Following in the footsteps of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Vin Diesel, and John Cena’s turn from tough guy roles to realm of the family comedy, Dave Bautista is playing a CIA operative who is blackmailed by a 9-year-old girl to teach her the ropes in My Spy. It was set to open next weekend, but since No Time To Die’s slot just opened up, the movie has just received a new release date… again.
It was announced earlier this week that the highly-anticipated conclusion to Daniel Craig’s James Bond would no longer hit theaters on April 10. The Coronavirus outbreak has closed a ton of theaters overseas, notably in China where No Time To Die was expecting a massive audience. When the 007 flick was pushed back to November, Universal moved up Trolls up one week to No Time To Die’s Easter weekend slot. And now STXFilms has shifted My Spy to Trolls’ old date on April 17.
My Spy was facing a bit more competition with its March 13 date. Bloodshot starring Vin Diesel and Blumhouse’s The Hunt are set to open next weekend. The studio felt the April date would expand awareness for the family comedy without any major impact on media spending, per Variety. My Spy was made on an $18 million production budget and has already made $3 million since opening in New Zealand and Australia back in January.
The first trailer for My Spy was released about a year ago, at first with an August 2019 release date. The movie has since been moved to January and then to March ahead of this fourth shift. It’s unclear why the studio keeps moving up My Spy, except that it seems to keep finding better dates to release it and making the moves to do so.
STXFilms has had its share of flops recently with Playmobil: The Movie having one of the worst box office openings ever in December. 21 Bridges made just $49.8 million globally on a budget of $33 million and Uglydolls was a massive loss with its $32 million box office earnings after being made for $45 million. The studio has seen big success with The Upside and buzzy award season flick Hustlers.
Perhaps the studio’s fickleness will finally pay off with My Spy’s April date. Now the movie is only competing against independent releases Antlers and Charm City Kings as far as newcomers go. Meanwhile, No Time To Die is expected to dodge a bullet with its new November date since it would have earned an expected 30% less without some of its international audience.
Although Coronavirus concerns have already changed up the April release calendar quite a bit, F9 and Black Widow are still reportedly sticking with their May dates. Events such as the Tokyo Olympics could be affected and Austin’s South by Southwest festival has just been cancelled.
Trolls is out April 10, My Spy hits theaters on April 17 and No Time To Die is out on November 25, 2020.
