By now, you’ve probably already heard that a buttload of conventions, including the SXSW festival and basically all sporting events between now and summer have been delayed due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus sweeping the world. It’s a pretty dangerous time to be in large groups of people outside, given that we don’t have herd immunity to the virus, and that the most vulnerable among us might be exposed and hurt by our carelessness. It’s not a time for us to panic, but, rather, for us to be careful with our actions and try to, potentially, flatten the curve. It’s a pandemic, after all, and better some fun things get called off than the worst happening.
It was only a matter of time before the film industry followed suit, and a number of studios are delaying releases. Here’s a list of those films affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’ll update with new information on top as it becomes available:
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage has moved from October 2, 2020 to The Batman‘s original date of June 25, 2021.
- More Warner Bros. delays and changes: In The Heights was pushed back until June 18, 2021, nearly a full year after it was slated to hit on June 25. And Scoob! will now bypass theaters entirely and go on-demand on its original release date of May 15.
- Now, Warner Bros is delaying some 2021 releases to accommodate the production stoppage: The Batman will move to October 1 instead of June 25, Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark will now hit theaters on March 12 instead of this September 25, and Baz Lurhmann’s untitled Elvis movie will hit theaters on November 5 instead of October 1, 2021.
- The Lovebirds, starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani, which was supposed to make its premiere at SXSW, has been moved from April 3. It will skip theaters altogether and premiere on Netflix on May 22.
- As we predicted in our Disney Delay Mega-Article, Soul and Raya and the Last Dragon have both been pushed back. Soul will now arrive on November 20, which was Raya‘s original slot, and Raya will now hit theaters on March 12, 2021.
- Dave Bautista’s oft-delayed and released-in-Canada kid-espionage comedy My Spy has finally been taken off the theatrical release calendar. It was supposed to hit theaters on April 17, but it’ll now drop on Amazon’s Prime Video at some point in the future.
- Disney has moved most of its schedule for the next two years, including Mulan, Black Widow, and many other titles. Check out this post for more information.
- Nia DaCosta’s Candyman reboot has left the summer behind as well, moving from June 12 to September 25.
- Paramount has pushed its biggest titles of the summer — Top Gun: Maverick and The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run to new dates. The former, originally slated for June 26, will now hit theaters on December 23, and the latter, originally May 22, will now land in theaters on July 31. Maverick is pushing the Chris Pratt-led sci-fi flick The Tomorrow War to an unknown date with that slot, and we imagine there’ll be a lot of shuffling now that Tom Cruise has hit the holiday blockbuster season.
- A Quiet Place II has been delayed from its original release on March 20 to September 4. This is a pretty smart move, all things considered: horror has done wonderfully over the Labor Day weekend for the last few years.
- Sony has basically bailed on Summer 2020. Ghostbusters: Afterlife, originally scheduled to hit theaters on July 10, will now release on March 5, 2021, and Morbius, which was going to bow on July 31, will now open on March 19. The Tom Hanks vehicle Greyhound has been removed from the schedule, and its original release date was June 12. The Uncharted movie was delayed yet again to accommodate these new dates, moving from the new Ghostbusters slot to October 8, 2021. Peter Rabbit 2, which has now changed dates twice, will land on January 15, which feels even more appropriate than a July release date.
- Bad news, Minion fans: Minions: The Rise of Gru will be delayed until July 2, 2021, as Illumination won’t be able to finish animating the film before its original July 3 release date. It’ll replace Sing 2, which will move to Christmas 2021, and that will replace the Wicked movie, which is being indefinitely delayed.
- Warner Bros. has wiped their early summer slate clean: Wonder Woman 1984 will now hit theaters on August 14, instead of its original date of June 5, presumably when all of this has calmed down just a little bit. A James Wan horror film called Malignant (set for August 14) has also been pulled off the schedule and will be released at an as-yet-to-be-determined date.
- Horror movies Antebellum and Spiral: From the Book of Saw have both been removed from the calendar. The former was scheduled for April 24, the latter for May 15.
- The RZA’s crime thriller Cut Throat City has been indefinitely postponed. It was originally supposed to hit theaters on April 10.
- A24’s Saint Maud, which fucking rocks (we saw it at TIFF last year), has been removed from its perfect original release date of April 10 — Easter Weekend — and its release is now TBD.
- Fast 9, one of the most hotly-anticipated sequels in recent memory, has been delayed a full year because of the pandemic, from May 22, 2020, to April 2, 2021. It’s moving into the date currently occupied by Fast and Furious 10, and we imagine that post-production and shooting on that installment caused the delay here. Don’t take this as gospel, it’s just a guess on our part.
- No Time to Die, or as we like to call it, Bond 25, has been moved from its April 13 release date to November 25. This is a pretty decent idea, all things considered, and it feels somewhat right to have a new Bond film out at Thanksgiving.
We’ll continue to update this post as the situation develops and the situation with the coronavirus becomes clearer. In the meantime, stay safe, everyone.