In the span of a week, the calendar for the rest of the year has changed pretty drastically. None of the mega blockbusters have vacated their release dates, but a few potential hits and intriguing titles have shifted around. Here's the thing- summer 2018 looks terrific, but it also looks extremely front-loaded. Within a span of 8 weeks, Avengers: Infinity War, the Untitled Deadpool Sequel, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Ocean's 8, Incredibles 2, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will always arrive in theaters. That's a whole lot of franchise power in a very short period of time, and it leaves the rest of June, July, and August up for grabs. With the exception of a few surefire hits (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Mission: Impossible- Fallout), we're looking at a pretty competitive couple of months.
Image courtesy of Fox
Oddly enough, even with few guaranteed players, a good number of movies are retreating from the late summer period. The massive shifting of release dates began with Robert Rodriguez's Alita: Battle Angel, which was set to debut on July 20. Instead, the James Cameron-produced anime adaptation will arrive on December 21, where it'll face off against James Wan's Aquaman, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's Holmes & Watson, and Paramount's Bumblebee. It'll also debut just days before Mary Poppins Returns and Bohemian Rhapsody, and only one week after Sony's Spider-Man: Welcome to the Spider-Verse and the Peter Jackson-produced Mortal Engines. This is the first Christmas since 2014 without a Star Wars movie, so it's understandable that every studio is trying to get a piece of the action. But this delay doesn't indicate good things for Alita, which will likely be crushed by these other films if it sticks with the December 21 date. The reaction to the first trailer (which premiered all the way back in December in front of The Last Jedi) was overwhelmingly negative, so one has to wonder if Rodriguez is going back to tinker with things.
Image: Sony/IMDb
With Alita jumping ship, that left only Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! for July 20. Predictably, rival studios pounced on the opportunity. Sony moved The Equalizer 2 from August 3 to July 20, giving Denzel Washington's hard-boiled sequel a prime summer slot. The original film grossed $101 million in the United States, but four years later, does anyone really care? I don't know, but Denzel rarely misses at the box office. Antoine Fuqua is behind the camera once again for this follow-up, and the cast also includes Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, and Pedro Pascal. But Denzel and company won't have July 20 all to themselves- Markie Mark is joining the fun as well. STX Films dated Mile 22, an action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Ronda Rousey, and John Malkovich, for July 20. This should be a more commercially viable outing for Peter Berg after the disappointing results of Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day, which both failed to ignite much awards momentum or box office heat. Mile 22 follows an intelligence officer on a rescue mission, and STX is reportedly looking at a sequel. So this could be a big one.
Image: Fox/IMDb
Perhaps the most disappointing news of the week was the reveal that Shane Black's The Predator will be pushed back from August 3 to September 14. As a huge fan of Black (especially The Nice Guys), I'm just sad that I'll have to wait another month for this one. After all, the film was already pushed back once, moving from February to the end of the summer. Here's hoping that Fox is just positioning the film for optimal success- I'll be crushed if this one ends up being a mess. Replacing The Predator is Jennifer Yuh Nelson's The Darkest Minds, a sci-fi adaptation that follows a group of superpowered teens on the run from the government. Sounds intriguing enough, and the cast includes talented performers such as Amandla Stenberg, Mandy Moore, and Gwendoline Christie. It'll have to face off against The Spy Who Dumped Me and Disney's untitled Christopher Robin movie, but that shouldn't be too much to handle. Could be a late summer sleeper.
Image: WB/IMDb
And then to round things out, a few more films bounced around in the hopes of finding the best date. The Nun, a Conjuring spin-off that follows the ghostly nun from the 2016 sequel, will now hit theaters on September 7 instead of July 13. As many have noted, that early September frame is where Warner Bros./New Line's IT did so well, and it seems that the studios are aiming for a similar result here. Corin Hardy directs, and the cast includes Taissa Farmiga, Charlotte Hoppe, Bonnie Aarons, and Demian Bichir. In a somewhat surprising shift, STX Films moved the Amy Schumer-led I Feel Pretty from June 29 to April 27. In one way, the move is great because it gets the comedy out of the competitive summer. On the flip side, it'll now be released one week before Infinity War comes out. Is anyone going to even be at the theater? Finally, Fox dated Death on the Nile for November 8, 2019, confirming that a sequel to their surprise hit Murder on the Orient Express is in development. But with Bond 25 supposedly aiming for that date as well, will Fox flinch? I think so.
