Release dates for major motion pictures continue to be a moving target as the global pandemic rages on. Delayed production schedules, filming restrictions, and the increasingly clear reality that people are still not ready to go back into theaters have all affected release dates for some of the biggest films coming out in the next two years.
Warner Bros. just announced their latest update and it looks like viewers are going to have to wait even longer for some of the most highly anticipated blockbusters. Get out your calendars and grab a pencil, because this new schedule is going to need an eraser.The feature film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel
Dune was expected to arrive this December, but the film has been pushed back nearly a year. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and starring Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem, the epic film will now be released on October 1, 2021, a spot that previously belonged to Matt Reeves’
The Batman.[video_embed id='2049950']RELATED: 'Dune' is the latest blockbuster movie to get postponed [/video_embed]Fans will have to wait even longer to see Robert Pattinson take on the role of Bruce Wayne in
The Batman. Production was delayed by months due to COVID and had to be shut down a second time after Pattinson
tested positive in September. Filming has once again restarted, but Warner Bros. has decided to delay the release of the dark and dramatic take on Gotham City until March 4, 2022.The delay of
The Batman will have a ripple effect as many DCEU films are interconnected.
The Flash, which will star Ezra Miller in his
Justice League role as Barry Allen and feature the return of Ben Affleck as Batman
and Michael Keaton as Batman, has been moved from June 3, 2022 to November 4, 2022. That knocks
Shazam 2 off its previously scheduled November 4, 2022 date and pushes it to June 2, 2023. As for Dwyane Johnson’s
Black Adam, it has been completely removed from the WB schedule.Thankfully, not all the schedule changes are bad. Fans will get to see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as Neo and Trinity in
The Matrix 4 on December 22, 2021, a revision from the previously pushed date of April 1, 2022.Then there’s
Wonder Woman 1984, which appears to be sticking to its already revised date of Christmas 2020. The film was originally slated to open this year on June 5 before being pushed back several times. Gal Gadot and Kristen Wiig are expected to finally have the ultimate
catfight on December 25 and fingers crossed that remains the same.Delays in production have been a major cause for the ongoing changes in movie release dates, but the lack of ticket sales at theaters has also had a major impact. Christopher Nolan’s
Tenet has
failed to pull people back into theaters. Both independent and major theatre chains in North America and beyond have been closing their doors, including Regal Cinemas, which
announced on October 5 that it was closing all 536 locations across the U.S.Earlier this month, Universal announced that it was once again delaying Daniel Craig’s final James Bond film,
No Time to Die. The spy thriller was originally slated to be released this past April and became one of the first major films to have its opening delayed because of Covid. The 25
th Bond film was rescheduled for
November 2020, a date that has now been pushed back once again to April 2, 2021.Disney has also
delayed its biggest titles, including
Eternals, Black Widow and
West Side Story, which are now all being released next year.[video_embed id='2027570']BEFORE YOU GO: This singing parrot sounds just like Beyoncé[/video_embed]
