Not this again. After the two years of havoc that COVID inflicted on their business, movie theater owners thought they were past the days of blank marquees. Studios, miraculously, have been releasing films at a regular rate. And better yet, people are showing up to see them. Not to mention “Barbenheimer” — the glorious, explosive, ecstatically meme-able phenomenon of “Barbenheimer”!
So far, Sony has made the boldest changes, shifting the sports drama “Gran Turismo” back two weeks to Aug. 25, pushing its sequel “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” from Christmas to spring 2024, and taking “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,” once set for March, off the calendar.
“The studios would be making a grave mistake moving major parts of their slate out of 2023, and it would be a severe blow to theaters right as we are getting back on our feet,” he says. “The industry can’t take another round of massive date shifts. It will hurt everyone.” Stars also can’t attend the fall film festivals in Venice, Toronto and Telluride, which are crucial locales to launch awards season cam- paigns. Almost a year ago, Brendan Fraser began his charm-offensive tour in the Floating City on the way to landing an acting Oscar for “The Whale,” and Sarah Polley’s drama “Women Talking” captivated the canyons of Colorado before cinching the Academy Award for adapted screenplay.
“The studios would be making a grave mistake moving major parts of their slate out of 2023, and it would be a severe blow to theaters,' says one theater chain exec. “The industry can’t take another round of massive date shifts. It will hurt everyone.”