Carl Roberts 
Sony Pictures has announced the significant delay in its 2021 release calendar – with Ghostbusters Afterlife, Morbius, and Uncharted pushed back!
The Sony Pictures dominos are falling again. We all thought it would happen and now, it has been confirmed. Four of Sony’s big guns for this summer’s blockbuster season have fallen once more before the threat that is COVID-19. What is annoying though is that one film was moved to October last week only to be delayed further with the announcement.
LICENSE TO DELAY
The 25th and final adventure starring Daniel Craig as James Bond 007, ‘No Time To Die‘ has been pushed back even further. Originally due to open in April of last year before being pushed to November before it was pushed even further back to this April, the film has now been shunted back to an October 8th release. Meaning that the film has suffered a release delay of eighteen months from its original release.
The film and its delay to this April was the reason that several cinema chains closed their doors during the pandemic. Cinemas were hoping it to be the film to drag audiences back into screens and without it, they decided it wasn’t worth keeping their doors open.
THE BIG DELAYS
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife‘, the third chapter of the original franchise was due for release back in July of 2020. But it was pushed back to a March 5th opening. That has now vanished into the ghostly ether as the film has been pushed back again to now open on November 11th.
The big-screen adaptation of ‘Morbius‘ was due for release back on July 10th, 2020 before moving three weeks to July 31st instead. The film was then delayed further until March 19th before shifting again last week to October 8th. The film has now been delayed further and won’t open until January 21st, 2022. Another film that has suffered an eighteen-month delay.
UNCHARTED
And finally, the big-screen outing for the videogame adaptation of ‘Uncharted‘, has also seen its fortunes hit with a hammer blow. Originally, the film was due to hit theatres on June 10th, 2016 before hitting a delay until June 30th, 2017. It then suffered the misfortune to move again to December 18th, 2020. Before being given the date of March 5th, 2021. This was followed by a further move to July 16th, 2021. It now has been pushed back again, this time to open on February 11th, 2022.
THE REST
This represents the first major moves from the big studios. All eyes will now be on Disney with ‘Black Widow‘ and ‘Jungle Cruise‘ due out soon. Warner Bros. also has ‘Tom And Jerry’, ‘Godzilla VS Kong‘, ‘Dune, and ‘The Suicide Squad‘, releasing soon. And Paramount has lined up ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. I expect these movies to shift their positions within the next week or so. And will lead us into the second summer of no blockbusters opening at the cinemas of the world.
With a little bit of luck, October’s ‘Halloween Kills‘ will be unaffected but it is again a case of watch this space. We will bring you any further delays as soon as they are announced.
Source: Sony
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