EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is pushing the theatrical releases of this August’s White Bird: A Wonder Story and next year’s Dirty Dancing sequel from director Jonathan Levine due to the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, we hear.
White Bird, the spin-off prequel to the studio’s 2017 box office smash Wonder, was set to launch limited on Aug. 18 and go wider on Aug. 25. It’s now undated for Q4 at the end of this year. That leaves the last weekend in August without a wide theatrical release, which isn’t that unusual for that point in summer. White Bird stars Helen Mirren and Gillian Anderson, and it’s the type of movie that really needs the push from its actors to raise it above the fray. Best to wait the strike out.
In the case of Dirty Dancing which is penned by Elizabeth Chomko, Mikki Daughtry, and Tobias Iaconis, I understand the studio is waiting to getting the Jennifer Grey reprise in the right perfect state; not unusual for any brewing production right now. The pic moves away from its Feb. 9, 2024 date to the summer of 2025.
This isn’t the first moves for pics’ release dates changes due to the strikes: Disney was ahead of the game before SAG-AFTRA struck by pushing Thunderbolts, Avatar 3, its next crop of Avengers movies among several other tentpoles.
White Bird is helmed by Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Christopher Robin), based on R.J. Palacio’s same-name 2019 follow-up. Bryce Gheisar reprise his role as Julian, who has struggled to belong ever since he was expelled from his former school for his treatment of Auggie. To transform his life, Julian’s grandmother (Helen Mirren) finally reveals to Julian her own story of courage — during her youth in Nazi-occupied France, a boy shelters her from mortal danger. They find first love in a stunning, magical world of their own creation, while the boy’s mother (Gillian Anderson) risks everything to keep her safe.