Movie release postponements as well as production suspensions for films and original SVOD series due to the mounting coronavirus health crisis will likely lead to significant shifts in the home release calendar for the rest of the year.
With movies typically becoming available for disc or digital delivery three months or so after their theatrical openings, delayed home releases include several big Hollywood movies, including the Walt Disney Co.’s live-action Mulan; Universal Pictures’ latest “Fast and Furious” film, F9; and the Paramount Pictures horror sequel A Quiet Place: Part II.
Meanwhile, such original digital series as the Netflix comedy “Grace and Frankie” and Marvel’s “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” on Disney+, will likely debut later than expected due to production halts.
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On the film front, Mulan’s scheduled March 27 theatrical opening has been called off, with no new date set — despite a star-studded premiere March 9 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood that was attended by some 3,400 guests and a smaller London premiere March 12.
F9’s theatrical debut has been postponed by nearly a year, from May 2020 to April 2, 2021. According to a Twitter posting, “While we know there is disappointment in having to wait a little while longer, this movie is made with the safety of everyone as our foremost consideration.”
A Quiet Place: Part II, slated to open March 20, has also been taken off the schedule, with no new date set.
The first big movie to be postponed was the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, with Daniel Craig in his final turn as the fabled spy. On March 3 MGM, Eon and Universal Pictures announced that the planned April theatrical debut was off and the film, instead would open in the United Kingdom on Nov. 12 and in the United States on Nov. 25.
The companies said the decision came “after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace.”
Disney also pushed back the theatrical openings of two other movies, the horror film Antlers, original slated for April 17, and Marvel’s New Mutants, which was supposed to hit the big screen on April 3. No new dates have been set. New Mutants has already been delayed for years due to production issues and uncertainties associated with Disney’s buyout of Fox.
In addition to A Quiet Place: Part II, Paramount postponed the theatrical debut of The Lovebirds from April 3 to an unspecified date. The theatrical release of another Paramount film, Mission: Impossible VII, is up in the air after filming in Venice, Italy, was stopped in February due to the coronavirus outbreak there.
Also pulled from its originally scheduled theatrical release date is Sony Pictures’ Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, which was supposed to open March 27 in Europe and in the United States on April 3. The film is now slated to open on Aug. 7.
Most recently, Variety on March 13 reported that Disney “for a short time” has halted production and pre-production on The Last Duel, The Little Mermaid, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, Home Alone, Nightmare Alley, Peter Pan & Wendy and Shrunk.
“While there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our productions, after considering the current environment and the best interests of our cast and crew, we have made the decision to pause production on some of our live-action films for a short time,” according to a studio statement, the Variety story said. “We will continue to assess the situation and restart as soon as feasible.”
The day before, March 12, various media outlets reported that Skydance Television, producer of “Grace and Frankie,” halted production of the seventh and final season of the comedy, which stars Jane Fonda, 82, and Lily Tomlin, 80.
Two days earlier, USA Today reported that Disney shut down production of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” in Prague.
