Mr. Movie: Where did all those movies go?

Tradition divides the movie year into four sections. The two that really matter in terms of box office income and awards nominations are spring and early winter. Fall and late summer are places studies drop movies that they know won’t do all that well. Or sometimes they put films they’ve been hanging on to for awhile and had nowhere to put them in the fall and late summer.

The spring movie season used to begin in June. These days things ramp up in April and go through July 4th. The higher profit-making movies are in June and July.

The early winter movie season used to run November and December. These days it’s more like October to Christmas. These are the weeks when the studios aim to impress award-giving groups. They also pack theaters with films that will bring in huge profits.

This year? Nope. Things have changed. Like a dramatic villain in one of their pandemic, end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it movies, the COVID-19 virus popped into the plot and has wreaked havoc on the movie release schedule for most studios. Since the pandemic’s mid-March stay-at-home orders were issued and theaters closed, studios have been scrambling.

Leaping into survival mode and not wanting to have to compete with major movies that had to be moved, many studios have bagged the release of some movies this year altogether.

At least so far.

Others have moved their films to later dates. This list is by no-means comprehensive, nor is it permanent. The information I have here comes from a couple of different sources. One is from the company that represents most of the studios I work with and the other source is the Internet.

The films most of us are most curious about are on this list. For me it’s “Black Widow,” “Mulan,” “Tenent,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” “A Quiet Place II,” “Bios,” “No Time to Die,” “Stillwater,” “Dune,” “The West Side Story,” “Top Gun Maverick” and “Fast & Furious 9.” You may have different tastes and different questions.

For now, here’s what I have.

May

“Scoob!”: The Scoobie Doo movie will be released on View on Demand on May 15.

“The Lovebirds”: The Kumail Nanjiani romantic comedy and murder mystery moves from theater release to Netflix on May 22.

June

“Artemis Fowl”: The family-oriented fairy kidnapped and ransomed by a criminal flick goes from a May 29 theater schedule to being seen from June 12 to whenever on Disney+.

“Kajillionaire”: I love heist movies and find writer director Miranda July one of the more interesting indie film writer/directors working today. Evan Rachel Wood stars and this one opens in theaters on June 19.

July

“The Forever Purge”: Another Purge movie? Really? The producers promise this is the last one. Hopefully. For fans, this one opens July 10.

“Tenent”: When Christopher Nolan gets it right, no one does sci-fi better. This very interesting looking flick stars John David Washington and stays on its original release date of July 17.

“Mulan”: I have only liked one of the Disney classic animated movies turned live-action films. So while the rest of you are looking forward to “Mulan,” I am not. Hopefully Disney will surprise me and give me a movie as interesting as what they did with “Beauty and the Beast.” The “Mulan” release was canceled on March 27 and is now scheduled to open July 24.

August

“The Sponge Bob Movie: Sponge on the Run”: Has moved from May 22 to August 7.

“Escape Room 2”: No escaping this sequel that was supposed to open in April. The horror flick has been pushed back to August 14.

“Wonder Woman 1984”: Gal Gadot reprises the popular role and the very much anticipated Wonder Woman sequel has moved from June 5 to August 14. This one looks like it will be more fun than the original.

“Bill & Ted Face the Music”: Some sequels take awhile. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter launched the Bill & Ted series and did movies in 1989 and 1991 and then Reeves went on to be a big star and Winter more or less disappeared. This one opens August 21.

September

“A Quiet Place Part II’: This is the first screening the studios canceled when the stay-at-home orders began being issued in early March. The first film was my favorite movie from 2018. Can’t wait for the sequel which now opens on September 4.

“Monster Hunter”: The video game-based fantasy flick is still on for September 4.

“The Beatles: Get Back”: Here’s one I’ve been anticipating. Peter Jackson whose ”They Shall Not Grow Old” proved he can do more than bad movies about Hobbits and some great flicks about Middle Earth. He’s reaching back to 1969 and 1970 and has taken footage from The Beatles documentary ”Let it Be” and other footage of the Fab Four, and will give us his take on what was going on with John, Paul, George and Ringo during that time. It will see limited release on September 4.

