Sony has officially postponed a bunch of its upcoming major releases and reschedule them for next year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps most prominently, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ has been shifted from July 10, 2020, to March 5, 2021. In addition, ‘Morbius’ has been moved from July 30, 2020, to March 19, 2021. As a result of these adjustments, on top of the overall shutdown in Hollywood, Sony has also pushed the release of ‘Uncharted’ (which hasn’t been filmed) from March 5, 2021, to October 8, 2021.
This follows Warner Brothers’ decision to move ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ from June 5 to August 14, but that just a matter of months. Of course, there is still the chance that it still won’t make that release date, based on how this situation unfolds.
Cineplexes are completely shut down throughout most of the United States and in most other major nations. This past weekend, China attempted to reopen its theaters to disastrous results, resulting in them being shut down again. Undeterred, Shanghai will attempt to reopen over 200 cinemas this weekend. Considering that this COVID-19 situation is unprecedented, Hollywood is experimenting on ways to respond.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ was co-written (with Gil Kenan) and directed by Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan, the filmmaker of the first two movies in the ’80s. The new film stars Carrie Coon as Callie, the daughter of the late Harold Ramis’ character, Egon Spengler, with Mckenna Grace as her “science obsessed” daughter, Phoebe, and Finn Wolfhard as her “gearhead” son, Trevor. The family moves to an old farm in Oklahoma, where Egon apparently retired after his time with the Ghostbusters. There, the kids discover his arsenal of spook-snaring equipment, including Ecto-1, proton packs, and ghost traps. Paul Rudd co-stars as Phoebe’s teacher, Mr. Grooberson, a Ghostbusters superfan. Bokeem Woodbine also has a role, as Sheriff Domingo.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ will include cameos by original cast members Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver.
‘Morbius’ is Sony’s second live-action “Spider-Verse” movie after ‘Venom’. Jared Leto stars as Michael Morbius, a scientist born with a genetic blood disorder who uses an experimental method in an attempt to cure himself, only to turn into a vampire-like creature. Unlike ‘Venom’, ‘Morbius’ seems to include overt references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or at least to ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ which was set in the MCU.
‘Morbius’ was directed by Daniel Espinosa. In addition to Leto, the film stars Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud, Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft, Matt Smith as Loxias Crown, and Jared Harris and Michael Keaton in mystery roles, although logic would dictate that Keaton is reprising his role as Adrian Toomes from ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.
‘Uncharted’ is based on the bestselling Playstation video game franchise and has been mired in development hell for years. Ruben Fleischer is attached to direct, with Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, and Tati Gabrielle starring.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ and ‘Morbius’ were eyed as potentially huge summer blockbusters. It should be interesting to see how they fare in March of next year. March is usually not a very competitive time at the box office.
Check back for updates as they arrive. Are you disappointed at these moves?
Source: Comicbook.com
