This seems like a horrible idea but Warner Bros. has moved Wonder Woman 1984 to December 25th from it’s former October 2nd spot announced via The Hollywood Reporter. The interesting angle here is that the massive film Dune is still slated to be released on December 18th.
This would certainly hurt one or both films releasing them so closely to each other.
I suspect Warner Bros. will realize the issue and bump Dune to another date in 2021 and just hasn’t figured out where to place it.
The Wonder Woman 1984 move sounds like a direct response to Tenet’s weak domestic opening of $20.2 million (estimated) and they’ll be hopeful that things will be better in December.
WONDER WOMAN 1984 –Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah. With director Patty Jenkins back at the helm and Gal Gadot returning in the title role, “Wonder Woman 1984” is Warner Bros. Pictures’ follow up to the DC Super Hero’s first outing, 2017’s record-breaking “Wonder Woman,” which took in $822 million at the worldwide box office. The film also stars Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Kristen Wiig as The Cheetah, Pedro Pascal as Max Lord, Robin Wright as Antiope, and Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta.
The Dark Knight trilogy director Christopher Nolan was briefly asked by Geeks of Color about his Tenet star John David Washington playing DC Comics hero Green Lantern and the possibility of him directing the project.
NOLAN: “I think my DC days are over but I think he’d be an excellent choice, he certainly gets my vote.”
I’m not terribly sure how much pull Nolan has considering during the press tour for Dunkirk he endorsed star Tom Hardy as the next James Bond, we’ll see if the ringing endorsement actually sways anyone at the studio.
Plans for a new Green Lantern film have seemingly stalled in recent years after David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes had been tasked to pen Green Lantern Corps. a while ago with then Geoff Johns taking a stab at a script.
It was announced that there are plans at HBO Max to make a Green Lantern television series but it’s unknown how that will directly impact future films.
There is a chance the series could be connected to the film as The Batman is getting a tie-in Gotham PD series taking place a year before the events of the upcoming film.
Warner Bros. has flinched for a second time as they’ve officially delayed Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending action blockbuster from July 31st to August 12th.
Tenet had originally been set for release on July 17th.
This comes after the state of New York removed movie theaters from Phase 4 of reopening and multiple states across the United States seeing record breaking numbers of new cases including Texas and Florida surpassing 5,500+ per day.
However, it hasn’t scared the studio enough to push the film out of the summer entirely as they’re essentially bumping the release date a less than two weeks from it’s previous date. There had been reports that Christopher Nolan had been head-strong with the studio making demands to keep the release date in July, despite the coronavirus being extremely deadly and theaters potentially being places where it can spread like wildfire.
Theaters almost attempted to reopen without mandatory masks for patrons until a handful of them noticed the backlash from that weak safety policy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio delayed the film to the fall or winter.
TENET – John David Washington is the new Protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s original sci-fi action spectacle “Tenet.” Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Not time travel. Inversion.
Despite adamant exhibitors and industry folk alike that had been betting big on Christopher Nolan’s Tenet sticking to it’s original July 17th release date, Warner Bros. announced yesterday the science fiction espionage film would be getting a slight delay (two weeks) opening instead on July 31st.
The studio has also moved other tentpole releases to other dates as well.
Wonder Woman 1984 has yet again been delayed (landing its fourth release date) moving from August 14th to October 2nd.
Godzilla vs. Kong which had been given a release date of November 20th has been bumped to next year and will be coming out on May 21st, 2021.
That May spot was originally intended for Matrix 4, which has been delayed as well given a new date of April 1st, 2022. Matrix 4, unlike the other films, hasn’t even completed production and is expected to resume filming in Germany sometime soon.
While most people are just assuming that Tenet will still be able to release next month as planned, the studio has now secured two open spots with August 14th and November 20th after these latest date shifts. Giving the studio two potential buffer dates if they wanted to delay it even further beyond two weeks.
There is also still the slim possibility that Dune’s December 18th spot could get gobbled-up as well. I could see a handful of unfinished films meant to be released in 2021, like Spider-Man 3 and The Batman (has only shot 25% of it’s scenes) delayed into 2022, just like Matrix 4.
I don’t think we’re quite finished with the musical chairs just yet as there are growing concerns that the second wave of COVID could be bubbling in the United States in the near future as multiple states are seeing a rise in new cases.
This on the heels of stubborn theater chains opening this weekend and attempting to open an even larger number of locations next month. Seems like the industry is eager to get things rolling even if it’s neither wise of safe to do so.
We’ve all seen studios, exhibitors, and even moviegoers placing their guesses when the eventual widespread reopening of theaters will happening nationwide in the United States. As a majority of theaters have closed after cases of Coronavirus exploded over the last couple of months with the American death toll inching towards 110,000 via Johns Hopkins and counting.
There are more concrete ideas when the push for reopening could happen.
Earlier in the week, the National Association of Theater Operators told Business Insider they expect to have 90% of theaters open by mid-July.
