Sony has delayed major 2021 movie release dates, including Camila Cabello's Cinderella. The move follows what has already been a tough year for the movie industry due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Many major film studios have chosen to either push their 2020 movie releases back to 2021 or 2022, or have a limited theatrical run and head to streaming early. Long-awaited blockbuster titles like Black Widow and No Time to Die have faced numerous release changes, with the studios determined to still give them theater debuts. Theater chains have struggled since the start of the pandemic, and as cases have continued to spread, theaters have re-closed or remained closed. With the promise of COVID-19 vaccines, the industry was in hopes to be back on its feet by 2021.
With the 2020 global box office down by $30 billion from 2019, the theater industry is counting on audiences returning to theaters in 2021. As theaters remain closed in major cities like New York City and Los Angeles, many movie releases scheduled for early 2021 have been pushed to the summer or fall. Christopher Nolan's Tenet was expected to be a major box office draw, but did not do nearly as well as hoped, and studios continue to push their releases back, not wanting their movies to similarly underperform. Now Sony continues to push back their 2021 movies.
Sony has shifted their 2021 release schedule for multiple major movies, including Camila Cabello's Cinderella, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Uncharted and Marvel's Morbius. Now the Kay Cannon-directed live-action Cinderella will release in theaters July 16 instead of its original February 5 date, with Sony still set on the movie needing a theatrical release. Cinderella's delay bumps the Tom Holland-led film adaptation Uncharted from its original mid-July slot to Feb. 11, 2022. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway has been pushed from April 2 to June 11, leaving the Ghostbusters sequel bumped from its June 11 date, to now November 11. Meanwhile, the highly-anticipated Marvel thriller Morbius, starring Jared Leto, has been moved to Jan. 21, 2022.
The changes follow shortly after MGM's latest move to delay Daniel Craig's final James Bond entry No Time to Die from Easter weekend to October 8. The studio already previously pushed back Morbius' release date, as earlier this month the studio delayed the comic book movie from March to October. Morbius is currently the only wide-release film in its new slot, where it will hopefully remain after facing several delays since its initial 2020 release date.
With theaters not looking like it will be back to business as usual this year, it's unsurprising that Sony is changing around their release schedule. Especially as keeping Morbius in its October slot would have put it up against No Time to Die. It's clear that Sony is expecting the Camila Cabello-led Cinderella to be a major box office draw, determined to give it a normal theater release. With Sony intent on keeping its movies in theaters, unlike Warner Bros.' 2021 release model, it's likely that fans might see more delays for these movies in the future.
Source: Deadline