Warner Bros. is on a roll today with the release date changes. Soon after shifting Tenet by two weeks to July 31 and moving Wonder Woman 1984 from August 14 to October 2, the studio has announced that Matrix 4 and Godzilla Vs. Kong are making big release date changes as well.
Matrix 4, which halted production in Berlin back in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is shifting from May 21, 2021, to April 1, 2022. Production on the fourth film might start up again next month if all safety protocols are met but a film like this also has a lengthy post-production period due to special effects, which explains why the release date is moving nearly a year. The interesting thing about the release date change is now it will open one week after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which opens on March 25.
Godzilla Vs. Kong, which was set for release this year on November 20, will now take over Matrix 4‘s original May 21, 2021 date. Lionsgate currently has Spiral, its Saw reboot starring Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson, on that date. Spiral was another film that fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic as it was supposed to open May of this year.
All of these moves have caused quite the stir on the calendar for other films as well. Robert Zemeckis’ feature adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Witches is unset in 2021 for the time being, no longer going on October 9. Witches leaves behind 20th Century Studios’ Kenneth Branagh movie Death on the Nile and Paramount’s expansion of Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7. Also on the move is Warner Bros. cartoon action hybrid Tom & Jerry comes off December 23 and heads to March 5, 2021. Warner Bro. is also taking an untitled event movie off the October 16 calendar this year.
