Amidst Concerning Rumors And Budget Questions, Christian Bale's New Movie Just Got Pushed Back 6 Months

Warner Bros announced some changes to its upcoming release schedule earlier this week. Typically, that’s not the sort of thing that should cause alarm, given movies shuffle around all the time based on a variety of factors, but in the specific case of Christian Bale’s new movie, there might be a genuine cause for some concern. The Bride has now changed distributors, moved release dates and been the subject of much speculation around its budget and alleged test screenings that may not have gone well.

Let’s back up real quick and talk about the movie itself first before we get into all the whispers because there’s a lot here to be excited about and also a lot to be confused about. The film is called The Bride, and it’s a sequel to the 1931 version of Frankenstein or maybe a reimagining of 1935’s Bride Of Frankenstein. It’s definitely a musical and maybe also a horror movie and maybe also a future Oscar contender and maybe also some kind of arthouse project. It stars Christian Bale, Jessie Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz and a bunch of other big names, and it’s being helmed by actress turned director Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose debut The Lost Daughter was very well received.

The movie was originally supposed to be made through Netflix, but at some point, the popular streamer backed out of the project. Some claim it was because the Hollywood strikes altered the timeline. Some claim it was because the movie was going to cost way more to make than originally thought. Some claim it was because Netflix instead wanted to make a Frankenstein movie with Guillermo del Toro. Regardless, Warner Bros eventually stepped in and supposedly green lit the movie with an $80M budget and promises to let Gyllenhaal execute her vision.

Earlier this year, however, some concerning behind the scenes stories started to leak out. World Of Reel claimed the film had some test screenings that didn’t go well. Puck talked about worries in the context of Warner Bros’ expensive slate of upcoming titles maybe not being commercially viable. At some point, people started referring to it as a $100M movie. Now we have the official release date change, from Septemer 26th, a prime Oscar debut date, to March 6th of next year. In its write-up about the schedule change, The Hollywood Reporter referenced a “challenging post production period.” Some are speculating the studio may be forcing reshoots. More generously, some are thinking March could just be a spot with less competition.

I’m not some Hollywood insider. I read and write a lot about the movie business, but I don’t have my own sources. I’m not here to tell you what’s going on or what’s not going on. Instead, I’m here to tell you I’m confused and frustrated as a fan of horror and weirdo arthouse movies that really wanted to see this. I’m also a little bit confused.

A Maggie Gyllenhaal directed horror musical about the Bride of Frankenstein starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale was always going to be weird. I don’t think there was any way she could have put together these ingredients that would have appealed to casual movie fans. So, if the rumors about bad test screenings and the studio considering reshoots are true, that probably means one of two things. Either the movie is bad and needs reshoots or the movie is exactly as bizarre as you’d guess, isn’t playing well with the type of focus groups filled with the wrong people and now the studio is freaking out because they spent $100M on it.

Or maybe it’s just moving release dates, and the reason for that has nothing to do with any of these sketchy rumors. I just don’t know. We need to wait and see what happens over the next few months.

I’m going to see The Bride regardless because I’m the type of person who watched I’m Thinking Of Ending Things the day it came out. I need to see what Maggie Gyllenhaal is doing here, but whenever I do watch it, I really hope I get to watch whatever movie she wants me to watch and not some Frankenstein cut the studio feels could play a little better with people who were never going to pay to see it anyway.