Check back soon for more of the latest movie news.
Image courtesy of Fox
Oddly enough, even with few guaranteed players, a good number of movies are retreating from the late summer period. The massive shifting of release dates began with Robert Rodriguez's Alita: Battle Angel, which was set to debut on July 20. Instead, the James Cameron-produced anime adaptation will arrive on December 21, where it'll face off against James Wan's Aquaman, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's Holmes & Watson, and Paramount's Bumblebee. It'll also debut just days before Mary Poppins Returns and Bohemian Rhapsody, and only one week after Sony's Spider-Man: Welcome to the Spider-Verse and the Peter Jackson-produced Mortal Engines. This is the first Christmas since 2014 without a Star Wars movie, so it's understandable that every studio is trying to get a piece of the action. But this delay doesn't indicate good things for Alita, which will likely be crushed by these other films if it sticks with the December 21 date. The reaction to the first trailer (which premiered all the way back in December in front of The Last Jedi) was overwhelmingly negative, so one has to wonder if Rodriguez is going back to tinker with things.
Image: Sony/IMDb
With Alita jumping ship, that left only Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! for July 20. Predictably, rival studios pounced on the opportunity. Sony moved The Equalizer 2 from August 3 to July 20, giving Denzel Washington's hard-boiled sequel a prime summer slot. The original film grossed $101 million in the United States, but four years later, does anyone really care? I don't know, but Denzel rarely misses at the box office. Antoine Fuqua is behind the camera once again for this follow-up, and the cast also includes Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, and Pedro Pascal. But Denzel and company won't have July 20 all to themselves- Markie Mark is joining the fun as well. STX Films dated Mile 22, an action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Ronda Rousey, and John Malkovich, for July 20. This should be a more commercially viable outing for Peter Berg after the disappointing results of Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day, which both failed to ignite much awards momentum or box office heat. Mile 22 follows an intelligence officer on a rescue mission, and STX is reportedly looking at a sequel. So this could be a big one.
Image: Fox/IMDb
Perhaps the most disappointing news of the week was the reveal that Shane Black's The Predator will be pushed back from August 3 to September 14. As a huge fan of Black (especially The Nice Guys), I'm just sad that I'll have to wait another month for this one. After all, the film was already pushed back once, moving from February to the end of the summer. Here's hoping that Fox is just positioning the film for optimal success- I'll be crushed if this one ends up being a mess. Replacing The Predator is Jennifer Yuh Nelson's The Darkest Minds, a sci-fi adaptation that follows a group of superpowered teens on the run from the government. Sounds intriguing enough, and the cast includes talented performers such as Amandla Stenberg, Mandy Moore, and Gwendoline Christie. It'll have to face off against The Spy Who Dumped Me and Disney's untitled Christopher Robin movie, but that shouldn't be too much to handle. Could be a late summer sleeper.
Image: WB/IMDb
And then to round things out, a few more films bounced around in the hopes of finding the best date. The Nun, a Conjuring spin-off that follows the ghostly nun from the 2016 sequel, will now hit theaters on September 7 instead of July 13. As many have noted, that early September frame is where Warner Bros./New Line's IT did so well, and it seems that the studios are aiming for a similar result here. Corin Hardy directs, and the cast includes Taissa Farmiga, Charlotte Hoppe, Bonnie Aarons, and Demian Bichir. In a somewhat surprising shift, STX Films moved the Amy Schumer-led I Feel Pretty from June 29 to April 27. In one way, the move is great because it gets the comedy out of the competitive summer. On the flip side, it'll now be released one week before Infinity War comes out. Is anyone going to even be at the theater? Finally, Fox dated Death on the Nile for November 8, 2019, confirming that a sequel to their surprise hit Murder on the Orient Express is in development. But with Bond 25 supposedly aiming for that date as well, will Fox flinch? I think so.
Check back soon for more of the latest movie news.
Comments
Post a Comment