The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

[transformers2]

Isn't Infinite pretty much the worst reviewed "big" movie of the year so far? I'm not overly optimistic about The Guilty' s quality either, but I doubt it will be that poorly received, especially since Netflix chose to screen it at Toronto.

[Buscemi2]

I think so, as Music pretty much disappeared after its one day in theatres (but not before its multiple Razzie wins).

And though Toronto has streamlined itself in recent years from its past of showing anything and everything, they've had some dogs premiere there. Case in point: Run Hide Fight, which got a 13 on Metacritic after it played there last year, though some angry white guys tried to claim the film was misunderstood after it went PVOD in January.

[transformers2]

The official title for Matrix 4 is The Matrix: Resurrections

[Buscemi2]

Saw a rumor that the Venom sequel and Morbius might be delayed again. Though Sony is using COVID as the excuse, who wants to bet that Sony doesn't have any money to release these two and ends up selling them to Disney+?

[transformers2]

Zero chance that happens. It may take an additional 65 moves before they actually see the light of day, but Sony will release every single Spider-Man adjacent movie they have at their disposal.

[Buscemi2]

But at what cost? Sony only gets a distribution fee for the ones Disney finances while being on the hook for the non-MCU films and by delaying them, any chance at a profit erodes, especially since some of these movies are completely unnecessary. If they just sold them to Disney, they would actually have a shot to make some money.

At this point, just do what Paramount did and pawn off what they know is going to bomb. They looked pretty smart by getting streamers to pay millions for some of those dogs. Or do what the parent company's been wanting to do for years and get out of film production. Because it's obvious that they just don't want to do it anymore.

[transformers2]

Why the hell would selling them to Disney make any difference in the profit margin? You're making it sound like Sony is some struggling indie studio that lacks the marketing resources to properly promote a blockbuster. I'm not going to speculate on how they'll handle Morbius since it's undergone 2 rounds of reshoots and isn't exactly a name property in the Spider-Man world, but the original Venom was a huge hit and this one will get a huge push and subsequently put butts in seats whenever its released as well. With the success that A Quiet Place Part II, F9 and Free Guy have had in a compromised theatrical market, the whole "delaying a title erodes interest" argument can be tabled forever. If people want to watch something, they're going to fucking watch it no matter how long it takes to release.

This whole conversation is especially silly to have right now since this current rumor is based off the absence of Venom footage at Sony's CinemaCon presentation. If a Venom move to January was set in stone, then why DID they include Morbius in the presentation? Sony also ignored Uncharted, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Man from Toronto, and A Journal for Jordan during their presentation, yet there's no speculation about those movies moving at the moment. I'm not silly enough to guarantee Venom is going to stick on October 15th, but its absence from a Cinemacon presentation isn't exactly the strongest indicator that a move is imminent (particularly one that predominantly played footage from mostly spring/summer 2022 releases and was mostly dedicated to a surprise screening of Ghostbusters: Afterlife)

[transformers2]

American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story got bumped back to Christmas Day

[Buscemi2]

I was sure that Disney was going to push Ron's Gone Wrong yet again because of what's going on with some of the other animated titles but I saw earlier that they are currently doing promotional tie-ins with McDonald's with it. So I guess it's going to be a day-and-date (theatrical and Disney+) title when it opens.

I expect the same thing with Encanto, which could end up being the one to beat in the Best Animated Feature Film category at the Oscars as this year's animated titles have been rather disappointing.

[transformers2]

Netflix has acquired the distribution rights to the Fede Alvarez-produced Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot/sequel. Since it was shot last summer, a release by the end of the year (possibly even October) seems likely.

[Buscemi2]

I was wondering what was to become of that one. Warner Bros. passed on it even though they have a deal with the financiers.

But in the end, I expect it to be forgotten and another reboot materializes a decade from now as every decade seems to have a new Leatherface movie.

[Buscemi2]

Was anyone clamoring for a new movie from the hack that basically remade Stuber as Coffee & Kareem? 8-Bit Christmas hits HBO Max on Thanksgiving and I'm sure it will be terrible.

[transformers2]

New Paramount dates:
Jackass Forever 2/4/22 (from 10/22/21)
Top Gun: Maverick 5/27/22 (from 11/19/21)
Mission: Impossible 7 9/30/22 (from 5/27/22)

This means that Paramount's 2021 slate is officially done. Their next scheduled release as of now is Scream on January 14th.

And in a somewhat puzzling follow up move, Ghostbusters: Afterlife has now moved back a week to November 19th.

[Buscemi2]

They should just sell off Top Gun: Maverick at this point. Filming was done, what, three years ago?

And I have to imagine the Ghostbusters delay was done to appease theatre owners who want to concentrate on Black Panther But Cheesy. After all, they probably think it's still the 80's.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering if Queenpins will be delayed. I have not seen anything for this outside of a poster and the distributor has been very quiet on it. Might it end up just being a couple of markets next Friday followed by its Paramount+ bow? I also haven't seen anything for Antlers since the last time that was pushed.

[transformers2]

Your guess on Queenpins is pretty much right. It's opening exclusively at "select" Cinemark locations next Friday then hitting Paramount+ on the 30th.

As for Antlers, I saw the trailer in front of The Night House and a poster for it just went up at my local AMC, so it seems like its actually going to come out this time.