WB Makes Major Release Date Changes For DC Films and More
Warner Bros is making multiple release date changes for several high profile films
The studio announced new release dates for seven of their upcoming major releases, five of which are related to DC Films. Much of this is due to post production delays as a result of the pandemic which made getting the effects work done properly.
The changes kicked off today when Dwayne Johnson announced on his Instagram account that his two DC projects will be pushed back. First, the live action ‘Black Adam’ in which Johnson plays the titular anti-hero and archenemy of Shazam will be moving from its original date of July 29, 2022 to October 21. Jonson stated on his Instagram post that the reason for the change is so the film, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, can open in the same Halloween timeframe that worked wonders for Sony’s ‘Venom’ series and play through the holiday season corridor. Taking over Black Adam's old release date is the animated ‘League of Super Pets’ movie that also features Johnson voicing Krypto the Superdog, the canine companion to the Man of Steel. Originally slated for May 20, the Jared Stern helmed toon also features the voices of Kevin Hart, John Krasinski, Kate McKinnon, Natasha Lyonne and Keanu Reeves.
Immediately after Johnson’s announcement, fans were wondering what would happen to the other DC films that were scheduled for 2022 as the new date for Black Adam put it two weeks before ‘The Flash’. Warner Bros quickly cleared this up as the studio has now moved the Ezra Miller led film from its previous November 4 date to a prime summer release date of June 23, 2023. This marks the sixth different release date that WB has given Barry Allen’s solo outing whose original date goes back to March of 2018.
‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’, the sequel to the 2018 billion dollar grossing smash, is now being delayed from its pre-Christmas date of December 16 to March 17, 2023. Although this takes James Wan’s follow up out of the holiday season where its predecessor succeeded, this is actually a smart move as Disney is scheduled to finally release ‘Avatar 2’ in the same period making James Cameron’s return to Pandora a formidable foe for Arthur Curry and friends. Since Aquaman is a crown jewel franchise in the DC pantheon, WB needs to have the best possible release date and as films like ‘Captain Marvel’ and ‘The Batman’ have shown, there’s plenty of cash to be made in the spring.
DC fans won’t go through the holidays empty, though. In a surprise move, the studio has moved up ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ from June 2, 2023 to Aquaman’s old date. While this may sound crazy to some as it will now be competing against the “Avatar” sequel, it makes sense to a point. The original cost just $80-100 million to produce making it cheaper than the other DC projects. So while Cameron’s mega sequel event will be competition, Zachary Levi’s man child superhero likely will not need to be a billion dollar grosser to be declared a success whereas something like Aquaman is certainly expected to do that.
Moving away from the comic book world, WB announced release date changes for two other high profile features. First, the studio dated ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ the sequel to the surprise action horror hit from 2018 which hits the big screen August 2, 2023. Jason Statham reprises his role while indie filmmaker Ben Wheatley directs. The previous film earned a solid $530 million worldwide thanks to being a co production with China and it will be interesting to see if this new adventure can match that success five years later.
Finally, Paul King’s musical fantasy ‘Wonka’ a prequel to Roald Dahl’s classic story ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ is moving from its March 17 2023 date to December 15 in the hopes of being a big holiday family event. Timothee Chalamet is taking on the iconic of Willy Wonka in a story that looks at how the eccentric candy maker built up his chocolate enterprise.
Part of the reason for these release changes is that nearly all of these films are going to be quite reliant on VFX work and as the industry tries to get back to normality from the pandemic ridden challenges that have caused a backlog in those areas. One silver lining however is that it gives each of these films space from each other so that WB can truly make these films something that people want to experience on the big screen. Quality is, of course, a different story but time will tell if the delays are to the audiences benefit.