Avengers: Secret Wars has barely gotten going at Pinewood Studios, and the entire crew has already been sent home for five weeks.
The claim comes from Filmbase, a UK industry site that runs job alerts and crew directories for freelancers working in British film and television.
Its August industry update, posted August 12, lists productions gearing up or already underway.
Under the “already in prep” section sits one line about Marvel’s next Avengers movie at Pinewood: a five-week hiatus for all crew, with production resuming at the end of September.
Filming Started, Then Stopped
Production will resume at the end of September, which means cameras had already rolled at Pinewood before anything paused.
It is not a partial break either. The listing describes a hiatus for all crew, so every department is down rather than one unit waiting on a set build.
Five weeks out from a late September return points to a shoot that got underway in August and stopped almost immediately after it began.
Filmbase builds its updates from conversations with crew rather than studio announcements, so treat the specifics as a well-sourced industry report and not official confirmation.
Interestingly, the same site also says the X-Men movie will start filming in what seems to be Pinewood.
The Russos Said It Was Almost Time
Filming was originally expected around mid-2026. Scooper reports earlier this year moved that to August, which lines up with the Filmbase timing.
The Russos were coy about it at San Diego Comic-Con.
Speaking to Collider after the Hall H panel, Anthony Russo said the brothers were deep into finishing Avengers: Doomsday while prepping Secret Wars, calling it a complicated but thrilling stretch.
Asked when cameras roll, he said soon, and that it was soon enough to make them sweat.
Weeks later, the crew is on a five-week break.
The Calendar Is The Actual Story
Avengers: Secret Wars opens December 17, 2027.
Doomsday shot at Pinewood from April to September 2025, roughly six months, and Marvel still moved it seven months to December 18, 2026.
Now run that math on the sequel. A shoot starting in August 2026 with a five-week pause built into it does not wrap until spring 2027 at the earliest.
That leaves Marvel under a year of post-production on a movie meant to be bigger than Doomsday, with a larger cast, more universes, and more visual effects work.
Planned hiatuses happen. They do not usually come with every department released for five weeks on a movie with this little runway.
The Russos Already Cost Marvel Seven Months
Matt Belloni put the Doomsday delay on the directors in two words during his interview with IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond. Asked why the movie moved off summer 2026, Belloni answered “the Russos,” and Gelfond refused to touch it.
That delay cost Marvel its IMAX screens, which is why Disney invented Infinity Vision to sell Doomsday as an event without the format normally attached to a release this size.
Doomsday also reportedly started shooting without a finished script, and post-production reports describe roughly half an hour being cut while actors fight over their scenes.
A five-week shutdown this early into the follow-up is not the sign of a production that learned anything from the first one.
Avengers: Secret Wars Release Date
Avengers: Secret Wars is scheduled for December 17, 2027. Avengers: Doomsday opens December 18, 2026.
