For nearly two months now, the film industry has been in flux due to current events, particularly when it comes to release dates. Not only have many completed movies had to be delayed due to theaters being closed down, but movies that were in the midst of preproduction or production have also seen their upcoming releases affected. Case in point, Warner Bros has just pushed back the releases of some of its upcoming features, including The Batman.
Originally set to come out on June 25, 2021, moviegoers will now have to wait until October 1 of the same year to see the debut of Robert Pattinson’s Batman. Fellow DC movie Shazam! 2 has also been delayed from April 1, 2022 to November 4, 2022. For all you fans of The Sopranos out there, its prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, is now arriving on March 12, 2021 rather than September 25 of this year.
But wait, we’re not done on the delay front just yet. King Richard, the sports drama centered on the father of tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams, has been pushed back a whole year, from Nov. 25, 2020 to Nov. 19, 2021. Then there’s Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, which stars Austin Butler as the eponymous singer and Tom Hanks as the Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. That movie’s been delayed just a smudge, from Oct. 1, 2021 to November 5, 2021.
This is just the latest change to Warner Bros’ upcoming movie slate. Other movies that have recently been delayed, either by being moved to a new date or temporarily removed from the calendar altogether, include Scoob!, In The Heights and Wonder Woman 1984. There are still some movies, like Tenet and The Matrix 4, that are holding onto their release slots, but as we just saw with The Batman and those other movies, that could end up changing.
However, today’s Warner Bros’ shakeups weren’t entirely packed with delays. For those of you looking forward to The Flash, which will see Ezra Miller reprising his role as the Scarlet Speedster, will now come out on June 3, 2022, having previously been set for July 1, 2022. Finally, the movie centered on DC’s Fastest Man Alive finally gets an opportunity to arrive sooner than expected rather than later!
With The Batman being moved to the beginning of October 2021, that means when the movie finally hits the big screen, it’ll have been nearly four years since Robert Pattinson’s Batman predecessor, Ben Affleck, made his final DCEU appearance in Justice League. Pattinson is joined in the Matt Reeves-directed movie by Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright and Andy Serkis, among others.
It’s also interesting that on the new Warner Bros calendar, Shazam! 2 is arriving just a month after The Batman, as usually studios like to give their superhero movies at least a couple months of space from each other. Regardless, now folks will witness the return of DC’s World’s Mightiest Mortal nearly a year after Dwayne Johnson finally debuts as famed Shazam antagonist, Black Adam.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on the ever-changing theatrical schedule. You can learn what other movies have been delayed lately with our comprehensive guide.
