Last Updated: October 22, 2020
The 2020 movie schedule has changed significantly this year due to coronavirus, but here is every movie still slated to be released in theaters. When 2020 began, there was a promising schedule of movies of all genres and sizes to be excited about. While Bad Boys for Life and Sonic the Hedgehog proved to be early year box office successes, the rest of the year has seen incredible changeover. The coronavirus pandemic shut down movie theaters in March, and the movie industry hasn't been the same since.
When movie theaters shut down, spring releases like A Quiet Place II, Mulan, and No Time to Die were delayed. It wasn't long after that F9 moved out of 2020 entirely, and studios slowly began taking films out of the summer season. For better or worse, Tenet was the film mainly dictating what theaters and other studios did, and then its box office came up short. In some cases, the delay of one film meant delaying many others, leaving 2021 and the following years with nearly as many changes. These delays likely won't stop either, as productions are still stalled around the world.
Delays haven't been the only decisions to impact the theatrical movie experience, as many films have been sold or moved to streaming services so they can be released now. Disney took Artemis Fowl and Hamilton to Disney+, Paramount sold The Lovebirds to Netflix, and Universal made noise by making SCOOB! and Trolls World Tour Video On Demand options. These are just a selection of titles that would've been released in theaters. The VOD option and delays have left only a handful of significant movies still scheduled to be released in theaters in 2020.
Free Guy - 12/11
Ryan Reynolds is slated to swing back into action with Free Guy on December 11th. The film set within a video game, directed by Shawn Levy, was previously scheduled as a summer 2020 blockbuster by Fox. However, once Coronavirus started to become an ongoing problem, Free Guy was pushed from June to the current December date, where it remains for now.
Coming 2 America - 12/18
Eddie Murphy's Coming 2 America was previously slated to release in theaters on December 18, but will now go straight to Amazon Prime instead. Paramount originally dated the long-awaited sequel for August 2020, but delayed it to the Christmas season in 2019. No marketing materials for Coming 2 America have been released yet, which is a bit curious when one considers how close it is on the calendar.
Death on the Nile - 12/18
Kenneth Branaugh's Murder on the Orient Express sequel Death on the Nile is now slated to be released on December 18. The movie was previously delayed from December 2019 to October 2020 after the Disney-Fox deal. It was then announced, though, that the film would be pushed back two more months. It's unclear if Death on the Nile will have to be delayed again, but Disney appears to believe that the December date is achievable currently.
Soul - 12/25
Pixar's Soul is now scheduled to be released on-demand, via Disney+, on December 25. The new original Pixar adventure was originally set to launch in summer 2020, but it was delayed to November due to Coronavirus. Disney stood firm with that theatrical date for awhile, but clearly came to the conclusion that like with Mulan, a Disney+ release would be best for Soul.
Wonder Woman 1984 - 12/25
Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to be released in theaters on Christmas Day. Warner Bros.' sequel to Wonder Woman was originally planned to come out in December 2019, before moving up to November 2019 to avoid Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The Gal Gadot-led sequel was then delayed to June 2020 so that it could be a summer blockbuster just like the first film, but that put it in the crosshairs of Coronavirus delays. It was already delayed to August, then October, and now December, due to the pandemic, so only time will tell whether or not theaters will be able to show Wonder Woman 1984 on this current date.