Warner Bros. plays release date shuffle, punts Aquaman 2 to Christmas 2023
Shazam: Fury Of The Gods will now land in March, and no one knows when Salem's Lot will rise from the grave
Aux News Warner Bros
Another day, another batch of weird news about Warner Bros. Discovery. As hard as it is to not detect malice behind every decision the company has made in the last few months, including obliterating scripted television at three networks, removing HBO Max originals from HBO Max, laying off 14% of HBO’s workforce, shelving a nearly completed Batgirl movie, and laying waste to a host of original animated shows, we must assume that everything they do is in the interest of tax write-downs. Understandable, have a great day.
However, this time, it seems Warner Bros. made a decision in the film’s interest. Warner Bros. announced today that it’s moving Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom from March 17, 2023, to December 25. Per Deadline, the movie needs more time in postproduction to get all that hair swaying in the water just right. Taking Aquaman’s place is another superhero movie: Shazam: Fury Of The Gods, which is moving to March 17 and far away from its original release date of December 16, 2022. The movie will give Shazam a solid four months gap from Avatar: The Way Of Water, which Shazam was initially set to open against. It would’ve been a bloodbath.
Warners had some other shakeups, too. The House Party reboot and Evil Dead Rise will receive theatrical releases on April 23, 2023. We assume that the decision to upgrade both from HBO Max to theaters speaks to the studio’s confidence in the movies. And say your prayers now because The Nun 2 is coming to force you into confession on September 8, 2023.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for Warner’s horror slate, though. The upcoming Salem’s Lot no longer has a release date, a real stake to the heart of Stephen King fans. Originally, WB planned on releasing the film on September 9, 2022, before moving it to April 21. We can only assume that David Zazlov has been wearing garlic all over the lot, scaring off all the vampire movies, because we have no idea when this one is coming out.
Finally, Warners is promising an “untitled event film” for February 10, 2023. We never thought of Salem’s Lot as an event film, but it does require a release date.
22 Comments
Maude, I think I hate David Zaslav.
I wonder how far into production Dune Part 2 is going to get before Zaslav decides the first one didn’t make enough money to justify a sequel after all.
As much as Zaslav has been creating a bloodbath, most of the cancelled works are HBO Max driven. Plus you can’t discount 10 Oscar Nominations and 6 wins – the most of any film that year or the profile of the people involved in that one.Whether or not Dune 3 – 5 happens like Denis Villeneuve wants is probably a bigger question based on how Dune Part Two performs.
Won’t they have to worry about the stars being too old at some point?I don’t know shit about Dune. Maybe that fits the story.
Dune takes place over a few years, and the next couple of books cover about another twenty. If anything, the leads are going to be too young.(I misread ‘stars’ in your post as ‘stars in the sky’ for a moment. That wouldn’t be inappropriate for Dune, either.)
It cycles through some generations and moves onto people’s kids.The actual book, Dune, should be done with Part 2. Part 3 – 5 would focus on the other books, which also get a whole lot weirder.
Honestly I’d be more worried they’ll split the 2nd film into an unnecessary trilogy just so they can milk more money from it
I don’t think I can handle another cliffhanger in a Dune movie.
I can see the benefit of opening Salem’s Lot in February. Break out horror in late winter frequently happens.
Watch Zaslav cancel a Stephen King film for the tax break.
Possibly, but that seems to be a move largely reserved for streaming content.
Probably worth mentioning that there’s reporting that WB is too cash poor to actually release Shazam this year (presumably they can’t afford the marketing costs). They currently only have two films slated for release the rest of the year: don’t worry darling and black adam.
I dunno, despite the Rock’s popularity, i have my doubts as to how well black adam will do at the box office
All of my IRL nerd friends aren’t interested in it. So while I believe it’s going to bring in people who are fans of The Rock, it’s probably not going to be popular in nerd circles. The trailer is giving off generic superhero/antihero vibes.
Just to note, there’s a report out that WBD only has enough cash to release two films into theaters, which is the main reason for the delays. Oh, and in totally not related news, they’ve lost over $20 billion in market cap over the past week or so.
Wow. Pretty soon I’ll be able to buy Discovery/Warner Brothers/HBO. And I’ll just tell you all right now, my plan is to do that thing from the 80’s where you take an established brand like The Muppets or Scooby-Doo and make them babies. Picture it: Tales from the Crib, Lil’ Sopranos, Kissing in the Daycare, Game of Highchairs, Cozy Couple Confessions, AwwwwwwZ.
that’s pretty nuts. The first Aquaman made over a billion. And they can’t afford to spend 100-200 million on marketing to make 700-800 mil? I’d like a quick explanation of how WB got to this point. Seemed like they were doing OK until being bought out by AT &T and subsequently by Discovery. But i’m probably misremembering things
Damn whose cornflakes did Jason Momoa piss in? I mean, I know Christmas Day movies aren’t a kiss of death but they’re sure not the ideal time for a summer blockbuster to succeed. I mean, I know Star Wars made it work but that’s Star Wars, not Aquaman 2.
eh, wouldn’t be surprised to see them adjust the schedule again. feels like they are just trying to get thru 22 with minimal additional cash expenditure, at this point
I would have chosen the Shazam (and I wasn’t wild about the first one, but…) sequel over Avatar’s any day. Avatar 2 is now firmly in the “I’ll wait til it’s free on one of the (then) remaining platforms” category. I just don’t get the fervor over a sequel to such a boring mess of a film.
…and there’s a big old HBOMax Ad here on the homepage. I was actually tricked into clicking on it thinking it was some new disaster.
Besides them being broke, I also wonder if this is because they realize Aquaman should come out after the Flash movie (Since Batfleck is in both)? Anyway, Boooo was looking forward to Shazam this December.