As is often the case these days, one delay in the movie industry soon begets another as the entertainment world tries to emerge from its coronvirus-created slumber and reimagine itself as a place where people safely go to the movies again. Friday night gave us news that Christopher Nolan’s Tenet would be pushed to the very end of July, and word quickly followed that another huge box office attraction in the DC Universe would also see its release date pushed back.
This one, however, would send an 80s period piece even further back into the fall of 2020. As Deadline reported on Friday, Wonder Woman 1984‘s already-delayed August 14 release date will now shift to October 2.
With Disney’s The One and Only Ivan and Wonder Woman 1984 off Aug. 14, that leaves the weekend up for grabs. Hmmm, Mulan move, anyone? If that movie wanted to still go on July 24, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary; Disney has already built up the pic’s brand with extensive advertising earlier this year. Many in distribution circles have told me that whenever Disney wants Mulan to go, they just need to flick a switch.
Wonder Woman 1984 was originally slated to hit theaters earlier in the year, messing up a number of promotional tie-ins in the process. But the move is, as Deadline suggested, likely to see a cascade of other release dates pushed around as well.
Wonder Woman 1984 is apt to stir up more release date changes. Paramount has their Tom Clancy feature Without Remorse starring Michael B. Jordan on that date. Universal also has the Amblin Tom Hanks sci-fi movie Bios.
Either way, the news wasn’t outwardly disappointing to Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, who tweeted about the release date change on Friday night promising fans the sequel will be “worth the wait.”
The new release date for WW84 is 10.2.20. Wow,it’s finally happening, & I couldn’t be more excited!To all the fans that stuck w/ us through this time, thank u so much! We couldn’t have done this w/o you.I’m so excited for you to get to see this #WW84, it will be worth the wait
pic.twitter.com/GCU0tcpqHT
— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) June 12, 2020
Tenet, of course, was slated to appear on the 10th anniversary of Nolan’s Inception box office release, but was pushed two weeks as theaters around the country hope they can be open in time for the extremely secretive blockbuster. We’ll see if any of these dates stick this time but, either way, adjust your calendars accordingly.