The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

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Ryan Coogler's Untitled Horror Movie for WB has been dated for March 7, 2025

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I guess Warner Bros. couldn't get the distribution rights to the horror movie Christopher Nolan has suggested making in the near-future.

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A J.J. Abrams-produced Naval documentary, The Blue Angels, will play on IMAX for a week beginning May 17th before hitting Prime on the 23rd.

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Cuckoo has been moved to 8/9/2024 (from 5/3/2024). Neon must be going more for box office than critical acclaim at this point as early word is mixed.

Edit: it is opening wide. With all of the horror movies Neon has released lately or are set to release, I have to wonder if they're going to launch a sub-label much like Screen Gems that distributes horror and cult-aimed titles.

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The reason I think Neon is acquiring so much horror as of late has to do with the success past independent distributors have had with the genre. I'm not sure how much success they will have with horror (they have released a few horror films in the past, and - unless you count Parasite as a horror film, which I have seen some do - none have been that successful in theaters). Immaculate looks to change that a little bit, but it probably won't make over 15 m in the US, which would still be enough for it to be Neon's fourth highest grosser.

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Immaculate's probably not even hitting $10 million total, between its weak word-of-mouth and opening weekend that probably dips below $5 million, especially with Late Night with the Devil surprising with far fewer shows and better general reception.

Anyway, the decision by Neon to go all-in on horror could backfire in a big way. First of all, most horror films don't meet the hype. Second, a lot of indie distributors that attempt to go downmarket end up falling apart in the end as trends eventually change and that fast money boost evaporates as soon as it came.

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How has Neon gone "all-in" on horror? Immaculate is the first "pure" horror movie they've put out since Enys Men (which barely even got a theatrical release!!!) and their upcoming horror roster is limited to Cuckoo, Longlegs and They Follow (the latter of which hasn't even started shooting yet).

Also, how is getting into the horror movie business bad? They have the clearest road to profitability of any genre by a significant margin and in the case of Neon, that's something that would benefit them considering how much they lose on most of their slate.

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It Lives Inside was one of their widest releases ever and it didn't even clear $5 million. It might also be the more uncharacteristic film of Neon's, seeming more like something Lionsgate or Vertical would have put out.

And Neon is planning a big release for Longlegs, as noted by the July wide opening and how they started the ad campaign last month. You rarely see long ad campaigns done by labels known for smaller movies.

Meanwhile, Neon going heavily into horror is a bad move as even if you hit on one, you strike out on a lot of them (look at IFC, who probably loses on 5-10 horror titles for every one or two that does well). Also, it costs a lot more to promote a single, wide-release horror film than a few subtitled movies that at best will get 200-300 DCP's made. While the high risk could benefit in the short term, continuously chasing that high ultimately hurts in the long run. Not everyone can be Blumhouse, who has the advantage of a first-look deal with Universal and the option for a studio to buy a project from them outright, often allowing for an instant profit before the movie even opens.

In short, Neon is doing what other indies in the past have done and failed: abandoned what worked previously in favor of chasing a quick buck. And based on the results of It Lives Inside and Immaculate, it might hurt them.

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The flop of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Bad Behaviour, finally got a US distributor in Gravitas Ventures and will open on June 14th.

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Fail to see how Neon putting out some horror movies marks some kind of major shift in philosophy. The rest of their 2024 slate beyond Immaculate, Cuckoo and Longlegs is currently set to feature stuff like Anora, Emmanuelle, The End, Handling the Undead and Stress Positions-which are all very much in their established wheelhouse. It would be a different story if they suddenly stopped picked up Cannes titles or backing tiny movies like Pig, Sanctuary or How to Blow Up a Pipeline that otherwise wouldn't receive notable platform releases, but for now, it seems like you're just criticizing them for something they haven't done yet.


Also, I have to acknowledge that glossing over It Lives Inside when discussing Neon's recent horror releases prior to Immaculate was a baffling brainfart on my behalf and I apologize for making such a sloppy oversight.

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I'd say Pig and How to Blow Up a Pipeline somewhat fit a shift in philosophy as Pig was picked up more on Nicolas Cage's involvement than possible critical acclaim while How to Blow Up a Pipeline was going for a younger crowd than the kind of titles Neon usually releases. While not horror, they are titles with cult potential.

Handling the Undead is a horror film based on a story from the author of Let the Right One In and Border (a Neon release with some horror elements) while another Neon horror film, We Bury the Dead, is in production. In addition, Neon picked up Presence out of Sundance. Also, Neon has a new film from Boots Riley in the works, which will likely have some horror or sci-fi elements. It doesn't feel any other indie distributors are handling this many horror titles all at once. Even A24, whose have a lot of success with horror, only seems to release one or two horror titles a year.

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New dates:
Stress Positions 4/19/24
Sing Sing 7/12/24
A Different Man 9/13/24
The Bad Guys 2 8/1/25

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Definitely in on The Bad Guys 2 as I quite liked the original. It should see a substantial boost in box office this time assuming they get it right.

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A further sign that Neon seems to having financial problems at the moment: Alamo Drafthouse is up for sale. Not sure if this means another chain will swallow them up or if a group of investors and franchise owners try to buy it up or what. As long as they don't turn into every other chain and just show forgettable action movies and Evangelical propaganda.

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David Robert Mitchell's WB Event Film-now officially titled Flowervale Street-has been dated for May 16th, 2025.