Blake Lively's The Rhythm Section has had a rough road, and that road just got a new destination -- Super Bowl weekend 2020.
The spy thriller saw production delayed when Blake Lively injured herself during a stunt. When her hand surgery didn't quite go as planned, the movie had to be delayed again for her second surgery and recovery.
Eventually, the movie was made. It was originally supposed to come out this past February 22, 2019, then moved to November 22, 2019. Late November is a great time to open -- it's awards season bait and also around the holidays when people are spending more time with family, and that time often includes a trip to the movies. However, that November date would've put The Rhythm Section opening against Disney's Frozen 2 and also Tom Hanks' biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
To me, it was wise to move the movie away from Frozen 2 and Tom Hanks Doing Anything. But the new opening date, per Variety, is January 31, 2020. That's the weekend of Super Bowl LIV. Sunday isn't known to be a massive movie day in most cases, but maybe they can sell it as counter-programming to the football game.
Late January is not traditionally a great place to drop a movie, but recent years have been changing the early winter box office story. Blake Lively's husband Ryan Reynolds, for example, turned February into a mighty fine place to open a superhero movie with Deadpool. M. Night Shyamalan's Glass also opened in January 2019 and made nearly $250 million worldwide.
The Rhythm Section is based on the Stephanie Patrick novels by Mark Burnell. Blake Lively stars as Stephanie Patrick, who aims to uncover the truth behind a plane crash that killed her family. When she discovers the crash was not accidental, she tracks down the responsible parties by assuming the identity of an assassin.
During filming, Blake Lively showed off some of her different looks for the movie, including this pixie cut:
Ryan Reynolds joined the fun by trolling another one of Blake Lively's disguises for the movie:
Gotta love him (but not as much as Hugh Jackman does). The Rhythm Section co-stars Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown. So far, the movie is only sharing its new January 31, 2020 release date with Gretel and Hansel. When that weekend arrives, we'll have a better understanding of the wisdom of moving its release. So far, I think it was a smart call.
