Fresh off the heels of MGM delaying the latest Bond film No Time To Die, Sony Pictures has made the decision to delay the releases of not one but four films. Morbius, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Uncharted, & Cinderella, starring Camila Cabello, are all on the move.
Morbius was the first of the Sony releases to be delayed in 2021 when it was shifted off of its March 19, 2021, date to October 8, 2021. According to “Deadline”, the reason for moving Morbius is all about 007. Once No Time To Die moved from April 2, 2021, to October 8, 2021, Sony didn’t want to risk competing with another big tentpole on the same weekend. Morbius will now open on January 21, 2022, the weekend after MLK weekend. The upside, if there is one, is that Morbius will have access to all Imax screens and the film is the only wide release dated for that weekend. The road to the big screen has been a long one for Morbius. The Sony release was originally set to open on July 10, 2020, before moving three weeks later to July 31, 2020. The film saw all of its future delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic which pushed it to March 19, 2021, and now January 21, 2022.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is delayed until November 11, 2021. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway has moved into Ghostbusters’ old spot of June 11, 2021, & this marks the film’s latest delay after originally being set to open July 10, 2020, before being moved to March 5, 2021, and then finally landing on the recently vacated June 11 date. Cinderella will now release in theaters on July 16, 2021, instead of February 5, 2021. Moving the Cabello Cinderella adaptation to July moves Tom Holland’s video game adaptation Uncharted, which was originally set for mid-July, to February 11, 2022.
We were all warned that the releases between now & maybe April would be on the move & studios are making good on those warnings. At this point, I don’t even think May releases like Black Widow or Fast & Furious 9 are safe. Sony Pictures has been vocal about respecting the theatrical window & not selling their films off to streamers or going PVOD so their delays aren’t surprising, just disappointing because I know we all hoped the 2021 releases would be safe from any delays due to the pandemic.
