The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

[StarLord123]

The Mandalorian will forgo a 4th season and instead be made into a theatrical film, currently titled The Mandalorian & Grogu. Since it was easily the most popular show that Disney+ put out, it should at least clear the low box office bar set by The Marvels. Especially since by then it'll have been well over half a decade since the last theatrical SW film.

Also, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire moves up a week from 3/29 to 3/22. Makes sense to give it more space from Godzilla x Kong.

[Buscemi2]

If they called it Baby Yoda, it would have a strong shot of passing The Force Awakens.

[transformers2]

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare has been dated for April 19th

[Buscemi2]

The Guy Ritchie crowd is going to have a hard time with that title.

[Buscemi2]

Housekeeping for Beginners have been pushed all the way to 4/5/2024 (from 1/26/2024). As it failed to make the Best International Feature Film shortlist, there's probably not much need for Focus to push this one, also likely noting the director's two previous films having flopped in the US.

[StarLord123]

New dates:
Mickey 17: TBD (from 3/29/24)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: 3/29/24 (from 4/12/24)

Honestly, it seems a bit silly for WB to move in right next to Ghostbusters, when GxK had April to itself pretty much.

[Buscemi2]

I don't think Frozen Empire looks like much of a hit, to be honest. Afterlife barely passed Answer the Call's total, even with all of the pre-release hype, and was anyone outside of 80's kids and angry white guys asking for another one?

Also, the trailer was rather underwhelming and I could very well see a cool reception on this one like what was the case with Ghostbusters II 35 years earlier.

[numbersix]

Afterlife started with a disadvantage as the brand was considered sullied. The audience response to it was very positive, and now it has some goodwill attached. With the new film returning to New York, it should easily surpass the first film's BO intake.

[Buscemi2]

But was it really? Afterlife's reviews were worse than Answer the Call and most of that film's hate was from the audience that Afterlife was made for. Considering the entire existence of Afterlife, I think it was a mistake to pander to a vocal minority and make an installment solely around 80's nostalgia.

In addition, Afterlife's trailers were out for close to two years due to COVID and it still barely passed Answer the Call. If Afterlife had been this shot in the arm people on the Internet thought it was, it would have been far more successful. Also, it seems like people have kind of warmed up to Answer the Call lately as the IMDb score for it is a lot higher than it was pre-Afterlife.

[numbersix]

Regardless of your personal feelings for it, and regardless of the response from critics, Afterlife was a success. Otherwise there would be no sequel. And as I said, its BO performance wasn't stellar, but that's because of the negative response to the 2016 film. But it clearly turned a profit, and all metrics point to it being well responded to by its fans. Of course it preyed on 80s nostalgia, but so did Stranger Things, and that's far from having a vocal minority of fans.

[transformers2]

To add to what six said, Afterlife was also released at a period where the box office was still very much compromised from the pandemic-so there's an asterisk attached to its numbers-which were still solid regardless.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

I'm with Busc - Ghostbusters as a brand is basically DOA at this point. Afterlife did not get good reviews (64 on RT, 45 on MetaCritic), and it did not do that well at the box office. It only had Encanto and West Side Story to really compete with, and still only did $125M in a prime holiday slot. It had the biggest drop in the Top 10 in its 2nd weekend (Encanto opening), then dropped almost 60% in its 3rd weekend (with no new release).

Plus the trailer for Frozen Empire is downright bad. Maybe the second trailer changes things, but I'm willing to bet that Frozen Empire does a lot worse than both Dune and Godzilla/Kong.

Hell, it'd be better for WB to movie to April 5th and take advantage of the entire month being dead (until Civil War).

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Some new dates:

Arthur The King (Mark Wahlberg dog movie) - 3/15/24 (from 3/22/24)

It Ends With Us - 6/21/24 (from 2/9/24)

Makes sense for It Ends With Us, no way it was ready since it stopped filming only a week in, due to the strikes. Putting it so close to Bad Boys 4 (Sony too) makes me think that might be moving also.

[transformers2]

Abducting Abigail is now just titled Abigail. It's still set to release on April 19th.

[StarLord123]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has moved up 2 weeks from 5/24 to 5/10.