The assumption is that this could allow Warner Bros. to open Christopher Nolan’s Tenet as planned on July 17th. However, a recent trailer meant to promote Tenet’s release didn’t mention a date or season, just the vague statement “Coming To Theaters”.
The vague promotion for the first “big summer blockbuster” led many of us to consider that Warner Bros. might be delaying the release like their other films but is holding back on announcing a new date.
There was a recent announcement that Cinemark, the third-largest theater chain in the United States would be forgoing requirements for guests to wear masks in their theaters via The Wrap. Only requiring their employees to do so and are said to be opening a handful of locations in Texas on June 19th for their “test phase”.
The bizarre mask policy is simply puzzling given this would put not only put costumers at risk but puts their employees in harm’s way too, as it’s been pointed out by medical experts that masks only prevent the wearer from spreading droplets themselves. It has been pointed out that masks don’t completely protect from droplet exposure from others if they cough or sneeze indoors and it is even worse if guests aren’t wearing them when sitting a room amongst each other.
High-traffic places like grocery stores (theaters will likely be selling food and drink when they reopen) are mostly requiring customers to wear masks, so it’s odd that theaters where people won’t be in-and-out but stilling in place for multiple hours with strangers they’re not taking the CDC recommendations into consideration. Hopefully, they will reconsider given the reactions I’ve seen from industry people and normal moviegoers.
We’re indeed seeing some places in America having a decrease in new COVID cases, which is good news when we’re struggling to find tidbits given current events. Yet, the country is still open for domestic travel between states and this means plenty of asymptomatic citizens are moving about city-to-city/state-to-state then returning to their communities. Other places in the country are seeing increases.
COVID-19 is neither under control or defeated. That seems to be an assumption made because the news coverage hasn’t been as focused on the pandemic, for obvious reasons. The protests could realistically lead to spikes alongside places that attempted to reopen or simply didn’t really put any social distancing or stay at home orders in place, to begin with.
Having large crowds gathering so frequently over the last couple of days alone should make exhibitors nervous about reopening given that new cases could be going unreported/tested, large crowds are hardly social distancing and many people aren’t wearing masks. The assumption being that we could see spikes all over the country in the next two weeks.
What could be worse than not reopening over the summer for the industry?
Cinemark’s push to get their locations open isn’t without cause. There some experts that are claiming AMC is on the brink of bankruptcy and it’s possible could have to be sold-off to survive. It’s a crystal clear example that the larger chains are going to be in more trouble in the long-term.
Fears of chains going under aren’t unfounded.
However, opening too soon or pushing forward with laissez-faire safety measures could lead to multiple outbreaks and clusters. Another true concern is that theaters could be a hot-spot for the resurgence and spread of COVID-19.
I’m curious if that risk is worth the terrible PR of people getting sick at establishments and potentially dying. Stories like that could end up scaring people away already on-the-fence about returning to a closed space like that for a prolonged period of time. As patrons might leave to never return at all once you lose their trust.
I doubt Regal, AMC, or Cinemark want their brands to be connected to a public outbreak of Coronavirus via contact tracing or worse leading to multiple deaths. Clusters and spikes could even contribute to a second wave of the Coronavirus, going back to square one over the summer could be devastating given how much it has already cost in the way of jobs and lives.
I think we’re all eager to get back to normality and plenty of people are ready to get back to malls/theaters even if they’re willing to accept the risk. I’m curious if they’re considering the multiple people that will come in contact with them that didn’t agree to that risk.
Solutions?
I know it can sound overwhelming negative to hear someone with the position it’s too soon. But I’m also bringing a couple of ideas to the table. The easiest thing to do is simply wait a little longer, potentially sometime in the fall, until things have genuinely quieted down and also beef-up safety standards just in case.
I’ve suggested in the past bringing back the classic drive-in format and it’s actually a solid way for people to social distance than you would in a traditional indoor location. I know it sounds like a retro idea but its the best amount of separation between moviegoers. Plastic barriers and spread out seats aren’t going to mean much if droplets linger in the air, it’s more of an illusion of safety if we’re being honest.
Plenty of theaters have existing parking lots, you just have to set up a screen, and a way to stream the audio into vehicles via an app or radio.
Because patrons are expected to stick to their own vehicle masks don’t really factor in unless you have people not living together sharing close space in a vehicle and they’d likely be doing that regardless. The only real issue I would see with that could be restroom access and if you’d have to set up some sort of drive-thru concession stand.
Stricter protection measures could also be another common-sense idea. Requiring masks and potentially providing them for guests (free of charge) that might find it cumbersome to get their own.
I’m a moviegoer just like many of you, however, I will be patiently waiting until the fall/winter to see how things go with the second wave before jumping into the deep end concerning seeing a film in a traditional theater at the moment. I don’t really feel like being a guinea pig for the film industry and I get the impression others will simply wait it out as well.
While I miss the experience I feel like I’d miss my loved ones more or putting my own health in a compromised position for something as arbitrary as a night out at the movies isn’t terribly appealing to me.
THE RONIN 