Update: Paramount has further delayed Top Gun: Maverick to July 2, 2021. Original article is as follows:
Top Gun: Maverick becomes the latest movie to be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a new release date in December. At this point, just about everyone is aware of COVID-19's impact on the entertainment industry, with movie theaters around the world closing as part of the effort to help flatten the curve and practice social distancing. As a result, the 2020 movie release calendar has essentially been wiped clean through the end of May, with highly-anticipated blockbusters like No Time to Die, Black Widow, and Fast & Furious 9 (among many others) being postponed.
Movies originally scheduled for June are now being pushed back as well. Warner Bros. recently delayed Wonder Woman 1984 (which is now eyeing an August 14 debut) and In the Heights, suggesting the expectation is things will unfortunately not be much better a few months from now. There were still some high-profile June films hanging on to their release dates, but now another big sequel has moved.
Today, Paramount announced they are delaying the release of Top Gun: Maverick, with a new date set for December 23. The film was initially set to premiere on June 24. Additionally, the studio slated A Quiet Place Part II to September, after the horror sequel was pushed from its original March debut due to the pandemic.
December is currently set to have some high-profile releases, such as Denis Villeneuve's Dune and Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake. However, opening over the holiday season will likely be beneficial for Top Gun: Maverick. That time of year is traditionally one of the busiest times for multiplexes, and there's usually room for more than one would-be blockbuster. For instance, last December saw both Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji: The Next Level post successful theatrical runs, so there's little reason to believe Top Gun 2 can't coexist with the other December movies (assuming, of course, none of those are delayed if post-production is affected). If things have improved by December, Maverick could also get a boost by being one of the first big titles released post-pandemic, capitalizing on the demand to see anything new in theaters.
AMC CEO Adam Aron recently expressed hope closed theaters could reopen in June, but if that happens, it doesn't look like there'll be any new films awaiting viewers. As it stands, the only major June movie still on the calendar is Pixar's Soul, though it's likely that will have to move at some point. Sony just shifted their summer 2020 slate to 2021, delaying July movies like Ghostbusters: Afterlife and August's Peter Rabbit: The Runaway. Hollywood has all but abandoned the summer 2020 movie season (Christopher Nolan's Tenet is one of the few stragglers left), so Top Gun: Maverick was smart to clear out. Hopefully film buffs will be able to close out a bizarre year by enjoying Tom Cruise taking the skies one more time.
Source: Paramount
