In the wake of COVID-19’s continued grip on the box office, Disney made another round of release date changes, the good news for exhibition being: Nothing is headed to Disney+. And that includes Pixar’s Soul which is currently sticking to its Nov. 20 release against MGM’s No Time to Die.
While we already knew Marvel’s Black Widow was set to move, it’s by far the biggest shift on Disney’s theatrical calendar, going from Nov. 6 to May, 7 2021. That’s a complete annual delay of Black Widow from its original pre-pandemic release date of May 1 this year. Black Widow‘s shift kicks Marvel’s Eternals from Feb. 12, 2021 to Nov. 5, 2021; and moves Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings from May 7, 2021 to July 9, 2021 (a post Independence Day release date that Disney had already reserved for an untitled feature). Trickling up into Eternals Feb. 12, 2021 spot is 20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man which jumps up from its Feb. 26, 2021 release date.
Most immediately impacting exhibition in the near future: 20th Century Studios’ Kenneth Branagh-directed all-star ensemble mystery Death on the Nile moves from Oct. 23 to Dec. 18. Movie theaters won’t be completed robbed: Backfilling that pic’s Oct. 23 release date is 20th’s graphic novel feature adaptation The Empty Man which moves up from Dec. 4.
Delayed a year is Amblin/20th’s Steven Spielberg-directed West Side Story which will move from Dec. 18 to Dec. 10, 2021; the movie not even in the mix for this year’s upcoming Oscar season.
The 20th Century Studios Adrian Lyne-directed feature adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Deep Water also moves out of 2020 from Nov. 13 to Aug. 13, 2021.
How does the rest of 2020’s wide entries look? Here’s the everchanging calendar:
Oct. 9
The War With Grandpa (101 Studios)
Oct. 16
2 Hearts (Freestyle)
Honest Thief (Open Road)
Oct. 23
The Empty Man (20th/Dis)
Oct. 30
Fatale (Lionsgate)
Come Play (Focus/Amblin)
Nov. 6
Let Him Go (Focus)
Nov. 13
Freaky (Universal/Blumhouse)
The Comeback Trail (Cloudburst)
Nov. 20
No Time to Die (MGM/UAR)
Soul (Dis)
Nov. 25
Voyagers (Lionsgate)
Happiest Season (Sony/Tri-Star)
The Croods: A New Age (Universal/Dreamworks Animation)
Dec. 11
Free Guy (20th/Dis)
Dec. 18
Death on the Nile (20th/Dis)
Coming to America 2 (Par)
Dune (Warner Bros./Legendary)
Dec. 25
Wonder Woman 1984 (Warner Bros.)
News of the World (Universal)
Dec. 30
Escape Room 2 (Sony/Screen Gems)