Not just have we got news on Netflix cancelling GLOW this morning, but there’s also a whole load of changes up on the big screen.
Last night saw Warner Bros. push Denis Villeneuve’s hugely anticipated Dune back from this December to October 1, 2021. As a direct result of that, Matt Reeves’ The Batman – itself previously set for October 1, 2021 – has been pushed back to March 4, 2022.
Elsewhere at The WB, The Flash has been shunted to November 4, 2022 and Shazam! Fury of the Gods has been moved to June 2, 2023. Then there’s Dwayne Johnson’s long-gestating Black Adam picture, which is now completely off the release schedule right now despite previously being pegged for a December ’21 release.
In slightly more positive news, Warner Bros. has brought The Matrix 4 forward from March 4, 2022 to December 22, 2021.
Sadly, these are not the first movies to be delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and even more sad is the cold, hard fact that these films will not be the last films delayed due to the current global situation.
Right now, it’s a tough time for all involved in the film industry. Just yesterday, we saw Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas all close indefinitely. With people hesitant to visit the cinema at the moment, that in turn has seen studios hold off on releasing their big-budget movies due to having no way of making any semblance of profit. And, in an egg and chicken situation, with no big-budget movies in cinemas, people are not visiting said cinemas.
MGM’s No Time to Die is the latest heavy hitter to be delayed until at least next year, and this follows the likes of Black Widow, Wonder Woman: 1984, Top Gun: Maverick, Ghostbusters: After Life, and Venom: Let There be Carnage as just a select few films pulled from 2020 silver screen releases.
With recent offerings such as Mulan and Bill & Ted Face the Music, we’ve seen some studios opt to release films direct to digital, although this again realistically means that these pictures aren’t able to make anywhere near the money that they would’ve with a full cinema release in usual times.
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is the example that all are seemingly looking at right now, with that $200 million+ movie getting a cinema release earlier this year. While many had initially predicted that film to be pushing the $1 billion mark at the box office, the times we’re in at the moment saw Tenet struggle to a global box office haul in the region of $300 million.
As mentioned, the very future of cinema and the concept of big-budget movies is up in the air right now – whether that’s from money rich studios, to international cinema chains, to small arthouse cinemas, to the staff working in those venues.
