A couple of weeks ago, Warner Bros. postponed the release of Tenet by two weeks – from July 17 to July 31. However, as the number of new COVID-19 cases in the US kept rising, the studio again pushed back Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller to August 12. Subsequently, Disney announced it once again changed the release date of its live-action Mulan remake – from July 24 to August 21. Mulan was to come out on March 27 but, after the World Health Organization warned about the global pandemic, Disney shifted it to July 24. Well, there goes that date, too.
Similarly, Bill and Ted Face the Music has now also been postponed by two weeks, from August 14 to August 28. Solstice Studios tried to cash in on re-opening of cinemas by releasing its action-thriller Unhinged featuring Russell Crowe on July 10, days before Tenet. However, since Tenet keeps retreating, Solstice has returned to its original release date of July 31. Finally, Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse starring Michael B. Jordan has changed its premiere date from October 2 to February 26, 2021.
Studios are pretty much playing a colossal game of chicken with the coronavirus, hoping that pandemic will somehow relent in the upcoming weeks. The problem with this idea is like the Terminator: you can’t bargain or reason with it. At this point, they might as well give up and either release all these titles on VOD or wait until next summer by which time we’ll hopefully have a vaccine.
