"Dune", "No Time To Die" and "F9" Latest COVID Release Date Shuffles
The COVID-19 pandemic release date shuffle continues.
Over the last three days, we have seen major date changes for three of the most anticipated tentpoles, two of which have have been pushed from this fall to sometime next year.
On Friday, it was announced that No Time to Die, the 25th James Bond instalment has been moved from its November 20th slot to April 2 2021 which is the lucrative Easter weekend slot and also where it was initially supposed to be released this year. The film was of course was the very first major tentpole to move as a result of COVID-19 and was hoping for a big run over the Thanksgiving holiday period as past films in the series have had.
That same day, Universal, which has international rights to No Time to Die, announced that F9 the ninth instalment in the Fast and the Furious series and initially had that Easter slot will be moved to May 28 which is the lucrative Memorial Day weekend and where it was slotted for this year.
Finally, today brought the news that Warner Bros will be moving Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune to October 1, 2021, a slot that the studio has placed The Batman in and will likely move.
Obviously this is a lot to digest and is especially a blow to struggling exhibitors who have just reopened around the world and need A+ content to lure audiences back but several factors have played into these recent date changes. First, all theaters that have reopened are operating at 25-50% capacity than normal and New York City and Los Angeles, the two biggest markets in the country remain closed and don’t have a reopening date in sight. Despite grossing over $300 million worldwide, Tenet has underperformed domestically having only made $45 million in five weeks meaning releasing an expensive film is still pretty risky at this point.
Although overseas has been somewhat better, an increase in COVID cases in many parts Europe has caused the producers of No Time to Die to push the film once again. This is especially difficult because both the Bond and Fast and the Furious franchises are hugely dependant on overseas markets. For example, two-thirds of SPECTRE’s $878 million gross worldwide in 2015 came from international markets and a whopping 82% of The Fate of the Furious’ $1.2 billion gross was from countries like China so Universal needs both domestic and international up and running at the same time to get the grosses needed.
The recent move of Dune from Christmas to next October is not surprising either as WB planted Wonder Woman 1984 on the Christmas Day slot and it would be difficult for a studio to release two mega budgeted event films within less of a week of each other especially during these difficult times. This in spite of the fact that the holiday season often allows multiple tentpoles to thrive due to the extra time people have off from work and school. One good thing that comes from Dune’s move is that the effects can be spruced up even more so that when it is ready for release, it will be worth the wait. It can also even count on a possible Venice and/or Toronto film festival launch to build buzz.
It is a shame that it has come to this move but given that all of these films have massive budgets, they will need to be in the best environment possible to succeed. We will keep you updated as more release date shuffles look to be in the cards