Earlier today, we shared a piece about how a financial analyst predicted that the only way that theaters are going to be able to survive the uncertainty that is plaguing the theatrical business right now is if studios are willing to “take a hit” with a film. That means, even if a studio knows that a film is going to do less box office than anticipated, at least the theatrical business will be given a chance to survive. Well, Warner Bros. doesn’t appear to be that studio willing to take a hit, and “Dune” isn’t going to be the movie.
READ MORE: Analyst Says Studios Have To Be “Willing To Take A Hit” For Theaters To Survive
According to Collider, WB is reportedly ready to delay “Dune” from it’s upcoming December 18 release date to October 1, 2021 (Variety co-signs on the reporting). Yes, that’s almost a full year away. And no, it has nothing to do with director Denis Villeneuve’s work on the feature. This is purely a business decision made by a studio that doesn’t want its sci-fi epic to be a massive bomb due to lack of people willing to see the film and a small number of theaters actually open.
Interestingly, the report doesn’t seem to have any news about what this might mean for WB’s other major October 1, 2021 film, “The Batman.” That superhero film has already been delayed once due to production being stalled. And it would appear that WB wants to get that feature in front of people as soon as humanly possible. Perhaps Warner Bros. will announce a new date that’s earlier than October for “The Batman?” Or maybe, this is all part of a larger plan that will see “Wonder Woman 1984” also join next year’s release dates and will further push “The Batman” to late-2021?
Obviously, this “Dune” news is far from the last delay that we will be talking about in the weeks to come. There’s still animated films “Soul” and “The Croods 2” that are supposed to arrive in November. Then, there’s the aforementioned ‘WW84’ and 21st Century’s “Free Guy” that are still dated for December. And if any of those four films move, what’s left of the theatrical business for 2020? We’ve already seen Cineworld shut down until further notice. Is AMC next? Will the mom-and-pop independent cinemas survive? It’s a scary time to be a film fan, folks.
