As the world continues to deal with the coronavirus, other worldwide industries are having setbacks. One industry in particular that has had to take many setbacks is the cinema industry. From movie theaters closing and losing lots of profit, to big-ticket movies being pushed back from the original release date. Even some TV shows have cancelled or pushed back their production.
Movie theaters were one of the first corporations to start closing all businesses to help maintain the spread of the coronavirus. AMC and Cinemark closed all U.S. theaters, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “The nationwide shutdown of virtually all cinemas is unprecedented and could last at least 6 to 12 weeks, potentially disrupting the prime summer release calendar.”
Warner Bros. changed release plans on many of their movies such as The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, which shifted its release date of June 25, 2021, to October 1, 2021. The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos, was delayed from September 25, 2020, to March 12, 2021. King Richard, a biopic about Venus and Serena Williams’ father starring Will Smith, shifted from November 25, 2020, to November 19, 2021.
Two DC titles have also been pushed back: Shazam! 2 is delayed from April 1, 2022 to November 4, 2022, and The Flash moved from July 1, 2022, to June 3, 2022.
Disney has also decided to delay all movies, most of them until 2021, but not all of them. The movies they kept in 2020 are Soul, Black Widow, and Mulan. The film Soul was previously set to open on June 19 but will now open on November 20. Black Widow will be released on November 6 and Mulan will be released on July 24.
Most of the Disney movies that have been pushed back until 2021 or further are a part of MCU fourth phase except for an untitled Indiana Jones film which is supposed to be released on July 29, 2022. When the film Black Widow was pushed back, it started a domino effect with the rest of the Marvel movies. The movies that follow behind Black Widow are Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther 2 and Captain Marvel 2. Shang-Chi is set to be released on May 7, 2021. Doctor Strange 2 is set to be released on November 5, 2021. Thor: Love and Thunder will be released on February 28, 2022. Black Panther 2 still has the same release date for May 6, 2022. Lastly, Captain Marvel 2 has been moved forward from its original release date to July 8, 2022
Another big name company that has began to push back movie dates is Sony.
According to Alissa Wilkinson on the Vox, “Sony announced that nearly all of its summer tentpole films would be delayed until late 2020 or early 2021. Delayed movies include Kevin Hart’s Fatherhood, Jared Leto’s Morbius, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Uncharted, and the previously delayed Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. The only film that appeared unaffected was the Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel, which is still set for theatrical release on July 16, 2020.”
There are a lot of TV shows that have been delayed or stopped production because of the coronavirus. Here is a list of well known TV shows that are a part of the delay: The Bachelor, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, The Bachelorette, Saturday Night Live and American Ninja Warrior.
In the meantime, while everyone is trying to find something to do to stay sane, a way to stay busy is binge watching. A lot of good tv shows and movies have been released during this pandemic. Different streaming stations have been trying to release good content to keep their consumers happy. At the start of the pandemic, Netflix decided to put some older pandemic movies on the network. Movies such as, Outbreak, Contagion, and 2012. Netflix also decided to release some new content. On April 3, Netflix released part four of the show Money Heist. Another show that has taken people by storm is Netflix documentary Tiger King.
Jordan Wilson
jmwilson@vwu.edu
