If you’ve totally lost track of movie release dates during the pandemic, you’re not alone. After delaying numerous top-tier blockbuster movies last year, several Hollywood studios just pushed back their release dates once again.
Optimistically slated for an April 2021 release, the new James Bond movie No Time To Die will now come out in October. Sony is also delaying several high-profile movies: Peter Rabbit 2 and Camila Cabello’s Cinderella are now scheduled for summer releases, while Ghostbusters: Afterlife has been pushed back to Nov. 11 and Tom Holland’s Uncharted has moved to February 2022. The Spider-Man spinoff Morbius will now come out in January 2022 as well.
These new release dates shed some light on which films these studios are prioritizing. If a movie is still coming out this summer (like Cinderella), then the studio probably doesn’t see it as a major player. But if its release date is getting pushed back to winter 2021 or into next year, then the studio hopes to make serious bank when audiences can fully return to theaters. So films like Uncharted and Morbius are the heavy hitters. Sony’s sequel to Venom, however, is still slated for a summer 2021 release.
Marvel fans are still waiting for news on Black Widow, the next MCU movie. In theory, it’s still getting a theatrical release in May after being delayed for a full year. But with so many big-budget projects coming out on Disney+, fans are already wondering why Black Widow isn’t on the streaming service too.
The fact is that releasing a blockbuster on Disney+ is still a serious financial risk for Disney and spiritually feels like a step down from a theatrical release. But with more and more delays happening across the board, it seems increasingly likely that we’ll end up watching Black Widow—and several other major blockbusters—online.