‘The Batman’ And Other DC Films Shift Release Dates As Warner Bros. Changes Its Schedule
by Erik Amaya
Yesterday, we wondered if Dune‘s new October 1st, 2021 release date would have an effect on The Batman, which happened to be scheduled for release the same day. And now, it seems the Batman will make way for Shai Hulud.
According to Fandago managing editor Erik Davis, the Matt Reeves film will be leaping into 2022 with a March 4th release that year. The knock-on effects of the schedule change means some of the DC films and other Warner Bros. Pictures tentpole releases will now receive new dates. Meanwhile, Black Adam is once again unscheduled — like it’s been for most of the project’s development. As for the rest of the DC film slate, The Flash is moving to November 4th, 2022 and Shazam: Fury of the Gods will be released on June 2nd, 2023.
Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad are currently maintaining their December 25th, 2020 and August 6th, 2021 release dates. Aquaman 2 is also still scheduled for release on December 16th, 2022.
The new schedule slots the fourth Matrix film into December 21, 2021 — an appropriate enough release date for the film — and Warner Bros. is also holding June 3rd, 2022 and August 5th, 2022 for unnamed tentpole releases.
All of the changes continue to magnify the problems for theaters struggling without product to screen. But we wonder if the audience would be there if a studio was willing to offer a tentpole to theater chains already wrestling with limited capacity and skittish moviegoers. Meanwhile, the amended schedule also deals with the gap in production from March of this year to September. At some point, new films run out and, to an extent, it is better for the gap to occur now than when a pandemic isn’t a go-to reason for the lack of films in release.
