Star Wars: Rogue One has come out on top in its game of cinematic chicken with Fantastic Four 2. Disney’s recent announcement that the eighth installment to the Star Wars franchise would be released on May 26, 2017, instantly made the powers that be over at Fantastic Four 2 quake in their boots. So much so that they’ve now decided to delay the film’s release a week.
Fantastic Four 2 was originally touted for a June 2, 2017, release date. But it will now only make its way into multiplexes, according to Coming Soon, on June 9, 2017, because 20th Century Fox are clearly expecting Star Wars: Rogue One’s tight grip over the box office to last longer than a week. And you have to admit that it’s probably a sensible decision, especially since it’s not really that huge a shift to their plans.
The big question now is will The Lego Batman Movie decide to alter its course in the wake of Fantastic Four 2’s decision? Currently, The Lego Batman Movie is due out on exactly the same day as Star Wars: Episode VIII, and if it stays that way it will almost certainly be swamped and overwhelmed by the hype and publicity for Rian Johnson’s sci-fi epic.
There’s actually plenty of room for The Lego Batman Movie to shift, as the two Fridays preceding May 26 don’t have any releases penciled in at the moment. In fact, the only other movie planned for May 2017 is Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 on May 6. Because of this space, The Lego Batman Movie would be wise to cozy itself into one of these less Star Warsy spots over the next few weeks. Because, simply put, if they don’t, they risk losing millions of dollars in revenue.
This isn’t the first time the almighty power of the Star Wars franchise has forced another film series to alter their plans. Just last month it was announced that Mission: Impossible 5, which was originally going to hit cinemas on Christmas Day 2015, had been brought all the way forward to July 31, because it was rightly scared of the competition that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would provide. Despite this readjustment, there’s huge anticipation ahead of the fifth instalment to Tom Cruise’s evergreen action franchise, as it continues to get better with age thanks to perfectly picking the right directors and scribes for each new effort.
And while the power of renowned blockbuster franchises is understandable, it's also a little depressing, as each upcoming summer slate is set to look exactly the same for years to come. Who knows, though. Maybe Josh Trank's The Fantastic Four will gross hundreds of millions of dollars upon its release this summer, and 20th Century Fox will ramp up a winning sequel that audiences will crave. Seeing as how we haven't yet seen the first movie, so much remains up in the air.
