The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the film industry for a loop, particularly when it comes to movies that were set to come out soon. From No Time to Die to Wonder Woman 1984, this summer’s cinematic lineup keeps growing smaller and smaller, and now Sony has contributed to its diminishment by overhauling much of its 2020 slate.
The biggest delays include Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which was originally dated for August 7, being pushed back to March 5, 2021; Morbius, which was originally dated for July 31, being pushed back March 19, 2021; and Uncharted, which was most recently dated for March 5, 2021, being pushed back to October 8, 2021. Additionally, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, which had already been delayed due to coronavirus concerns, is now primed for January 15, 2021, while Greyhound and an untitled Sony Marvel movie, which were marked for June 12, 2020 and October 8, 2021, respectively, are now both undated.
With this move, that leaves just five movies that came/are coming straight from Columbia Pictures that are still on track for 2020: An American Pickle, Connected, Venom 2, The Man from Toronto and Fatherhood, with the latter, oddly enough, now set for October after originally being dated for January 2021. There’s also Monster Hunter, although that hails specifically from Sony Pictures Releasing. Nevertheless, it’s still possible that some or all of these movies could also be pushed back to 2021 or later.
If it was the worst case scenario, that would mean that Sony only released three movies in 2020: January’s Bad Boys for Life, February’s Fantasy Island and this month’s Bloodshot, with that last one not even enjoying a full week in theaters before the coronavirus craziness started taking its toll on theaters. To have a studio’s summer slate being slapped is shocking enough, but to have its entire annual output reduced to just three movies is even more bizarre.
Still, with no indication on when movie theaters will start reopening and life in general will get back to normal, it makes sense that Sony is playing things safe. Rather than keep those movies in their current slots and risk theaters not being back up and running then, the studio’s wisely holding them back for a time when people can finally take in a theatrical tale on the big screen again. It’s not like these movies will just disappear forever if they don’t come out in 2020.
Of course, this leads to a domino effect, resulting in the movies that Sony had lined up for 2021 joining Uncharted being pushed further back, not to mention complicating 2021’s overall cinematic calendar, but that’s the world we live in now. It’ll also be interesting to see if this will be the final time all these movies are delayed, or if there will come a point where they’ll have to be rescheduled yet again.
Looking at the three biggest delays of the bunch, Ghostbusters: Afterlife serves as a sequel to the original two Ghostbusters movies, with its cast including Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace. The Jared Leto-led Morbius will follow the eponymous scientist becoming afflicted with vampirism in Sony’s Marvel Universe, while Uncharted sees Tom Holland playing a young Nathan Drake.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the film and TV worlds, and look through our guide detailing other movies that have been delayed.
