Overview
Barbenheimer, aka the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer on the silver screen on the same day, is the biggest thing in cinemas worldwide right now. Thanks to the current situation in Hollywood, it might just prove the biggest thing in picture palaces for the rest of 2023. With Tinseltown's actors and writers currently striking for better conditions, film studios are reportedly rethinking their release plans, which means likely pushing back some of the year's other big blockbusters until 2024.
Already Down Under, Australian crime-thriller Force of Nature: The Dry 2 has ditched its planned August release, with star Eric Bana a member of the striking SAG-AFTRA. Unsurprisingly, it seems that more movies will follow — and globally. Variety reports that Dune: Part Two, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and The Colour Purple are among the titles being considered for a 2024 rendezvous with cinemagoers instead.
Also possibly getting a release-date rethink, Variety predicts: The Marvels, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Napoleon.
Yes, it's happening again, maybe: just like when the pandemic sparked stay-at-home orders, restrictions and closed cinemas, a heap of big-name flicks might shift back their debuts in cinemas. The list of titles that Hollywood's studios are considering pushing is undoubtedly even longer — spanning more than sandworms, underwater superheroes, Oprah Winfrey-produced musicals, Marvel teamups, volunteering as tribute and French emperors.
For cinema's spiciest sci-fi saga, this is a particularly familiar situation. Dune: Part One was delayed considerably due to COVID-19, jumping from Boxing Day 2020 to early December 2021.
Wondering exactly why dates could be pushed back this time if the films are already finished, or the actors and writers have already done their parts? Neither stars nor scribes are permitted to promote films during the strike. That means no Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya talking about getting sandy, Jason Momoa chatting about life underwater and the like.
Splashing famous faces around via interviews is usually a big part of a movie's promotional strategy — aka something that the studios value from actors, a fact that shouldn't escape notice given the current situation.
Hollywood talents are fighting against diminishing residual payments for performers, and to establish firm rules about the future use of artificial intelligence in the industry, among other improvements to working conditions. When they took action in mid-July, SAG-AFTRA's members joined their counterparts in the Writers Guild of America, who've been striking since May.
We'll update you if and when any of this year's big upcoming movies change their release date.
Via Variety.