I know how studios work more than you know, I’ll just leave it at that. I know that whatever Universal had planned, Barbie 2 is being discussed and plotted as we speak.
Marvel has moved lots of movies around and even dropped some completely.
They have budgets, but some of that is released for development. Then after they have a script and storyboards the start releasing money for locations, scheduling, whatever.
And when you land the rights to the X- Men you put it into development right away, even if that means you have to push the Marvels back.
It doesn’t take that much money to have hired writers, storyboard artists, and a director over the last 7 years to at least know the movie you want to make.