Warner Brothers is looking to the future and plotting out its release schedule for the next three years! The studio has loads of major films in the works and finding the right release date can make the difference between a smash and a bomb. And staking out its dates early gives WB the upper hand as other studios will now have to work around them when considering when to open their films. The latest films that WB has scheduled are ‘Doctor Sleep’, ‘The Witches’, ‘Super Pets’ and ‘The Suicide Squad’. Yesterday, the studio announced that ‘The Batman’, directed by Matt Reeves will be released on June 25, 2021.
‘Doctor Sleep’ was scheduled to be released on January 24, 2020, but has now been shifted to November 8. This is an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name, and a sequel of sorts to ‘The Shining’, following a grown Danny Torrance who is now an alcoholic who finds himself on the run from hunters who feed off of individuals who possess “the shining.” Mike Flanagan wrote the screenplay and is directing the picture, with Ewan McGregor portraying Danny. Rebecca Ferguson plays Rose the Hat, the film’s lead villain.
In its new release date, ‘Doctor Sleep’ will be competing with Paramount’s live-action ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie, and Lionsgate’s World War II epic ‘Midway’, directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Darren Criss, Woody Harrelson, Alexander Ludwig, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, and Patrick Wilson. Universal also has an unnamed comedy scheduled from producer Will Packer (‘Girls Trip’).
Fittingly, Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Witches’, starring Anne Hathaway, will open in time for Halloween, on October 16, 2020. It will compete with an unnamed Blumhouse horror movie from Universal. Paramount still has its toy adaptation ‘Micronauts’ scheduled on that date, but that probably won’t ever get made, much less by next October.
One movie that sounded like a joke, to begin with, looks to actually be happening. Jared Stern (‘The LEGO Batman Movie’) and Sam Levine (‘Wreck-It Ralph’) will direct ‘DC Super Pets‘, which is opening on the weekend before Memorial Day, on May 21, 2021. Very little is known about this movie, but presumably, Krypto the Superdog will be the main character. Hey, people like superhero movies and they like movies about animals, so what the heck? At this point, no other movies are scheduled to open on that date.
Finally, ‘The Suicide Squad’ will be released on August 6, 2021. James Gunn wrote the script and is in negotiations to direct. This is reportedly not so much a sequel to the 2016 film, but more of a fresh start. As in the case of ‘DC Super Pets’, ‘The Suicide Squad’ is currently facing no competition.
In addition to these four (five if you count ‘The Batman’), Warner Brothers also has dibs on October 1, 20121 for an unannounced “event film.” Another mystery picture is set for that date as well, a Paramount Hasbro movie.
So mark your calendars! Which of these movies are you most looking forward to?
Source: Deadline