“The King’s Man”: No change. The next installment in The Kingsmen series is September 18.

“Candyman”: From 1992 to this year is a long time to wait for a sequel, especially one to a not-very-good horror movie. “Candyman” moves his urban legend haunting of Chicago from June 12 to September 25.

October

“Bios”: Nothing has changed for this Tom Hanks flick about a post-apocalyptic robot and a dog. It opens October 2.

“The Witches”: Based on a Roald Dahl book, Robert Zemeckis tells the tale of a seven-year old boy’s encounter with some witches. It opens on October 29.

“The French Dispatch”: Film critics love Wes Anderson. So do most of you. This one moves from July 24 to October 16. He calls this movie a love letter to journalists. As a lifelong journalist, I love that thought.

November

“Black Widow”: Marvel gets November moving and Scarlett Johansson’s Avenger’s movie character gets a shot at her own franchise. ”Black Widow” was scheduled to open May 1 but has been moved to November 6.

“Stillwater”: One of my all-time favorite writer/directors is Tom McCarthy. He’s best-known these days for the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning ”Spotlight” from 2016 and his helping to pen the animated flick ”Up” in 2009. I love McCarthy more for ”The Station Agent” in 2003 and ”Win-Win” in 2011. ”Stillwater” stars Matt Damon and Abigail Breslen and opens on November 6.

”Deep Water”: The Ben Affleck and Ana De Armas murder drama about a husband who lets his wife have affairs and then maybe kills her lovers opens November 13.

”Godzilla Vs. King Kong”: The two are the most popular behemoth monsters in history. We love both monsters. I want this one to be a draw. You probably do, too. We’ll see who wins the bout on November 20.

”Soul”: The Pete Docter-directed animated jazz film moves from April 19 to November 20.

”No Time to Die”: Fans love Bond. I haven’t been a fan for a long time. Will this Bond be better than the last couple of duds? It was originally scheduled for April so we’ll have to wait to find out how Bond bests a baddie on November 25.

December

”Free Guy”: Ryan Reynolds latest looks fun. It’s based on a banker who learns he’s a non-player character in a very violent video game. When he’s good, no one tops Reynolds — as ”Deadpool” proved — at snarky humor. We were going to see it on July 3 but will now have to wait until December 11.

”West Side Story”: Steven Spielberg is redoing the 1961 movie that starred Natalie Wood. What he does to freshen up the Sharks and the Jets and their gang rivalry is anybody’s guess. Hopefully, it’ll be a better movie than this year’s Broadway movie bust, ”Cats.” ”West Side Story” opens December 18.

”Coming 2 America”: Eddie Murphy reprises the role he did in 1988. Akeem returns to America to find a son he didn’t know he had. We’ll find out how dad and son get along on December 18.

”Dune”: In my book the original ”Dune” movie in 1984 was a dud. Frank Herbert’s most popular book and the popular book series comes to life again on December 18. Well, hopefully it does.

”Top Gun Maverick”: In a year packed with sequels and remakes, Tom Cruise reprises one of his most popular roles. We were going to see it this summer on June 26 but Cruise will cruise — no, let’s make that fly — into theaters a few days before Christmas on December 23.

Rescheduled for Next Year

”Fast & Furious 9” moves from May 22 this year to April 2, 2021.

”Peter Rabbit 2” was scheduled for April 3 this year and moves January 15, 2021.

No Schedule Yet that I Could Find:

”Ghostbusters: Afterlife”

”Barbie”

”Minions: The Rise of Gru”

”The New Mutants”

”Antlers”

”Promising Young Woman”

”Antebellum”

”The Personal History of David Copperfield”

”Spiral”

”The Woman in the Window”

”Greyhound”

”I’m Thinking of Ending Things”

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Where did all those movies go?."