With the current global health crisis, a lot of things have changed. That certainly has included how we consume new media. The film industry has had to quickly adapt to the fact that movie theaters are closed and make decisions about if they should send movies straight to digital on-demand, delay openings, or postpone indefinitely.
Obviously all of these dates are tentative, but we will do our best to keep you updated as things change!
One of the first movies to delays its opening was the James Bond film No Time To Die. Originally due out this April, the final Bond film starring Daniel Craig will now debut April 2, 2021.
A Quiet Place 2 was another film to quickly delay opening in theaters. The John Krasinski-directed movie will now come out in April 23, 2021.
Fast and the Furious 9 has been pushed back almost a whole year, from May of this year to May 28, 2021.
Jungle Cruise, starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson, will now explore the unknown on July 30,2021.
[Updated August 5] Mulan, the latest Disney film to get a live-action remake, had been pushed back from its original date of March 27 to July 24, and then again to August 21. It will now be released on Disney+ on Sept 4. While the service requires a subscription, it will cost an additional $30 to view Mulan. It will then be free for Disney+ users after December 4.
Easter film Peter Rabbit 2 is hopping backward a bit until January 15, 2021. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run has been moved to a digital release date sometime in early 2021. Ghostbusters: Afterlife will now bust ghosts once more on March 5, 2021. An adaptation of a video game of the same name, Uncharted will now come out on October 8, 2021. Free Guy, starring Ryan Reynolds, has changed its release from July to December 11. Indiana Jones 5, which had not started filming yet, will now debut a year later on July 29, 2022. Thiller Candyman will now be available to audiences on October 16. Top Gun: Maverick will now fly into theaters during the summer season on July 2, 2021.
On the superhero side of movies, quite a bit has changed. Wonder Woman 1984 will be moving to a holiday season release date of December 25. Morbius, starring Jared Leto, is likewise being moved back to March 19, 2021.
*Updated 11/18* It was announced today by director Patty Jenkins that Wonder Woman 1984 will debut on HBO Max on December 25, the same day as its theatrical release.
[Updated 9/23] The next Marvel film due to be released was Black Widow on May 1. This next installment of the MCU is being pushed back to May 7, 2021, which is having quite a ripple effect on the rest of Phase 4. As a result, Eternals has been moved to November 5, 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to July 9, 2021, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness to March 25, 2022, and Thor: Love and Thunder to February 11, 2022. The only films to remain unchanged are Black Panther 2 on May 8, 2022 and Captain Marvel 2 was given an official release date of July 8, 2022.
The follow-up to 2018’s Venom has gotten both a name change and new release date. Instead of simply being known as Venom 2, the film is now being called Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and it’s release date of October 2 of this year will now be June 25th, 2021.
It has been announced that at least a few films will be release digitally. Disney’s Artemis Fowl will go straight to Disney+ on June 12 and The Lovebirds starring Kumail Nanjiani will be released on Netflix on May 22. Animated film Scoob! will be available for digital purchase or rental May 15, the film’s original theatrical release date.
Updated 4/20/2020: Today Warner Bros. announced changes for its upcoming slate of movies. 2. The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark is moving from its original date of September 2020 to March 12, 2021. Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis film and Will Smith’s King Richard are now both moving to November 2021.
Updated 7/1/2020: It has been announced that the Warner Bros. film Tenet will move its release date back a few weeks to August 12th. In the movie’s original date on July 17th, the studio will re-release Inception to the theaters for the film’s 10th anniversary.
Updated 7/20/2020: The Conjuring 3 has been pushed back to June 4, 2021.
Bill and Ted Face the Music is currently planned to be in theaters and VOD August 28.
Connected, from Sony Pictures, is expected to come out October 23.
Updated 7/23/2020: The third Bill & Ted film – Bill & Ted Face the Music – will be available On Demand and in theaters September 1.
Updated 7/27/2020: Tenet will first be released internationally beginning on August 26, then released in select North American cities on September 3.
Animated Disney film Soul has had it November release date delayed to December 25, and will be available exclusively on Disney+. Raya and the Last Dragon has been moved back to March 12, 2021. Magic Camp and The One and Only Ivan will both premiere on Disney+ on August 14.
The Avatar sequel films have been pushed back to begin premiering in 2022, with Avatar 5 finishing the series in 2028. The scheduled Star Wars films will take the original Avatar slots, premiering in 2023, 2025, and 2027.
Wes Anderson film The French Dispatch was originally changed to come out October 16. It no longer has a release date. Death on the Nile from director Kenneth Branagh is expected is come out on October 20. The Personal History of David Copperfield starring Dev Patel is staying optimistic with a release date of August 28. Antlers, which did not originally have a new release date, will now come out February 19, 2021.
The Empty Man from 20th Century will now be released December 4th, and The Last Duel has changed its date to October 15, 2021.
Updated 8/26: Lionsgate’s film Antebellum will now to be released on-demand on September 18.
Updated 10/16/2020: The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, has now been delayed until October 1, 2021. Matrix 4 has actually had it’s release date moved up – from April 1, 2022 to December 22, 2021. The sequel to last year’s Shazam movie has been changed from November 4, 2022 to June 2, 2023, and The Flash has actually moved Shazam 2‘s original date of November 4, 2022. Black Adam will now come out at a future unknown date.
Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune has taken The Batman’s original spot of October 1, 2021.
Jurassic World: Dominion – uniting the stars of both the old and new films – has shifted it’s release date back an entire year to June 10, 2022.
Spiral, starring Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson, has also been pushed back an entire year to May 21, 2021.
The fifth Purge film, The Forever Purge, has been pushed back from July 10, 2020 to July 9, 2021.
Minions: The Rise of Gru will now be released July 2, 2021.
The film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s musical In the Heights has been pushed back a year to June 18, 2021.
Antoine Fuqua‘s sci-fi/action film Infinite has been rescheduled for May 28, 2021.
The eternally-delayed adaptaion of the popular video game Uncharted is now expected to be released July 16, 2021.
Both of Spider-Man sequels have been given new dates. Spider-Man 3 will be out December 17, 2021, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 will come out October 7, 2022.
Paramount’s The Tomorrow War starring Chris Pratt has been rescheduled for release on July 23, 2021.
Mission: Impossible 7 has been pushed to November 19, 2021, and it’s follow-up Mission: Impossible 8 has moved to November 4, 2022.
The 4th film of the John Wick franchise starring Keanu Reeves has now had its release date changed to May 27, 2022.
The movie monster showdown Godzilla vs. Kong will now come out May 21, 2021.
Quite a few films have not had new release dates announced and are currently postponed indefinitely. These include Greyhound, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0, Malignant, Blue Story, and Run. The Woman in the Window has reportedly been sold to Netflix for release on that platform at some future date. As for any movies that were currently in production, we’ll just have to wait and see how the future shakes out.
What is the first movie you’re looking forward to seeing once theaters reopen?
This was also the day that Google decided to use 
