It’s the second half of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic is still raging across the world, and the most anticipated movies of the year are getting their theatrical releases delayed right and left for the health of moviegoers everywhere.
With theater chains like AMC and Regal delaying the reopening of their movie theaters along with studios delaying their film releases, many fear that the pandemic will render movie theaters extinct, forcing people to watch and stream new releases from the comfort of their home forever.
Don’t worry, movie theaters will come back to life by the end of the year, if not the beginning of 2021, along with a handful of the following movies that were initially slated for release 2020 but had to be pushed back.
Here are the 12 big 2020 movie delays and when they’re coming out.
Tenet
The most anticipated spy thriller by Christopher Nolan about a man on a mission to prevent World War III, Tenet was originally scheduled to be released in IMAX theaters on July 17, but Warner Bros. shuffled its release date around three times, first by scheduling it for July 31 and then on Aug. 12, which coincided with the 10th anniversary screening of Inception.
Eventually, Warner Bros. arranged for Tenet to be released on Aug. 26 in 70 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Germany, Australia and South Korea — countries where the coronavirus is more or less completely contained — and Sep. 3 in the United States.
Wonder Woman 1984
Warner Bros. gave Wonder Woman 1984, which pits Diana against Max Lord and Cheetah during the tail-end of the Cold War, more release date runarounds than they did with Tenet.
The studio shuffled Wonder Woman 1984’s release date back and forth between Dec. 13, 2019 (it’s original release date) and Nov. 1, 2019, before delaying it to June 5, 2020. But when all hell broke loose with the pandemic and movie theaters were shut down indefinitely, Warner Bros. pushed the film’s release date back to Aug. 14, and finally to October. A solid date will be announced at a later time.
Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick, which has Tom Cruise’s daredevil Air Force pilot still flying into the danger zone 35 years after the events of the first movie, was supposed to come out June 26, but the pandemic prompted Paramount Pictures to keep it grounded for another year.
At first, Top Gun: Maverick was slated to fly out July 12, 2019, but it was given a year’s extension for the producers to perfect all the flight sequences. The film is now scheduled to take off July 2, 2021.
Mulan
Mulan, Disney’s live-action remake of the 1998 animated classic starring an all-Asian cast, was originally scheduled to open in theaters nationwide on March 27 after its red carpet premiere at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles a few weeks prior. However, after the pandemic forced theaters to close their doors left and right three days after the event, Disney postponed the film’s release multiple times before pulling it from its theatrical release schedule indefinitely on July 23.
On Aug. 4, Disney announced that it will debut Mulan on Disney+ for the premium rental price of $29.99 (on top of the $6.99 monthly subscription fee), and release it in theaters in countries where Disney+ is unavailable.
007: No Time To Die
No Time To Die was originally slated for release on April 4 in the United Kingdom and April 10 in the US before the coronavirus left the entire movie theater industry shaken, if not stirred.
MGM postponed 007’s latest outing to Nov. 12 for the UK and Nov. 25 Stateside. At least we got Billie Eilish’s theme song for the movie on our playlists to hold us over.
Black Widow
The first film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Widow was originally set to come out in May. It will now be released on Nov. 6.
According to Variety, a source close to Marvel Studios said that Black Widow’s delay won’t have a negative effect on the MCU’s timeline as it is something of a prequel.
Candyman
Candyman, a film about a vengeful spirit with a hook for a hand who kills anyone who dares to say his name five times while looking in the mirror, was originally scheduled to come out in theaters June 12.
The pandemic pushed the release date of Jordan Peele’s latest production to Sep. 25 and finally to Oct. 16, just in time for Halloween (which will become a socially-distanced holiday unless a vaccine comes out by then).
Minions: The Rise of Gru
Minions: The Rise of Gru, a second prequel to the mega-popular Despicable Me trilogy surrounding 12-year-old Gru on his journey to become a supervillain by attempting to join the Vicious 6, was initially scheduled to invade theaters July 3.
The pandemic delayed the film’s invasion for another year, setting its new target date to July 2, 2021.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
Paramount splashed The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On the Run, the first CGI film for Nickelodeon’s popular nautical character, around four times. Originally scheduled to jump into theaters July 17, Paramount moved it up to May 22, but then pushed it back to July 31 as a result of the pandemic and finally settled for Aug. 7.
Now, SpongeBob SquarePants is forgoing the movie theater for the first time since his last movie, Sponge Out of Water, and taking his latest full-length outing to CBS All Access in 2021, along with his flagship TV series. CBS and Nickelodeon are owned by Viacom, so don’t blow your portholes.
Raya and the Last Dragon
Disney’s 59th animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, set in a fictional land inspired by Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, to name a few, was originally scheduled to release on Nov. 25, which is around Thanksgiving weekend.
Disney has since postponed the release of the film to March 21, 2021.
Soul
Soul is the second film Pixar has to offer this year, with the first being Onward, which released in theaters March 4 before all the theaters were forced to shut down.
Soul, who is a middle school music teacher with dreams of performing onstage who falls down a sewer and has his Osmosis Jones-like soul separated from his body, was originally scheduled to come out June 19. After Raya and the Last Dragon got delayed to spring 2021, Soul took its Thanksgiving weekend slot and is now scheduled to release Nov. 20.
For background on the Pixar double feature pattern, they released Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur in 2015. Don’t let the glowing reviews for the latter film fool you, though, it’s actually as boring as a museum tour guide with a monotone voice.
In the Heights
Based on the 2007 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose play Hamilton would become his magnum opus eight years down the line, In the Heights was originally scheduled to play June 26.
Warner Bros. pushed the film’s release date back to June 18, 2021.
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