After the few awful days for cinemas, it only continued with Warner Bros announcing delays to one of their tentpole films and DC Films with Dune and The Batman getting new release dates.
It comes as no surprise as studios are merely writing off this year and ruining theatres as they continue to push back.
WB was the latest studio as the upcoming sci-fi epic Dune from Denis Villeneuve has moved from December 18 to October 1, 2021, as revealed by Variety.
The Dune move was bound to happen due to Wonder Woman 1984’s push from early October to Christmas Day in the States, but now this latest push as kicked The Batman off its perfect release date.
As a whole host of DC Films have chopped and changed and in the case of Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam no longer having a release date.
It’s as if Calendar Man planned it all along as now Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight had to leave Halloween and if you saw the incredible trailer and the tone of the movie was perfect home with the Matt Reeves directed movie to March 2022 instead.
Meanwhile, The Flash is being pushed once again by five months from June to November 2022. This move means we have to wait until June 2023 until we see the Shazam sequel Fury of the Gods, previously coming out in early November 2022.
I suppose it’s not all bad news with Wonder Woman 1984 still in December, but I won’t be shocked if they get another kick down the road with February and March 2021 likely dates. Additionally, the untitled Matrix 4 is being brought forward from April 2022 to December 2021.
It just seems mental of WB to push Dune nearly a full year and kick The Batman out of a prime slot after seeing the trailer the story Reeves is telling fits perfectly with Halloween.
Especially, when looking at Launching Film, the studio could do a wonderful double punch of Dune releasing on February 2021 instead of October and WW84 in March (moving the Tom & Jerry animated movie to streaming).
What pisses me off so much is this was the studio that wanted everyone to come back to the cinema with Tenet. It could’ve and should’ve started the ball rolling with other studios following, releasing movies worldwide every couple of weeks in a scattered approached the Christopher Nolan spy epic took.
Once again, this wouldn’t have forced people who didn’t feel comfortable to see the film. Still, if Tenet released and was followed up three weeks later by Black Widow for example and then a couple of weeks of classics. Leading to an Autumn/Winter of WW84, Soul, No Time To Die and Dune closing off the year for theatres feeling healthier going into 2021.
Instead, it’s dragging itself into the new year with the hope of having one of the best years ever only if studios keep to their new dates.
I’m not mentioning the States as their situation is a mess, but Tenet has proven the International market want to see movies! As it’s made $20 million in the UK, $19 million in France, it made just over $10 million in South Korea and nearly $16 million in Japan.
These numbers (via Box Office Mojo) and the fact there have been zero cases from cinemas due to the fantastic work of cinema staff is evidence to studios that if they showcase their movies, audiences will be there.
Scattering the releases with the US last as they should, focus on the international markets for the time begin until the States get their act together.
The Bear Cave 