The release-date change landslide continues today following AMC’s announcement that they’re reopening in mid-to-late August with Paramount’s A Quiet Place 2 leaving Labor Day weekend for April 23, 2021 and now their Skydance co-production Top Gun: Maverick vacating Dec. 23 for July 2, 2021. In regard to the latter, hey, it was always a summer movie.
So what’s going on here? I hear Mulan is waiting to see what happens with Tenet before resurfacing on the schedule from sources. Then I hear buzz that Disney is contemplating a Disney+ drop ultimately for the film (the studio has said nothing in regard to this plan, they’re staying very quiet). Seriously, no one knows what the hell is going on right now with movie theaters. So many mixed messages, especially with AMC kicking off the day at 5:30AM PST that they’re reopening cinemas in mid-August. Well, what now with nothing opening over Labor Day? Oh, that’s right, there’s the much delayed 20th Century Studios title The New Mutants. With no sign of California and New York movie theaters reopening any time soon; in the case of the former due to sky high coronavirus cases, no one wants to blink and release a film. Again, Warner Bros. Tenet is the axis around which pre-counterprogramming and fall event pics will rotate around.
Earlier this evening, Paramount continued its plans to shed product in exchange for cash with the Michael B. Jordan Tom Clancy movie Without Remorse in talks to go to Amazon, with Skydance as a cofinancier. No deal yet. Nothing is signed for the Skydance movie.
Other release dates Paramount is setting: Jackass will go Sept. 3, 2021 instead of July 2, 2021; Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will open on April 8, 2022; Paramount Animation’s Under the Boardwalk will open on July 22, 2022 and the animated co-production The Tiger’s Apprentice will open Feb. 10, 2023.
A Quiet Place II places itself on an already busy weekend next to Sony/Screen Gems’ Monster Hunter, Lionsgate’s The Asset, 20th Century Studios’ Ron’s Gone Wrong, Focus Features’ Edgar Wright feature Last Night in Soho.
Top Gun: Maverick will fly against Illumination/Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru on its new date. Universal’s Tom Hanks movie News of the World and DreamWorks Animation’s Croods 2 are left standing as the only Christmas releases.