As the world shelters in place to wait out the coronavirus pandemic, movie studios are either having to come up with creative ways to get their films out to the public or simply push back release dates in the hopes that this whole thing will blow over eventually.
In the first case, you have Disney removing its upcoming adventure film Artemis Fowl — about a teen genius from a family of criminal masterminds who goes on a mission to look for his missing father — from its theatrical release schedule to release it on Disney+, per Variety. “With audiences largely unable to attend theaters in the current environment, we are thrilled to offer the premiere of Artemis Fowl on Disney+,” said Ricky Strauss, president of content and marketing for the streaming service. “Director Kenneth Branagh and his spectacular cast take viewers right into the vibrant, fantasy world of the beloved book, which fans have been waiting to see brought to life onscreen for years. It’s great family entertainment that is the perfect addition to Disney+’s summer lineup.”
I can’t blame Disney for that decision given how many people are stuck at home binge-watching everything they can right now, and for a smaller movie like Artemis Fowl, which wasn’t a guaranteed big screen success, this makes a lot of sense.
But lest you fear that studios are going to start releasing everything on streaming services, don’t worry: we now have word on new release dates for a lot of movies that had previously been delayed because of the virus, including a ton from Disney:
- Mulan: July 24, 2020
- Black Widow: November 6, 2020
- Free Guy: December 11, 2020
Free Guy is moving to Dec. 11. Here's a clip that's weirdly appropriate and isn’t actually finished. We cut it a while ago (while there was still a “Fox” before @20thcentury). Ignore the watermarks. And huge thanks to #Aspect for cutting it. pic.twitter.com/aJDqaGIFvT
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) April 3, 2020
- The French Dispatch: December 18, 2020
- The Eternals: February 12, 2021 — Black Widow took its old place
- The Bob’s Burger’s movie: April 9, 2021
- Shang Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings: May 7, 2021
- Jungle Cruise: July 30, 2021
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: November 5, 2021
- Thor: Love and Thunder: February 18, 2022
- Captain Marvel 2: July 29, 2022
- Indiana Jones 5: July of 2022
And Disney’s not the only studio shuffling things around. After delaying the release of A Quiet Place Part II, which was originally going to come out in March, Paramount will be putting it out September 4, 2020. Meanwhile, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and Ton Gun: Maverick will both come out in December of this year.
Hopefully this pandemic won’t drag on long enough for the studios to need to shift the dates again.
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