In case it somehow hadn’t dawned on you before this, this year’s movie release schedule is a bust. And now it’s officially a TOTAL bust. With the likes of Universal, Warner Bros., Disney, and Paramount delaying all their big releases (well, nearly all – more on that later) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sony was the last major Hollywood studio that still had any entries listed for the 2020 summer blockbuster season. And now that domino has fallen as well.
The studio has delayed Ghostbusters: Afterlife from its original 10 July 2020 release to 5 March 2021. Directed and written by Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman, the filmmaker behind the original Ghostbuster films, this will be a direct sequel to those classics, ignoring Paul Feig’s recent reboot. Also on the cards for a move is the Jared Leto-led comic book adaptation Morbius, which is supposed to be the next entry after Venom in Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff universe (which is sorta kinda also in the Marvel Cinematic Universe). It’s been delayed from 31 July 2020 to 19 March 2021.
And with those schedule reshuffles, something had to give in the 2021 lineup as the perennially delayed Uncharted video game adaptation moves from 5 March 2021 to 8 October 2021. Also delayed is the Tom Hanks WWII drama Greyhound which was supposed to release on 12 June 2020 but now doesn’t have a new date. There was an untitled Sony/Marvel movie supposed to release on 8 October 2021, but it now also doesn’t have a release date as well.
Meanwhile, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway has been pulled from its 7 July 2020 slot to be moved to 15 January 2021. And to make room for it on its new date, the Kevin Hart-led Fatherhood has actually been brought forward to 23 October 2020. This is actually significant as it means that with Fatherhood, Sony will only be releasing five major films this entire year (the other four being the already released Bad Boys for Life and Bloodshot, and the upcoming Monster Hunter and Connected). That is massively unprecedented for a major Hollywood studio.
And as things currently stand overall for the 2020 box office, the only major releases still left in the traditionally bumper June/July box office period are Disney/Pixar’s Soul on 19 June, Universal’s Top Gun: Maverick on 24 June, Fox/Disney’s Free Guy on 3 July, Warner Bros’ Tenet on 17 July, and Disney’s Jungle Cruise on 24 July. Just five movies to somehow keep the 2020 box office afloat after nearly everything thus far has fallen short. And that’s if they actually stay in place and don’t get moved as global lockdowns continue, which is a very likely scenario.
Last Updated: March 31, 2020
