The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

[ROBDude]

I don't know if we're allowed to mention anime films releasing in Japan getting delayed due to COVID-19 on this forum, but the latest Evangelion movie, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time, has been postponed from June 2020 to an unspecified date of 2020.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2 ... ns/.158693

[StarLord123]

WB reshuffled numerous dates today.

The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark has been pushed from 9/25 to 3/12/21

Will Smith's King Richard has been pushed back a year from 11/25/20 to 11/19/21

The Batman has been pushed from 6/25/21 to 10/1/21

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, starring Tom Hanks has been pushed back a month from 10/1/21 to 11/5/21

The Flash has been moved up a month from 7/1/22 to 6/3/22

Shazam 2 has been pushed from 4/1/22 to 11/4/22 (DAMNIT!)

Tenet is continuing to hold firm on it's July 17th date.

[Buscemi2]

Netflix has picked up The Starling, Ted Melfi's follow-up to Hidden Figures. I guess the producers anticipated that there might not be a Toronto Film Festival this year (where it could have started a bidding war, considering the director's last two films).

[Chienfantome]

And Netflix has grabbed Legendary's Enola Holmes.

[StarLord123]

Venom 2 (now titled Venom: Let There be Carnage) has fled 10/2/20 and will now open on the 6/25/21 spot left by The Batman.

[transformers2]

Hopefully that awesomely corny title means that Venom 2 will lean even harder into the camp elements that made the 1st one enjoyable.

[Buscemi2]

And Netflix has grabbed Legendary's Enola Holmes.

Figured it would after Warner Bros. dropped it.

[StarLord123]

In the Heights is now slated for 6/18/21. Just about a year after it's original 6/26/20 release.

Also, WB is sending Scoob! straight to VOD on it's original theatrical date of 5/15. Ouch.

[Buscemi2]

Somewhat buried beneath all of the delays but last week, STX announced a merger with Eros International. This seems to suggest that we'll be seeing some Indian films with the STX name in the near future (and I'd imagine a few remakes as well, which makes me wonder how an Indian version of Hustlers would work).

[StarLord123]

Yikes!

Mission: Impossible 7 is pushed from 7/23/21 to 11/19/21. Mission: Impossible 8 has been pushed from 8/5/22 to 11/4/22 (same day as Shazam 2, really Paramount?)

Tom Holland's Spider-Man 3 has been pushed from 7/16/21 to 11/5/21. Doctor Strange 2 is pushed again from 11/5/21 to 3/25/22. Thor: Love and Thunder has however moved up a week from 2/18/22 to 2/11/22. Also, Into The Spider-Verse 2 has been pushed back from 4/8/22 to 10/7/22.

[transformers2]

The all-comedy edition of The Coronavirus Release Shuffle:
Sony has sold the rights to An American Pickle to HBO Max. Release Date is TBD.
Universal is releasing The King of Staten Island on VOD on June 12th (1 week ahead of its planned theatrical release). Will be interesting to see if the success Trolls: World Tour had using this strategy can be replicated by a non-family movie.

[Buscemi2]

I had a feeling An American Pickle was getting sold off. Sony seemed to be willing to bury it even before all this (but I thought A24 would buy it in hopes of repeating Uncut Gems' success).

And I can't see anyone outside of hardcore Pete Davidson and Bill Burr fans watching King of Staten Island. I actually predicted on another group that it would end up as a virtual cinema title (I also think this will happen to the Focus titles that were supposed to open in the next few months while I can see Netflix getting Run Sweetheart Run, possibly with a new title so not to confuse it with Sweetheart, another Blumhouse title that had a Netflix/DVD debut earlier in the year).

But I feel that these delays are of a different factor than COVID-19. The big summer comedy seems to be dead, as evidenced by flops like Stuber, The Spy Who Dumped Me, and The House.

[Brockster]

There are so many changes coming because of COVID. There was already a trend of straight to home viewing of movies. Netflix, Hulu, Disney and others were getting more and more in the game. COVID is going to accelerate that trend greatly. See Trolls and Onward as examples. The movie going experience as we knew it is over. A lot of you guys are movie snobs...and I mean that in the most endearing way. It's a compliment. You enjoy going to the movie theater as an experience. It's not just the movie. It's the smell of the popcorn, the movie posters, the nasty carpet, the crowd, etc. But the vast majority of Americans aren't movie snobs. Giving them another reason to stay away from a public place is going to hurt movie theaters. It's similar to what is happening with sports. More and more Americans are staying at home to watch games on their big screen TVs. The same is going to happen with movies. Sucks...especially for our game. But that's how I see it.

[transformers2]

I fear you may be correct, but like everything else in these unprecedented times in the modern world , it's hard to tell what the landscape is going to look like once COVID-19 is completely done with. The runaway success Universal has had with Trolls World Tour could simply be an example of a studio successfully capitalizing on the fact that families are confined to their homes right now or it could end up being the catalyst for radical changes to the entire distribution process. What it will likely come down is these 2 questions: 1.Can VOD titles thrive outside of the current climate? 2.How eager will people be to return to theaters within their first few months of re-opening? I'm not expecting a definitive answer to this issue anytime soon nor am I looking forward to receiving it. Even the prospect of movie theaters going away makes me really fucking sad.

[Screen203]

I could see people being desperate enough for outside entertainment that when theaters reopen, their popularity explodes - besides Tenet, Wonder Woman, Mulan, and Quiet Place, I think that (if it's released in August) Woman In The Window could be a sleeper 100+ million earner - the book is still popular and the isolation theme is very relatable. I think that Zola may be a mini-Hustlers in getting younger audiences to theaters.