’s The Housemaid, the film adaptation of Freida McFadden’s same-named book that came out last December. The Housemaid movie received generally positive reception from critics, but more importantly, it made nearly $400 million worldwide off a reported $35 million budget. So it’s no wonder that Lionsgate decided to move forward with adapting the next book in McFadden’s series, and Sydney Sweeney will be joined in The Housemaid’s Secret by Kirsten Dunst.

Then there’s The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which will follow three years after the animated The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and is the first live-action Middle Earth movie since 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Along with Andy Serkis reprising the title role, Ian McKellen is back as Gandalf, while Elijah Wood is being cagey about a Frodo return, in this story taking place between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Kate Winslet has also been cast in an undisclosed role.

Finally, going back to Avengers: Secret Wars, plot details about it still remain scarce given how closely connected the story is to Avengers: Doomsday. At the very least, we know it will still spotlight Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom as a threat to the entire multiverse, and characters like Letitia Wright’s Shuri and Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi are also confirmed to return. Just like with Doomsday, Joe and Anthony Russo are directing Secret Wars off a screenplay written by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely.

Once more for good measure, Avengers: Secret Wars, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and The Housemaid’s Secret all come out now on December 17, 2027. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments about what this special movie day following in the footsteps of Dunesday and 2023’s Barbenheimer (Barbie and Oppenheimer) should be nicknamed. At the same time though, don’t be surprised if one of these movies ends up shifting to another date, which is commonplace in the film industry.