There’s no point sugarcoating it, the next six months are going to suck moviewise. You can go ahead and stick a fork in 2020’s summer movie season right now, cause it’s pretty much done. That schedule of release dates you studied back in January or even two weeks ago? You can go ahead and toss that. Studios have spent the past few weeks moving, postponing and outright cancelling spring and summer films, including ones that fans have spent months and even years looking forward to.
And who could blame them? Chinese theatres have been shuttered since January and the biggest chains here in North America have been closed since March (with some employees sharing on social media that the expectation is they mat not return until August). Some of the movies that tried to weather the storm bombed hard as governments at all levels quickly to began shutting down non-essential businesses and banning large gatherings. Even before the politicians got involved, a sense of public unease and paranoia had begun to set in. Pixar’s Onward opened to a mere 40 million at the beginning of March (great for some films but a mere drop in the bucket for Disney’s animated juggernaut) while the movies that stuck it out the following weekend (including Sony’s much anticipated Bloodshot and Universal’s controversial The Hunt) played to empty theatres. Closings were inevitable.
Which meant movie cancellations were as well.
But . . .
If you take a look at the current schedule for the last four months of 2020 and early plans for 2021, you just might see a blinding light at the end of the tunnel. Movie fans can normally expect lulls in their movie going calendars as it isn’t uncommon for big studios to abandon or avoid entire months altogether (looking at you August and January). But the sixteen months between this September and January 2022 are looking pretty loaded as a result of COVID-19 clearing the summer of 2020’s calendar.
While it isn’t the worst month, September is hardly the hottest time of the year for new movies. But as things stand right now, September is looking like the first domino in a stacked lineup. A Quiet Place Part 2 was pushed from it’s previous March slot to Labour Day weekend while Jordan Peele’s Candyman remake was moved to September 25th. Forget Halloween, with the third Conjuring movie still scheduled for September 11th and the Milla Jovovitch schlockfest Monster Hunter sharing a release date with A Quiet Place, September could easily be 2020’s horror buffet at the box office.
And while October isn’t going to bowl anyone over right now, there are a lot of quiet weekends that look ripe for potential blockbusters. If Venom 2 isn’t ready to go October 2nd (while they may have have managed to complete filming before the entire globe went into lockdown, there have been no updates on other stages of production and film makers have always been pretty vague on whether or not October 2nd was their firm date of choice), that may be a perfect release date for New Mutants, a movie currently without a date that is now beginning to feel genuinely cursed.
And October could actually be a prime landing spot for some summer movies that have yet to move (or face the prospect of moving a third or fourth time). Disney/Pixar will inevitably move Soul from it’s current release date of June 19th and there’s a better than 50/50 chance that movies hoping to see light inside a cinema in July (i.e. Tenet and Mulan) will also need new homes on the calendar. There are still whispers that Warner Bros. may be looking at backup dates for Wonder Woman 1984 if they don’t feel confident in the August 14th date currently attached to that tent-pole release. With few exceptions, October is looking wide open for movies looking to migrate.
November will be bookended with a pair of blockbusters that were both pushed back. The MCU will get the party started with Black Widow (November 6th) while James Bond will close the month with No Time To Die (November 25th). Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy is now a holiday movie (December 11th) while Tom Cruise will take to the skies in his long awaited Top Gun sequel Maverick just days before Christmas (December 23rd). All those are on top of the movies that were already scheduled to come out.
Plus Sony will be looking to release the Tom Hanks World War Two submarine thriller Greyhound before the end of the year so it can garner some award consideration. Not to mention we’re still waiting on new dates for the time travelling horror flick Antebellum, the Saw reboot Spiral, the horror movie Antlers (remember those soft October weekends?) and the Amy Adams drama Woman in the Window.
But all of that is just a possible taste of a year long movie bonanza in 2021. High profile 2020 releases Peter Rabbit 2 (now February 5th, 2021), Eternals (February 12th) Ghostbusters: Afterlife (March 5th), Morbius (March 12th), Fast and the Furious 9 (April 2nd), Minions 2: The Rise of Gru (July 2nd) and Jungle Cruise (July 30th) join an already impressive slew of titles already slated for 2021.
So as you can see, potential blockbusters that were crammed into the spring and summer this year are spread out in 2021. Hollywood essentially took some of the best they had on tap for this year and added it to the best they had on deck for next.
The truth is Hollywood’s release schedule is going to be in a state of hyper-flux the next two years. Even a number of high profile 2021 projects have been disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic, with films such as The Batman, Spider-Man 3, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, The Matrix 4, Mission Impossible 7 and others having to shut down their production as a result of the global quarantine. There’s a solid chance some of those movies may move as well while others jockey for better positioning in an ever-crowding release schedule.
But imagine if they all stick to their current dates along with all the titles that were shifted back? It’ll be like summer all year long.
All of this mouth watering does come with the caveat that things may not have returned to normal come September. There is a possibility that the Coronavirus may not grow dormant during the hot summer months as many hope. Even if it does, there is a possibility it experiences a resurgence come the fall, much the way the Spanish Flu did in 1918. If health officials don’t lift isolation orders we’re all still be admiring the inside of our homes come fall, this drooling will be moot. Public safety will take precedent and the truth is no one knows what things will look like come the Fall. Everyone’s best laid plans are a house of cards built on a collection of gambles.
And even if we’re free this fall, even if people are confident enough to sit in a dark theatre with a few hundred strangers, even if we have the disposable income to spend on movie tickets half these dates could be completely different a week from now. Or even twenty minutes from now. But regardless, what it all boils down is that while we can kiss the next couple of months goodbye, it looks like we could easily make up for it this fall and next year if everything works out. In fact, audiences are already benefitting from this game of musical chairs as Disney elected to move Artmemis Fowl, their big Memorial Day release for this year, directly to DisneyPlus (sure, it might not seem like a big thing right now, but after another seven or eight potential weeks of self-isolation, you’ll be drooling for new content).
So stick out right now. Because this time next year you could be wallowing in blockbusters.
Stay safe.
Image elitereaders.com
