The Latest Date Changes 2: The New Batch

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New dates:
Venom: Let There Be Carnage 10/15/21 (from 9/24/21)
Benedetta 12/3/21

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I have to imagine that The Last Duel is possibly pushed now, maybe out of awards season.

Meanwhile, the September 24th spot is now solely occupied by Dear Evan Hansen. Is 13 Reasons Why: The Musical really going to play with non-theatre kids?

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The Last Duel or Dune could very well move up to that date.

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I still think Dune goes to Christmas. It pretty much looks like a ripoff of the recent Star Wars movies so why not take the Star Wars date?

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WB already has Matrix 4 slated for Christmas. Plus Dune was moved from October 1st to October 22nd to avoid being sandwiched between Venom and No Time to Die and the studio likely wants to capitalize as much as they can off the inevitable critical buzz its going to receive after its Venice premiere, so a move ahead of both paired with a corresponding shifting of Cry Macho or The Many Saints of Newark to the 22nd would make sense.

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I'm convinced The Matrix 4 (which certainly won't be the final title) goes to early 2022. Four months before opening and we haven't seen anything. Also, is there really any hype for this one?

Cry Macho's certainly going to stay. Warner Bros. is a old boys' club and Eastwood is one of the few people there they don't micromanage.

The Many Saints of Newark feels more like an afterthought at this point. The theatrical gross won't matter. It's going to be about if it does well on HBO Max and whether it can lead to a prequel series with James's son as young Tony or even a reboot of The Sopranos. Don't expect any further theatrical Soprano Stories.

But with Dune, nothing about this film suggests a Halloween release. The last time Warner Bros. opened a big-budget, non-horror film of this caliber around that time (Cloud Atlas), it bombed. Hard. And Dune is not a mainstream property. This is the kind of film you open in a place where you want the biggest possible audience possible. Why are any potential filmgoers going to watch a two-and-a-half-hour sci-fi film based on a thick, difficult novel when Halloween Kills is still playing?

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Dune looks a lot more mainstream than the original, and definitely more so than Cloud Atlas. I do think it should move out of October however.

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Amazon is reportedly in early talks to acquire the rights to Hotel Transylvania 4 from Sony. Not exactly a shocking move given the implementation of vaccine passports in NYC, LA and San Francisco in the coming weeks and kids under 12 still not eligible to get their shots.

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The way things are going with Sony, I could see Amazon acquiring Sony Pictures and merging them with MGM once that deal is done. Surprised Netflix isn't going after this one, seeing how streaming would have been with them had it gone out theatrically.

Maybe they end up buying Ghostbusters: Stranger Things as well.

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Spencer has been dated for November 5th

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Even with Larrain directing and the need for a good Princess Diana film, I feel that Spencer will end up as an also-ran in the Oscar race. No buzz so far, even with Neon (in collaboration with Bleecker Street) releasing it.

Meanwhile, The Fast Saga continues with Fast & Furious 10, now scheduled for 4/7/2023. Seeing how the franchise began in 2001, it would not surprise me if they got up to 2001 entries. It might survive the Earth's extinction.

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Lionsgate has a new film from John Ridley, Needle in a Timestack, coming out on October 15th. Interesting cast in this one.

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The Addams Family 2's October 1st release will now be a simultaneous theatrical/PVOD release

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Netflix just dated (most of) its fall movie slate. Here are the ones that you guys might be interested in:

The Starling: 9/17 theatrical, 9/24 streaming
The Guilty: 9/24 theatrical, 10/1 streaming
The Harder They Fall: 10/22 theatrical, 11/3 streaming
Passing: 10/27 theatrical, 11/10 streaming
The Power of the Dog: 11/17 theatrical, 12/1 streaming
The Unforgivable (Sandra Bullock/Nora Fingschedit) 11/24 theatrical, 12/10 streaming
The Hand of God: 12/3 theatrical, 12/15 streaming
Don't Look Up: 12/10 theatrical, 12/24 streaming
The Lost Daughter: 12/17 theatrical, 12/31 streaming

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Considering the dreadful response of Infinite, I'm not expecting The Guilty to be any better. Also, I have a feeling it's going to be very different from the original.

And does Don't Look Up really need to be two and a half hours? This seems like the kind of film that a director like Armando Iannucci could have made under two hours. But I guess when your mentor is Judd Apatow, pacing and brevity mean nothing to Adam McKay.

Speaking of Netflix, I found that Red Notice is coming on November 12th. I was convinced this never restarted filming.