Hope everyone is doing as well as you can be, given current circumstances, and keeping yourselves occupied.
There are a few reasons to be cautiously optimistic, that there's light at the end of the tunnel (and it's not just an Intercity 125 coming to knock seven bells out of us again!)
This week saw some big film news, so I figured time to do an update!
I'll be honest, I wasn't massively surprised by this week's news that Black Widow was a) being moved again (from May 7 to July 9), and b) being made available via Disney+ Premier on the same day.
The situation is still, to put it mildly, changeable. Cinemas in New York and Los Angeles are starting to reopen; UK-based cinema chain Cineworld (who also own Regal Cinemas in the US) have announced they will start to reopen Regal locations in early April.
In the UK, cinemas in England and Scotland (at least) are working to the assumption that they will be able to reopen for business from May 17th, if COVID-19 is still being controlled at a reasonable level. That said, cinemas will still need to operate at reduced capacity (at least initially) and with social distancing protocols in place. In the numbers game, it's not going to be worth Marvel's time to put it out until the situation is a bit more stable.
Unsurprisingly, this has had a knock-on effect to some of the other Marvel movies that are due to be released this year.
A couple of random bits of MCU news: in December, when Christian Bale's casting in Thor: Love And Thunder was announced (Bale will be playing Gorr The God Butcher), a new release date was also given: May 6, 2022. This will now put the Thor fourquel (Thorquel?) after Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, which had its own date changed to March 25 2022.
But whilst Black Widow gets bumped, there's no such plans to change the date of Cruella (the live-action "prequel" to 101 Dalmatians, starring Emma Stone and Emma Thompson). Like Mulan and Raya And The Last Dragon, Cruella will be getting a cinema release (where possible) and will also be available on Disney+ Premier on the same day. This is Memorial Day weekend in the US, and a usually lucrative time for cinemas.
As they did with Soul, Disney have also announced that Pixar's next movie Luca (a coming-of-age drama involving sea monsters in disguise, with the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Glazer, and Maya Rudolph) will be available on Disney+ (at no additional charge) from June 18th. Where Disney+ is not available, they are looking at potential cinema releases in those territories.
Other Disney properties shifted around include Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy (now August 13), The King's Man (December 22), Ben Affleck starrer Deep Water (January 14 2022), and star-studded Agatha Christie adaptation Death On The Nile (February 11 2022)
On the subject of ninth films in franchises, Universal have decided to move F9 back a month, so it will now premiere on June 25. This set up a clash between Vin Diesel and Tom Hardy, with Sony's Venom sequel due to drop on the same day. Realising they were sunk, Sony have moved Venom: Let There Be Carnage to September.
Universal weren't quite so kind to Minions: The Rise Of Gru, on the other hand; originally due to release on July 3 2020, it first got shunted to July 2 2021 and has now been shunted back another year, to July 1 2022.
Here are some of the current release dates at the moment, correct as of 26th March 2021. This only includes movies whose dates have changed since the last State of Play update (in January).
2021
May 14 Spiral: From The Book Of Saw
May 28 Cruella (cinema and Disney+ Premier Access)
May 28 A Quiet Place Part II
June 18 Luca (Disney+ exclusive)
June 25 F9
July 9 Black Widow (cinema and Disney+ Premier Access)
July 9 The Forever Purge
August 13 Free Guy
September 3 Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
September 17 Venom: Let There Be Carnage
December 22 The King's Man
2022
January 14 Deep Water
February 11 Death On The Nile
March 25 Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
May 6 Thor: Love And Thunder
July 1 Minions: The Rise Of Gru
If/when (let's be honest, I think it'll be when) things change, we'll let you know.
As Jerry Springer used to say: "Take care of yourselves and each other."
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