ROME - Hollywood attempted it with Christopher Nolan's "Tenet": it should have been the film for the audience's 'big comeback', but the takings below expectations (especially in the USA, only 41 million dollars, for a total worldwide of about 285 million dollars) and the still worrying numbers of the pandemic are once again leading the majors to rethink cinema releases.
The most worrying move for exhibitors is the postponement of "No Time To Die", the 25 / o chapter of 007, the last with Daniel Craig, which should have arrived at the end of November: the debut has been postponed to April 2021. A decision that, among the most immediate reactions, led the second international chain of cinemas in the world, Cineworld, to decide to close (at least until the first months of 2021, but there are no certainties) its 128 cinemas in Great Britain and Ireland, putting 5,500 jobs at risk, and 543, under the Regal brand, in the US.
Obstacles for the sector, to which new more restrictive precautionary measures could be added in the various countries to avoid contagions, such as those that could also arrive in Italy with the new Dpcm.
There are currently four expected blockbusters, with the release scheduled in the United States from November to the end of the year, but according to Variety new moves are still possible.
For the new Pixar / Disney film "Soul" (which will have a world premiere at the London Film Festival on October 11 and the Rome Film Festival will open on October 15), arriving on November 20 in the United States, we are considering a 'release on Disney + also considering the great growth in subscriptions that came with the debut on the Mulan platform (which instead disappointed for the takings in China where it was released in theaters).
Also in November, "The Croods 2 - A new era" should arrive on 25 (and 23 December in Italy), a sequel, which remained in the pipeline for a long time, of the animated film of 2013. While the debut of Shawn Levy's "Free Guy" starring Ryan Reynolds as a non-player character in a video game who becomes the protagonist;
"Dune" by Denis Villeneuve with Timothée Chalamet, a new adaptation of the science fiction classic by Frank Herbert, and from Warner Bros "Wonder Woman 1984" by Patty Jenkins, the new adventure of the superheroine played by Gal Gadot.
Mickey's parent company revolutionized the release of many of its films two weeks ago, starting with "Black Widow", starring Scarlett Johansson, moved from November to May 7;
"Eternals" with Angelina Jolie, from 12 February to 5 November 2021;
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings", from 7 May to 9 July 2021. Other 'excellent' delays from the majors include "Fast and Furious 9" with Vin Diesel and Charlize Theron, from April to May 28, 2021 for Memorial day, and "West Side Story" directed by Steven Spielberg, which ran from December 25, 2020 to December 10, 2021. "The witches" by Robert Zemeckis should instead have a 'hybrid' release with Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci, a new adaptation, written and produced by the director with Guillermo del Toro, of the novel by Roald Dahl: in the US the release in cinemas (scheduled for October 9) has been skipped for a direct debut on the platform Hbo Max on 22 October, while abroad, including Italy, the arrival in the hall seems confirmed at the moment.
For now, however, in the various countries it is hoped that the 'holes' left by US blockbusters can be partially filled by a greater attention to films from the general 'local' audience.
Thus in Italy, among others, the release of the comedy "Return to crime" by Massimiliano Bruno (sequel to Non ci ci sta che il crimine) with Alessandro Gassmann, Marco Giallini was brought forward by a month, from November 26 to October 29. , Edoardo Leo and Gian Marco Tognazzi, while the debut of "One lives only once", the new film by Carlo Verdone with Anna Foglietta, Rocco Papaleo and Max Tortora, is scheduled for November 26, whose release at the end of February had been postponed for the lockdown.