With yesterday bringing word that a whole host of Warner Bros. heavy hitters were being delayed to 2021 or beyond, now comes the news that one of Universal’s biggest upcoming movies is likewise being pushed back.

As first reported by Variety, Universal has made the call to officially move Jurassic World: Dominion to June 10, 2022. Originally, Jurassic World: Dominion was scheduled for June 11, 2021 – but the ongoing global pandemic has resulted in the film being delayed by a further year.

Sadly, Jurassic World: Dominion isn’t the first movie to be affected by the current COVID-19 situation, and sadly it likely won’t be the last.

Right now, it’s a tough time for all involved in the film industry. Earlier this week, 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 and Warner Brothers’ Dune, The Batman, The Flash, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and Black Adam are the latest major movies to be delayed until at least next year, and this follows the likes of Black WidowWonder Woman: 1984Top Gun: MaverickGhostbusters: 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.

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