Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya
The Warner Bros movie studio will postpone the planned November release of a big-budget ‘Dune’ sequel until March, a studio spokesperson said on Thursday, because its stars cannot promote the movie during the Hollywood actors’ strike.
The decision is a setback for cinema chains like AMC Entertainment, Cineplex, and Cinemark which are still working to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Dune’ was one of the most eagerly awaited films on the late 2023 release slate. ‘Dune: Part Two’ will now be released on March 15, replacing the Warner Bros feature ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’.
The release date of the monster film has been pushed back to April 12, 2024. As a result, an animated ‘The Lord of the Rings’ feature scheduled for April was pushed back to December.
‘Dune: Part Two’ stars Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet in the sequel to Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel about an interplanetary fight for control of a precious resource. The first installment, released in 2021 amid the epidemic, grossed $402 million worldwide.
Since the SAG-AFTRA actors union joined the strike of Hollywood writers and walked off the job on July 14, top performers have refused to promote upcoming projects. Due to the actors’ strike, several film studios have adjusted their film schedules in the absence of celebrities to appear on red carpets or talk shows to help build hype.
Sony Pictures changed the release date for ‘Dumb Money’, a film based on the true story of ordinary investors who outwitted Wall Street investors and made a fortune on the stock of gaming and electronics store GameStop.
The picture was supposed to be released nationwide on September 22nd, but the company chose a more gradual distribution approach in order to develop curiosity from audience reactions. The film will now be released in a limited number of theaters on September 15 in New York and Los Angeles before expanding across the country on October 6.
Despite the ‘Barbenheimer’ craze around the films ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’, overall moviegoing this year remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Other notable films currently on the 2023 schedule include Walt Disney’s ‘The Marvels’, a Lionsgate prequel to ‘The Hunger Games’, and ‘Wonka’, a Warner Bros feature starring Chalamet.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which began on May 2, has halted most scripted television production and some movie shoots.
